Better Half
By EUGENE Y. SANTOS
Photo by PINGGOT ZULUETA
MANILA, Philippines — One’s teenage period is said to be a crucial part of life, as this is usually the transition phase from childhood to adulthood. For restaurateurs Don and Annalou Ho, adolescence paved the way for true, realistic, everlasting love.
Annalou first met Don during her Halloween-and-birthday-celebration party back in October 31, 1993. Both of them were based in Los Angeles, California then. It was a typical teenage party, complete with mutual friends. “He crashed my party. I had a birthday [celebration too] because my birthday’s on November 2,” says Annalou. “I was invited,” interjects Don. “Sort of,” reiterates Annalou. “One of my friends invited Don but didn’t tell me that he invited Don. We have mutual friends and then he came with his friends. I was mean to Don because I felt he crashed my party. But a week later, one of our friends kind of hooked us up so we started talking on the phone.”
Through communication, Don and Annalou sparked a connection between them. They felt that their personalities really jibed with one another. Don loved Annalou’s feisty zest for life while Annalou found a good, caring confidante in Don. On December 7, 1993, they officially declared themselves as a couple. However, Don had to move to Texas in January 1994, where he lived with his sister for a year. Hence, they decided to pursue a long distance relationship. They kept their relationship intact by calling each other every day.
“This was before the Internet,” shares Don, “so we would just talk for hours. The telephone bills would amount to around a thousand dollars. It was very costly at that time.” Annalou adds, “My parents would be mad and his sister would be mad because the phone bills were so high.”
The year-long long distance relationship definitely strengthened Don and Annalou’s commitment to each other. “It’s what made our relationship strong because we ended up being best friends through the phone, because you get to know so much about each other on a daily basis,” says Annalou. “I think the best thing about our relationship is open communication. We don’t keep anything from each other. We’re very close and we became best friends through that year.” Don moved back to Los Angeles in February 1995.
In retrospect, Don and Annalou have their fair share of funny moments as teenagers, which they recount fondly in the present. “The first time we ever went on a date, I was a 15-year-old kid trying to be romantic,” says Don. “It was our first date and I bought a rose for her, not knowing that she was behind me. So when I turned around, I poked her eye with the rose.” As Annalou shares, “He was so clumsy about it. He was so nervous that he accidentally poked me on the eye with the rose and I was like, ‘Ahhh…’ and he was like, ‘I’m sorry. I’m sorry.’ He thought I was going to break up with him. It was our first date, like we just went to the mall. We went to City Walk in Universal Studios for our first date.”
As teenagers, Annalou humorously recalls that “we were bad. Just to be with each other, we defied orders. His parents were strict. My parents were strict. And we tried to see each other often.”
Don and Annalou lived a bit far from each other, even if they were both based in Los Angeles then. He studied in the Reseda High School and lived in the Reseda area. She, on the other hand, lived in the Granada Hills area and studied in the Bishop Alemany High School.
When they were young, Don says that he even snuck out in the evenings and drove his way to Annalou’s house. “I would stay and try to wait for him. And in almost three nights in a row, I fell asleep and I couldn’t hear him throwing rocks at my window. He even hid in my closet a few times,” relates Annalou.
“Most of the things we’ve done in the earlier stages of our relationship, being 15-years-old and in love… being in love makes you do the stupidest things in life,” says Don. For this couple, there are no regrets, only memories to share on how they witnessed each other grow up through the best and the worst of the times.
Despite being high school sweethearts, Don and Annalou claim that their story is “not a fairy tale.” Just like any other couple, they also admit to having their own imperfections. Six years onto their relationship, Don and Annalou took a “hiatus” from each other. For four to six months, they evaluated their options in life and the “painful issues” they faced then. They barely contacted each other.
Looking back, it was a healthy move for the two. They learned to forgive each other’s shortcomings and were able to learn that it takes two to tango in a relationship. Thus, the couple learned how to balance each other through compromise.
In February 2000, Don and Annalou decided to give their relationship a second chance. It was a clean slate, where they began as friends again, before declaring themselves as a fully reunited couple. “It was like falling in love the second time around,” says Don. “It’s like having a ‘new relationship’ but the enlightening part of it is that it was based on a more mature level,” adds Annalou.
After they reunited, Don and Annalou’s relationship became more stable. Through the years, they earned the respect of each other’s families. “We’re both family-oriented. Whatever is mine and whatever he has, we share it. I think the generosity from each of our sides gained the respect of our families,” says Annalou.
Raised as Catholics, Don and Annalou valued the sanctity of marriage. Even if their relationship grew stronger through the years, it was something they did not rush into until both of them felt ready for it.
Ironically, they became officially married in Las Vegas back in May 30, 2008, in a quick wedding ceremony. It was initially for a legal purpose, considering that a marriage license and official documents are processed faster when wed there. However, it turned out to be a romantic event for Don and Annalou.
They consider it as a very intimate moment. It was just the two of them (by choice), and they were wearing everyday clothes such as jeans. “Our witnesses were just a receptionist and the security guard that worked [in the venue where we got married],” says Don.
It was supposed to be casual. But as soon as they stood in the chapel and went on with the ceremony, emotions bubbled to the surface, a testament to true love conquering life’s ups and downs. “When we got to the chapel, as soon as we joined hands, and as soon as the minister said his first word, it hit us that we’re getting married,” shares Don. “We cried,” adds Annalou. “It was that moment of 30 seconds of like, ‘Wow, I’m getting married to this guy.’ No matter how much we felt like it was going to be casual, it did not. It’s because we were like, ‘I’m going to spend the rest of my life with this person.’”
On March 21, 2009, Don and Annalou held a grand wedding celebration to share their appreciation of their loved ones. “It was for our family, since we already had our moment together in Las Vegas,” says Don. The wedding ceremony paid due respect to Don’s Chinese-Vietnamese heritage and to Annalou’s Filipino roots. It started with a tea ceremony from Annalou’s house to Don’s house, followed by a church ceremony at the Saint Euphrasia Catholic Church in Bernardo Hills in California.
They had around 300 guests. At the reception, which was held in CBS Studios in Universal Studios, Don says that “we didn’t do the traditional bouquet toss. It was about live entertainment. It was really for the guests.” It was an interactive, Hollywood-inspired party, with entertaining performances and live music.
Last year, Don and Annalou moved to the Philippines. This is for Annalou to be closer to her mother, who moved to the country after retirement, and her younger sister. The couple also saw the potential of Manila’s thriving local dining scene. With this in mind, they put up the restaurant Le Fusion by Chef Don Ho Restaurant and Wine Bar Lounge at the Bonifacio Global City in Taguig, where they serve fusion-style dishes mostly cooked using modern molecular gastronomy techniques. “We evaluated the Philippines and it’s a growing country and it’s a place where there’s room for success in the food industry,” says Annalou.
On managing a restaurant together, Don and Annalou address whatever professional differences they may have through communication and thorough discussions. “But as soon as we walk out of the restaurant, we don’t take work at home,” says Don. “We’re very relaxed at home. We watch TV shows together or just share a nice meal,” adds Annalou
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