Happy New Year 2014!

Happy New Year everyone!!!! It's a brand new year and so as our hopes, aspirations, plans and objectives for the days ahead. I hope you had a fabulous celebration and welcomed the new year with a big bang! I am extremely delinquent in updating this blog recently but I am vowing to make big changes and an ultimate revamp of it soon. So while I prepare and execute my plans, let me share with you how we celebrated the New Year's Eve at home. 

This is the table setting for this year.

The beauty of the flowers never fails, so I made sure they are part of the centrepieces. As all Filipinos would know, it's our tradition to put numerous fruits on the table (12 kinds to represent the 12 months of the year, but others put 13 or even more) to symbolize prosperity. 

Fruits and flowers really make a very nice centrepiece. 

Some gold coins to make the coming year more prosperous.

There's a sweet surprise for the little ones too.

Because 2014 is year of the horse..



This is the entire feast, our Media Noche in Filipino language. For the New Year, we opted for a Seafood theme since Christmas was more on meat.

Rocky Road Brownies Cake - it's my first time to make this goodie and I am extremely happy of how it turned out. Isn't it lovely? This can easily be a scene stealer from your table.

A very simple Potato Salad with Creamy Sesame Dressing makes a good starter.

Seafood Boil Southern Style - inspired by the increasingly getting popular Seafood in a bag. Finally, I found the perfect time to do it at home and it was indeed a star of the feast.

Aglio Olio Spaghetti with Shrimps and Mushrooms - it's a very light and simple pasta to prepare so it perfectly complemented the rest of the dishes in the menu.  

Baked Sea bass with Fennel - succulent and tender, infused nicely with a wonderful aroma and taste of fennel; this is a very healthy and light dish. It's believed that serving whole fish in new year will bring in prosperity and that all your wishes for the year will come true. In Chinese, the word for fish is "yu" which sounds like the word for abundance hence, it has a symbolic meaning to wealth.

The daughter specifically requested for this - Classic Fish and Chips (I used Cod Fish and it's by far the best fish that should be used for this dish). 

 BBQ Ribs - the only meat in our repertoire to completely stuff the tummy.

 

 

The new year has really started. Wonderful feasts have been prepared and shared with loved ones and friends. Now, it's time to gather all the luck and kick-start the fulfillment of your 2014 goals!