Entertaining at Home

My husband's officemates

Family

My college friends

My husband's officemates, on another occasion

More and more, my husband and I find ourselves entertaining our family and friends at our home. We definitely enjoy the company, and we find that people are more relaxed and are able to interact better.

Entertaining at home does not always mean major preparations (and major stress). We usually prepare simple dishes like pasta (puttanesca, pesto, carbonara), salads, grilled meat such as steak, burgers, pork chops and pork bellies (liempo). On one occasion, we decided to go Filipino and served nilagang baka (boiled beef with vegetables) and fried bangus (milkfish) from Dagupena. On another occasion, it was Mediteranean, and we served beef kebab. Dessert would usually be store-bought cake from Conti's or Red Ribbon.

We make sure that we have music and aromatherapy candles to enhance the ambience. We have guests usually stay in the dining area since we have an open kitchen that permits us to interact with the guests as we prepare the meal. We also have a lot of chips and drinks. Drinks would be softdrinks, wine and beer. We just make sure that we have enough to sustain us the whole afternoon or evening.

Family and friends tend to stay a bit longer because they feel at home. This means more quality time with them, and we love it!