Frannywanny

February has officially rolled in and the festivities haven't ended yet! After we have celebrated Christmas and New Year, it's now time to bring out all of our red outfits (mental note: look for Chinese costumes for my twins)  and adorn our table with all things round, red and lucky as the Year of the Pig is just around the corner. Which, by the way, will happen in a few days time! Our family has been extra busy lately as my sister recently gave birth to a healthy baby boy and so prior to that, we've been helping her prepare for the grand arrival of the newest addition of our growing family. Anyway, with all that frenzy as well as with our jam-packed schedules, I feel like we wouldn't have time to spend half a day, more so, the entire day in the kitchen. However, I will never allow that the Chinese New Year will just go by quietly so a celebration is definitely in order. Luckily, I have my go-to home delivery service -- China Mommy ! Remember how they have filled ...

If there's one thing that I miss about living abroad and having our own place is how we would host dinners and invite friends to come over. One of the best dinners that I've had was probably when my friends came over to celebrate my birthday. Paul prepared his signature BBQ Ribs and Steak while I made Baked Salmon ala Conti's and I even had the time to put together a cheese board. I guess when the kids are much older, we can go back to hosting dinners or organizing potlucks too. Luckily, here in Manila in case you're too busy to cook or prepare your own dish, you can easily order and have the dishes delivered straight to your doorstep (or to wherever you're having your party to ensure it gets there hot). One that I highly recommend is Ley's Kitchen . I recently got to try some of their specialties and all 4 dishes were so good. Not the mediocre type of good ha, I'm talking about the kind that's out of this world good...the kind that will make you go...

Paul's birthday is coming up in 2 days! :) It has been our tradition that our birthday celebration doesn't last for just a day. Instead, it goes on and on for WEEKS! We normally get to celebrate our birthdays with our two families (his and mine), our various groups of friends and of course, with one another. Paul's birthday celebration started today as we had a simple yet fun lunch get-together with his family. What made it fun were the 3 tiny tots who happily ran around the house as they played with one another for hours! It was cuteness overload as we tried to decipher their baby talks and watch with amazement as these kids, at their very young age, can easily navigate their way around an iPad! Since there were 13 of us today, we tried 8 Spoons' Party Trays which were said to be good for 8 but believe me, the serving was very generous that almost everyone got second servings and there were still a lot of food left for dinner today (and maybe even for lunch tomo...