Entertaining friends at home

In the past when parents and their children all live together, homes were usually elaborate structures with living rooms, dining rooms and a bedroom for each of the children. Household help were plentiful with cooks, laundry woman, yayas and drivers. My father had two sisters and a brother and they had their own houses. We live in our grandparents' home and every Sunday, we all shared lunch together with one of the siblings hosting and the next Sunday, it was the home of another family member.

It was an “analog era:” no gas stove, no bottled water, no calculators, no cell phones and no mouse pad…it was where all those hairy creatures lived. While waiting for lunch to be served, everyone played mahjong – aunties and cousins (even as young as 7 years old) – with real money provided by our lola and after lunch, the gentlemen played poker. I cannot recall anybody celebrating any birthday because every Sunday, we all feasted together. In spite of the absence of the modern age gadgets, life was wonderful!

It would be very difficult to replicate this scenery today. We simply live in a global village where employment and education facilities are found elsewhere. This is the reason why cell phones and a web presence through social networking have become a sad reality to be connected with our friends and relatives.

Rare are the occasions when somebody celebrates at their homes because today many residences are not large enough and when you invite 30 people, 30 cars will have to be parked securely. There is also the problem of house help and cooks to prepare the meals. If food is prepared too early, then it might be spoiled by the time it is served and though food warmers are a big help, food continues to cook when placed inside and it can be over cooked.

My friend, Paul Lopez recently celebrated his 53rd birthday in his residence at Hidden Valley, Talamban, and your favorite food columnist observed the basics of serving food to friends at home. Creative Cuisine (http://creativecuisinegourmetgroup. com, phone 23251720) was hired to prepare the food with live cooking stations. There is something that whets your appetite when you see the food cooked right in front of your eyes and smell the delicious smoke that emanates.

In fact, there were three live cooking stations. The Grill Station prepared the Scallop Wrapped in Bacon, Brazilian Style Chicken BBQ and the Grilled Hickory Ribs. The Prawn Tempura & the Shrimp Balls Stuffed Quail Egg were cooked in the Fry Station while the Teppanyaki Station (an iron grill is used) prepared the U.S. Beef & the Mixed Seafood Teppanyaki. The Shrimp Ball was good and in another event catered by Creative Cuisine, I had tasted another version of this dish, with whole shrimp with three types of eggs, chicken, salted duck and century egg. That was, excuse me, an exceptional dish!

Another group took charge of preparing a lamb which was the birthday gift of a friend. It was a great appetizer since the exterior is cooked first and should be served first. Only two dishes were served in the food warmers – Broccoli and Asparagus with Super Seafood Stew and the Spaghetti Bolognese. The birthday cake was personally prepared by Ms. Sharon Lopez who made her hobby into a business (Champs Bakeshop). [email protected]