TBK gives the best Christmas dinner ever

 

We made it! Tatay, Jhe, Kit, Elay, Jing, Keanna, Noel, Frythy, Jullytot, Making, Chalsee, Joven ( and Chester was under the table) - Photo by Luis

Back in the UK I once had a job opening new hotels and restaurants. Something different would go wrong at every site. No staff, no electricity, no water, no food, no access from the road, no fire certificate, and so on. It taught me to be very adaptable and focus on what we could do, rather than what we could not. So when we could not find cranberry sauce or Brussel sprouts or mince pies, we just missed missed them off he menu. We had so much food left over, no one noticed . The brown out as we started cooking was a little harder- so we used a pan to make the rice instead of the rice cooker, and cooked the Lechon Manok in the oven instead of using the electric rotisserie for the first time. My chefs even suggested borrowing my neighbour Benny's BBQ but he did no appear in time and we did not want to disturb him. We did not have a big piece of paper for our game so we used a towel and Jullymar used a serviette instead of a blindfold, but no one cared. Half the guests were delayed but the other half ate and we rescheduled Beshy's Carol and the Monito Monita. None of the BENCH tee shirts Monito bought fitted, so we went to Robinsons the morning after the party and eventually they let us change them ( over the 7 day exchange limit!) No big issue. Luis was late so Frythy started making the video recording. He also took a lot of pics, and , they say, a picture is worth 1000 words.

So here is Frythy's Million word Xmas story:

                                            Frythy , by Noel

                                                  Noel , by Frythy

                                 Noel, Tatay and Frythy , by Joven

                                                          Joven

                              Poorly Chester, who slept through most of the meal

                           Making opens his Monito Monita gift

 

                                                             Chalsee

  Loved the decoration by Reyner and Chaddy, and the name stickers from Chester

                        There was lots of laughter around the table

Thanks to Reyner and Chaddy for the table set up and Chester for the menu design

          Everyone chose a dish for the Christmas menu and I selected Turkey!

  Even when we thought it was cooked it was not, so we carved it and cooked it again in the bottom of the oven with the Turkey gravy

Our beautiful red velvet cake with a snow dome arrived at 11 am from Little Things

         Finally our guests arrived from Barutaan- a 6 hour drive away

        Spot on time , all the food was ready- thanks to Noel, Joven and Frythy

     Beshy , in Bahrain, sang his Christmas song and greetings over and over 

                     Keanna was shy at first but soon was enjoying herself

    Jhoanna got to sit next to Tatay Neil, of course. Thanks Kit for the seating plan!

                    Kit put himself next to Elay- they are cousins!

    Then we opened our gifts from the Secret Santa ( or Monito Monita in Tagalog)

         Now I will remember my name ( BTW its Neil not Niel!) 

           Kit loved his Tee shirt , even though it was a bit small for him

       Making you are growing TOO FAST- Medium did not fit and Large was tight

                Making and Chalsee gave us an impromptu strip show!

             I have to say this was one of my favourite parts of the meal!

           I still cannot believe the Monito Monita was picked at random

        Elay was next- all the gifts were under 500 pesos ( £7.5/ 3.5 bhd)

  Mama Jing had a new dress too, now she, Elay and Jhoanna will look like sisters!

    Finally it was time for Noel to serve Elay's favourite dish, Ube Ice Cream!

                  How many sweets can you get for 500 pesos??????

                      Joven loved his lunch... next party games

                               We had Musical chairs.....organised by Kit and Chalsee

     Jhoanna and Julimar's game involved being blindfolded and selecting a mug

     Tatay won some sweets, see the vlog to learn who won what in mystery mug!

   

Elay and Tatay's game was towel fold- you dance around the towel and then stand on it when the music stops

              Each time the towel gets smaller , good job Noel is so small!

           Special thanks to Luis who filmed everything for our Vlog below

      And to Little Things for delivering their mouthwatering cake 14 days early!

                                  Making, Jhoanna and Chalsee

 Jullytot, Making, Jhoanna, Joven and Chalsee- who ordered fried chicken???

Nearly forgot, thanks to Elay for decorating the water bottles I bought from Bahrain

So all that remains is to wish you all Malygiang Pasko, and share the Vlog....