Day 9 - Pot Luck + Cooking in Our Kitchen

Yum! Don't they all look yummy? They all were. :)

So, technically, this was our dinner for Saturday night, but eating these extended until the wee hours of Sunday morning so I think it's fine to use this pic as my January 24 picture.

I hosted a farewell party for a dear, dear work acquaintance who will be returning to his hometown (forever!) in a few days. Since he's been our personal chef for the past four years we've known each other, we requested that he cook us something on his farewell party. He decided to make a chicken dish (it's the one on the lower right of the photo). He deboned it and everything. It's chicken stuffed with feta cheese, spinach and pâté de campagne, whatever that is. The sauce is a combination of orange and mango juice + my grandfather's Martini and chicken bone er, essence, I don't know what I'm talking about. Anyway, it was really, really good.

So that he wouldn't have to cook so much stuff, I decided it would be a pot luck event so our friends brought the other dishes. X brought the macaroni salad, which she made herself, too. The liempo on the upper right of the photo was brought by B. And the creamy garlic potato dish was made by me. All dishes received good reviews. Hooray! We are successful foodies!

R brought red and white wine and our desserts, from C and M, were J.Co donuts and Frozen Brazo de Mercedes.

Day 262 - And Happy Birthday Again!

And finally, the joint celebration of my mom and my brother's birthdays and the fact that my sister who is usually in New Zealand is here in the Philippines. Definitely enough cause to have lechon in the house. Yehey!

Though to be completely honest, I'm not a big fan of lechon, and would've preferred Inihaw na Liempo. But celebration is all about giving people what they want, and this happens to be the celebratory food of choice for most Filipinos. Right?

Day 229 - Photobooth Fun!

My niece is 1 year old now! :D So of course, we had a big party to celebrate it. And what are parties without photo booths nowadays?

These are me, my brother and our cousins on my mom's side. Believe it or not this is already 67% of the total population of us cousins on my mom's side. The only ones missing are my sister who is in New Zealand and our other cousin who hadn't gotten there yet when we took this photo. We took this before all the other guests arrived and he was late, so... It's his loss. Hehe! :P

Day 161 - Christmas Party!

Because I'm now an ex-employee and have no office Christmas parties to go to, I volunteered for the Christmas party to come to me. Haha! :P

These are my friends from the office I used to work in. They went to my house after the company Christmas party to exchange gifts and play board/card games. Lots of fun. :)

P.S. The company Christmas party was actually last night, but they got to my house at around 1AM today and stayed here 'til 9AM so this counts as my photo of the day for December 4 Saturday and not Friday night.

Day 160 - Birthday Party!

Another one of my godsons, J celebrated his 2nd birthday today. :) And because I wasn't able to stay at his party last year, my friend/ex-teacher Miss L insisted that I stay this year. But she must've sensed that I'd have nobody to talk to seeing as all the guests were her friends and relatives and co-teachers (none of whom I'm close to) so she gave me the role of photographer. So I wouldn't be bored. I fully embraced my role, which is why I'm so close to them here while they were singing the Happy Birthday song.

P.S. Special appearance by Captain Shakey. Or his name Captain Shakey's?

P.P.S. A Shakey's birthday party isn't bad at all. :) The food was two different kinds of pasta -- red and white sauce, mojo potatoes, garlic bread, and fried chicken. And it's unlimited, too. :) Way way better than the Jollibee/McDonald's birthday parties with the styrofoam containers.

Day 80 - Party Food

Shrimps, crabs, adobong pusit (inside covered dish), and barbecue. All cooked by my aunt for my uncle's birthday. Ang sarap!!! :D

Actually, I attended two birthday parties today. One for my cousin on my dad's side, and one for my uncle on my mom's side. So I had two choices on what photo to post: My cousin's birthday was at a posh "exclusive" restaurant in Antipolo, Laya Restaurant, where we were served a 6-course lunch. My uncle's birthday was at their house, with this somewhat traditional party-sa-bahay meal.

Obviously, I chose the picture of the home-cooked meal. Don't get me wrong, the food at Laya Restaurant was really great. Pang-international ang level. And I love eating at restaurants, really. I loved the experience we had there. But... alam n'yo na. Iba talaga ang lutong bahay! 'Yung kinakamay mo lang 'yung pagkain tapos wala ka munang pakialam kung may sauce sa mukha mo kasi nasa bahay ka lang naman... At masarap talaga magluto 'yung tita ko. Hindi man siya nag-aral sa international school or wala mang maarteng presentation 'yung niluto niya, dahil kilala niya kami at alam niya kung anong gusto namin, masarap talaga. :)

Pero sige na nga, para makita n'yo rin 'yung kinain namin sa Laya. Heto picture nung main course. :)

Grilled Herb-Marinated U.S. Hanging Tender Steak with Spiced Crushed Potates and Mixed Greens in Asian Dressing

Day 63 - Party Pictures

Last Friday, our office had its annual Fiscal Year End party. We were required to wear "Red Carpet Attire", hence the "fancy" dresses. I know Red Carpet Attire should mean formal long gowns, but come on, it's not like we all can afford to dress up and have our hair and make-up done in the middle of the work day. So we ended up wearing mostly short dresses, which are still fancier than our usual clothes anyway.

We also had a paparazzi wall so it'd look like a real official event. Hehe. Anyway, we had fun taking these pictures and so I got some of them developed (hard copy) to send to our former team leader/supervisor M, who now lives in Dubai.

The lady at the post office said my card will take 7-10 days to get there so I haven't gotten any response from her yet, but I'm hoping that she likes it. :)