A dinner like no other with Mario Katigbak

MILLIE: I love to entertain at home! Lucky for me, I am blessed with a happy home.  It was probably designed for entertaining with its spacious areas and elegant appointments. I’ve lived here for almost 50 years and have many fond memories of my younger days, especially my high school soirees when bands like the Moonstrucks and The End were invited to provide entertainment. Planning intimate dinners for small groups of friends comes as second nature to me. Hosting impromptu dinners is no strain at all, as my household help is well trained. I get a thrill planning surprise parties for special friends, sometimes even at a moment’s notice. With the kind of business I am in, it’s almost effortless, but I can imagine how stressful it must be for others.

KARLA: Just like Mom, I grew up hosting parties here and there and entertaining guests and friends. I remember how I always used to fall asleep on the couch in the sala while waiting for the party to end or how I’d try my best to stay up and not miss a moment even if the guests were all older than me. But growing up, I began hosting several parties of my own. In fact, my mom would rather have me invite friends over than allow me to go out, I guess so she would get to meet my friends and know that I’m in a safe place. But it’s okay, because my friends love hanging out at our place anyway, that’s why I always make it a point to store a couple of kilos of The Plaza’s ready-to-cook items like tapa, tocino and hamburger patties in case of impromptu gatherings and sleepovers. Most friends even request the Plaza tapa when I ask them what they want for breakfast or dinner. The thing about partying at our place is that we never run out of food. And if ever we do, well, we can always have some Plaza ham delivered to our doorstep. Ha!

MILLIE: I’ve noticed that the latest trend in home entertaining is to do part of it yourself or order food “to go.” Also, with the sudden proliferation of culinary schools, it is convenient to hire chefs to prepare the meal for you.

A recent intimate dinner was hosted at the home of Mario Katigbak of Bulgari and Hermés fame for a friend’s birthday. Robert Blancaflor executed an elegant floral centerpiece made of stargazers, cabbage roses, cactus and hydrengea. Mario used his personal collection of fine bone china, linen and crystal. I took a fancy to an exquisite Danish-inspired glass with a ruby red stump, which Mario used to serve red wine. It is interesting to note how Mario likes to mix match modern shapes and designs. In typical Mario fashion, he thoughtfully incorporates in his table setting little presents for his guests as token giveaways.

The dinner menu was built around the honoree who is on a meatless regime. For cocktails: caviar pie with bite-sized Melba rounds was a perfect tummy filler. Then, for starters, my daughter Karla prepared an assortment of hors d’oeuvres: bouchees with seafood pesto, smoked tanguingue mousse in cherry tomato cups, quail egg mousseline and pastrami roll-ups served with a tiny curly lettuce salad drizzled with balsamic vinaigrette. Mushroom cappuccino topped with foam came next as a soup. The main entrée Karla called Seafood Symphony; it was composed of a selection of seared scallops, Norwegian salmon and fresh coral prawn in a pea puree and served with handmade buttered tomato fettucini. Dessert was strawberry cheesecake, designed for the sweet tooth, not the diabetic. The surprise of the evening was a birthday cake from Emo-Ti-Cake by Makati Shangri-La.

KARLA: Here are a few entertaining tips:

1. Keep the house clean and well maintained at all times, as though it were ready to receive visitors any time.

2. Have some scented candles or Lampe Berger lamps ready at the front entrance where you receive guests.

3. Have a complete set of dining equipment such as polished silver flatware, glassware, china, table linen and hollow ware which may include chafing dishes if you entertain at home a lot.

4. Always have a pot of fresh flowering plants ready to be used as a floral centerpieces for your dining table or tropical plants from your garden which you can easily cut and arrange in tall glass vases for the buffet centerpiece.

5. Plan your guest list and the seating arrangement. Remember the guest of honor should be seated at the right of the host.

6. Plan your menu. Build it around the occasion or theme. Consider the invited guests’ food preferences, dietary constraints, allergies, etc. Normally, I like to have a stock of frozen meats and various special ingredients I’ve personally hand-selected on my grocery day. My mom’s inventory and selection of wines and liquors is also quite extensive, to the delight of my friends!

7. If you are short of household staff, prepare a small buffet table where you can lay out the food and condiments so that guests can just help themselves with ease. Or you may set the dishes on the dining table family style, for greater convenience.

8. If all of the above just seem too difficult to handle, call me or your favorite caterer and we’d be delighted to assist.

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Emo-Ti-Cake by Makati Shangri-La is available at the Sinfully Bakeshop, inside Circles Restaurant Level 1, Makati Shangri-La. Call 813-8888 Loc. 7463.

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For event styling and flower arrangement, call Robert Blancaflor at 0906-2321045.

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Send e-mail to milliereyes.foodforthought@gmail.com and karla@swizzlemobilebar.com.