Casa Marcos, Burgos Circle

Well, I got back to Manila on the evening of November 18th. Which is my dear friend, Robyn's birthday.

What a trip it was. Eight excruciating hours on a plane with no entertainment apart from my music.

Luckily I was in a good mood prior to boarding. 

I had brekkie at Danks St. Depot- Good stuff.

And I'm not one to eat on the airplane. I just think the food is fairly repulsive.

My family fetched me at the airport which I thought was the sweetest.

We steered towards Burgos Circle for dinner.

And my dad, like the pro that he is suggested Casa Marcos.

My Dad's Birthday

So my dad turned forty-plus the other day and we had a ginormous feast with all the aunts and uncles and cousins. I've come to love our ginormous feasts at home more and more. It's reached such a point that I have a ginormous feast at home by myself every day... So now I can't fit into my tan leather and polyester Safari girl look shorts. I'm on a real diet now. I'm serious.

One of the Christmas Parties

I'm counting down the days. It's 8 days left before Christmas at the moment, but can you feel that Christmas is right around the corner? Cause I certainly can't, it feels like a fair bit away. And for some reason, I can't find all the Christmas-sy songs in my iPod either.

A few days ago, I went my friend, F's place to cook for a Christmas Party. I was reasonably tired after spending the whole morning at ISCAHM (which I still think is AWESOME.) We cooked a whole mod podge of different things, and I enjoyed myself a lot. By the way, F finished Diploma of Culinary Arts and Kitchen Management in ISCAHM. So I learned a quite a bit from him.

Moroccan Lamb Tagine.
It was cooked for at least 12 hours.

Beautifully deep fried paprika spiced fish.

There was hummus, a simple salad, paella, lamb tagine, a cous cous stuffed chicken, paprika spiced beer battered fish, a mango torte, and apple pie. It was such a fulfilling meal. There was obviously a lot of variety, and of course, the people who had the meal enjoyed it a lot.

Silky Smooth Hummus

The hummus had just the right configuration. It felt light without being taken over by olive oil. I swear I could've had it over and over again with wholemeal pita bread. The lamb tagine had the typical Moroccan spices and flavors. It was a bit too heavy for my taste that evening. But i really loved the raisins in the stew.

Stuffed and Trussed Chicken with Cous Cous Stuffing

My favorite thing would probably be the cous cous stuffed chicken. It delivered a lot of flavor cause the cous cous had dried fruit and nuts even though it might sound a little weird and a little out of your league. The chicken remained really succulent and moist. I definitely had to do with the basting of butter over and over again.

Paella with Artichoke Hearts, Mussles, Squid, Prawns and OTHER THINGS.

The paella was packed with flavor. There were a lot of ingredients. I bet y'all I couldn't even remember each and every one of them! They came together in such an epic harmony. We were extremely generous with the saffron so the rice was amazingly fragrant with the scent.

Cuerva's Mango Torte

The mango torte came from a place called Cuerva which is apparently really famous for that particular dessert. But I'd say that I like the one from Dulcelin more since there's the crust is 10 20 times better! I love the nutty crusty of Dulcelin's. Oh, and there's a lot of whipped cream too!

Apple pie with the best crumble topping ever.

As for the apple pie, I seriously can't remember where it was from but it has the most delightful oatmeal crumble topping. I skipped out the apple and I was just heading straight toward the topping. Yes, if you must know, it was THAT good.

The caroling children

There was a special program from some children who were caroling around the neighborhood as well. They were orphans and they were funding for their cause. It was so heart-warming and I could've sworn I saw some people teary-eyed.

So dear readers, tell me, what do your Christmas parties look like?