welcoming 2014!

our New Year 2014 food (clockwise) Filipino barbecue, raw vegetable salad, crepes suzette, embutido and tikoy

Another year is over and we look forward to 2014 with hearts full of hope that the New Year will bring all of us blessings of good health, peace, joy and love. The thought of New Year's eve had me craving for some good old-fashioned Filipino barbecue. Back in Manila, we used to grill these tasty skewered pork on New Year's eve amidst the familiar sound of loud and noisy firecrackers :-) I just mixed up my own marinade with sweet chili sauce, catsup, lemon juice and soy sauce combination but somehow it lacked the taste of authentic Filipino barbecue that I was craving for. Next time I think I will just use a popular Filipino brand of bottled barbecue marinade (Mother's Best) which is even more convenient too. I was happy with how flavorful the new embutido (Filipino-Spanish-style meatloaf) recipe I tried turned out. It had a longer list of ingredients than what I used to make. My mother would always pan-fry the slices in a little oil until lightly toasted and I've always liked it that way. Some sticky rice cakes like tikoy (made with glutinous rice flour, water and sugar ~ thanks to my cousin who found the recipe) are traditionally served for good luck. The crepes suzette were light and served with an intense buttery orange liqueur (Grand Marnier) syrup.

embutido has been my favorite since I was a kid and they're also good pan-fried

crabcakes we bought from a local caterer (Sarah K's) paired with some raw vegetable salad

our New Year 2014 table set-up with some round fruits for good luck