Only after having opened my eyes this morning have I realized how exhausting this past weekend has been. But strangely as it sounds, I woke up with a huge smile on my face albeit every sore muscle in my body. Well it all started with my yearning to make Junfer’s birthday a memorable one – well no extra reason required apart from the fact that I want to celebrate another year of his life that we’ve spent together. I was determined that now more than ever is a great time to invite some new found friends over to our new place and celebrate a year that was and look forward to another year that will be. As always Junfer did’nt want me to go through all the drama of preparation that’s why he objected at first but of course as persuasive as I can be (and as lenient as Junfer is with me at all times), I’ve convinced him otherwise – love you honey!
Dinner was set on Saturday at 6pm (I did’nt want it to end super late so there it was an early dinner). I slaved the entire day in the kitchen – chopping onions here, dicing bell peppers there, mixing sauces, straining broth – name it, I did it. I think I have performed all imaginable maneuvers inside the kitchen that entire day! While preparing for supper, I am convinced that I really am a typical Filipino, every time we play host (or hostess for that matter), we simply could’nt resist the urge to splurge on the menu. By 5pm, I was getting a little panicky coz I was still in the middle of my nth course for the night. Luckily enough, I pulled through without a hitch. If my memory serves me right, I have put together 7 main courses and 2 desserts all for 10 people (8 guests, Junfer and myself). Told you, I just could’nt help it!
It was a pleasurable dinner – very filling (who would’nt be filled with that amount of food) and as one of our guests commented “very cozy”. I really do hope I gave justice to the entrees since we had guests from different countries. It would be nice if they had a good impression of what Filipino cuisine is. It was really very funny coz both Junfer and I are not wine drinkers (actually we rarely drink alcohol) thus no cork screw can be found in our kitchen – this by the way is considered here in Amsterdam as strange similar to a house without say a can opener (sorry if my creativity has abandoned me at this very moment and could’nt dream of a better comparison). We bought a red and white, and when it was time to serve them, that was the only time we realized that there was no cork screw handy. Lucky enough for us we live a minute away from the supermarket. So after a hearty main course come dessert, while serving the traditional turon (well a very small version of turon) coupled with vanilla ice cream, one of our guests was half laughing while he commented, “you don’t have a cork screw but you have an ice cream scooper”. Well of course we do – that’s what you call knowing your priorities J
For the next few hours, our place was filled with chattering guests, laughing friends and that nice warm feeling you sense in a place where everyone is enjoying themselves. What a vision it was.
At the end of the night, there is nothing more rewarding than a peck on the cheek from my honey thanking me for the dinner which he immensely enjoyed. It made everything worthwhile. This is the very same reason why I still have that smile on my face this morning when I woke up.
No comments:
Post a Comment