HELLO 2008 !!! SERIOUSLY!

As my first entry for the year 2008, I’d like to highlight what happened during the short holiday break – the plans that did not happen and the happy chances of turned events.

We did have our normal break out party at work on the 21st of December (and back to work on the 2nd of January).  We were dined on a very nice Italian Restaurant (Cecconis), the normal boring chitchats and the whole tirade of just busting our guts for these expensive feasts of food and wine.  

Well, I was thinking here we are again spending too much on food and whatnots that are mostly left uneaten and wasted …  (especially that we don’t want to get too fat during this holidays and spending more money after the holidays on getting thin)  and there are families and children on the other side of the world dying of hunger.   Yes, it is a bit depressing to think about these condition and it happens all the time everywhere in “richer” countries like this.  How about sending all these Christmas party funds for charity – and I think this will somehow tweak the huge imbalance during this season of joy.  Depressing, if you think about it … but I really hate seeing food being thrown out.  So I have to make sure that in my party – I am not going to go overboard.

We had our house Christmas Party on the 23rd and it was all fun and work.   I wanted to recreate a provincial Filipino christmas party here in Melbourne!  So I made sure no Ozzie or western food – just Filipino Asian!   And so much for being a drag queen, I made sure our house looks like Hogwart’s school of Wizardry with all the lights and blings!  Friends came and go – with all the mwahs and mwahs afterwards … Hmmm…. and some more Christmas parties to attend to …  

Went to Sydney for the remaining weeks and had the new year with my brother’s family.  It was hollabaloo of meeting a lot of pinoys as there are more Filipinos in that part of Australia than anywhere.  The best thing is that I was able to bond and spend time with my nieces and nephew.

And then I got this nasty colds (i think from the nasty heat on the beach) …  on the new year itself and I am still recovering todate.But I think the best that did in this holidays, is making best glutinous rice coconut cake (biko in short) ever.  My baked biko was a the biggest hit so far!  And everyone was sooo enthralled especially those who have not tasted it before.  I tried making bibingka but I failed miserably!!!  This is how it looks like before I baked it:

 And after …  hmmm i could smell the pandan leaves (in lieu of the banana leaves)

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Anyway, just for Christamas’ sake, we had the following photo taken in my friends’ Baby Blue Chrismas Tree (which I wished was my Christmas Tree).  

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Well, I think it was just a shadow of some smiles now.  and that was it !!!