Feliz Navidad

Feliz Navidad

How was your Christmas Celebration? I hope that you were able to have a wonderful celebration!

As for me, I had a great time with my family. We stayed up till it was December 25 and greeted each other then followed by opening of presents. I feel so blessed with all the gifts I received this Christmas and I also feel blessed because I was able to spend the entire day with family (without having to do school work or errands).

For Christmas Dinner, my father decided to treat us in one of my mom’s customers. (Background story: My mom’s business caters to restaurants, hotels, and other food establishments. She delivers fresh fruits and vegetables.) The restaurant’s name is Tapella. It is located at the ground floor of Greenbelt 5. Tapella serves modern Spanish dishes. Their signature dishes are tapas and paellas.

So guess what we had…. J Yup, we did order paella and also other dishes. My father went ahead and ordered Croquetas Variadas,  Pollo Moruno con Couscous, and Rabo de Toro. Croquetas Variadas are croquets when translated in English. Inside these croquets are ham, salami, and mushroom. The mixture of the ham and salami together with the mushroom tasted good and different from the croquettes I have tasted in the past. Pollo Moruno con Couscous is Moorish Chicken on Couscous. The chicken was lovely. It was juicy and flavorful, without overpowering the chicken flavor. I have heard of couscous but haven’t tasted it before. It’s like rice but not quite. It has a different mouth-feel and taste. The Rabo de Toro was also good. My father picked right. Rabo de Toro is ox tail cooked in wine herbs. The first time I bit the meat, I was able to taste the wine immediately.  The wine made gave the dish an extra kick. The meat was tender and cooked right.  

Croquetas Variadas

Pollo Moruno con Couscous

Rabo de Toro

My mom ordered the Paella de Cocido. Cocido is a type of stew that is based on meat. And it did taste like it. The paella was yummy! I’ve been craving for paella and this dish satisfied it. J

Paella de Cocido

My brother wanted calamares, so he ordered Calamares a la Romana. The description of this dish is “Fried squid, Mediterranean way”.

Calamares a la Romana

Then there’s me, I wanted pasta that evening so I looked for pasta dishes in the menu. I didn’t find a lot of dishes, perhaps this is because the restaurant was Spanish J. But I did order Canelones Vegetal or vegetable cannelloni. It was so good! I thought the dish would taste rustic and earthy because of the vegetables, but it wasn’t. I loved it. It was covered with cheese, I did not know what cheese it was but it was not salty. It complimented the pasta really well.

Canelones Vegetal

It was such a great evening because of great food and great company. Next time, I would like to taste their tapas and other paellas. J

-DOT-

For more information check out: http://www.tapellarestaurant.com

Photos are personally owned by writer, if you would like to use it kindly inform or at least cite the source thank you! J

Heart-felt Christmas

Heart-felt Christmas

        Well, it’s the most wonderful time of the year again! And I’m sure that most of us are done with Christmas shopping and whatnot . I’m also pretty sure that currently we are busy with parties left and right…

      

        In preparation for Christmas, I pondered upon the thought of “what gift do I give people that would show how grateful I am for being a blessing to me?” (what a pretty long thought J). One of the things that came to mind was to list down what I think a specific person needed. So I did, I listed the names of all the people I am to give gifts and beside it I wrote the thing I would buy for them. BUT not everyone on my list had a gift listed. SO, I thought of making hand-made stuff. I made a penholder/bookmark out of felt cloth. I had excess felt cloth from my last semester of preschool practicum so I made these. It’s not only a bookmark/penholder but the colors have meaning.

felt craft

[Yellow for heaven, because God has a prepared heaven for us and has a wonderful plan for each of us; Black for sin, because each one of us are sinners and because of this we are separated from God and His plans for us, Red for Jesus’ Blood, because Jesus, God’s only Son, paid for all our sins; White for clean, because of what Christ did we can be reconciled with God if we choose to; and Green for growth, to know what God’s plans are for us we need to read and grow in God’s word. J]

        Not only did I make these bookmarks/pen holders, I also made cards!! J I love making cards especially when I have cute and artsy materials. Thankfully, my cousins from Canada gave me these pretty foam cut-outs and also these sparkly sequins. I used scrap items such as old wrappers and old papers as backgrounds and base of the cards. I also used rubber stamps that were given to me.

Stamps, board paper, foam and glittery cutouts, wrappers

Here are some of my works:

Christmas Cards

Mini cards/ gift tags

        I believe that when we give handmade or handcrafted items they deem to be more heart-felt because the gift took time and effort. So, if your thinking of something different or are low on budget you may try making things. Just be creative and enjoy! J

-Dot-

 Photos are personally owned by writer, if you would like to use it kindly inform or at least cite the source thank you! J

You know it’s Christmas (season 3)

You know it’s Christmas           

Hello December! Today marks the second day of December and you know what that means… It’s time for my “You know it’s Christmas” blogs! Hopefully I get to post more blogs this time :D. So, if you know and recommend a good place or great buys or delicious food for Christmas or related to Christmas comment away or send me an email and I will try my best to try it and blog about it J. Oh! It must be within the Philippines… specifically in Metro Manila for me to visit it since I commute J. But I do welcome suggestions! J Have a wonderful Christmas Season! Here’s to season 3 of “You know it’s Christmas”!

-DOT-

Photo was edited by writer, original candy cane photo from: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf79677796.tip.html,  if you would like to use it kindly inform or at least cite the source thank you! J