Queermas party... Asean edition... hehe...

Sunday night was spent with Pg Boy's friends.

His housemate and good friend E organized the get-together among the group. Good Pinoy friend Ian was there too so yay.

Come to think of it, it's because of Ian that I met this group. Had it not been for him, and had he not invited me to join him at rowing, I dunno how I would've met the entire group.

That night, the group included Filipinos, Singaporeans, a Malaysian-Chinese, Indonesians, and an American (E's dad who flew in for business and to see E).

There was no theme for the food. Hehe. But, the good thing about this was that there was a variety of food - sushi, popish, an assortment of pies, cheese and crackers, chocolate cake, chocolate cupcakes, and wine, lotsa wine. Haha! Ian also made his really popular vodka sprite mix.

I guess one of my fave moments of the night was just after everyone has already eaten and almost everyone settled down at the long sofa to continue to chitchat. Pg Boy and I brought out our bag with gifts. I love the look of surprise (and appreciation) on everyone. Hehe!

Since I was off last Thursday and Friday, I took care of the shopping after checking with Pg Boy if he was okay with the gift ideas. His assignment was to write the individual messages for the gift cards.

You can take the Filipino boy out of his city. But you can't take certain traditions in that Filipino boy. It reminded me of the Queermas party in Manila where everyone has gifts for everyone. (MkSurf8 and Chris, your gifts are with me. Late shopping. Ergo, I wasn't able to give during the Pinoy Queermas party. Hehe!)

It was definitely a good dinner. No, it was definitely a good first Christmas away from home thanks to all friends who still gave the gift of Christmas through their house parties, even if we were in a country that doesn't really celebrate Christmas.

Christmas eve dindin...

Because it's my first Christmas away from home, and because the last time I celebrated Christmas with someone special was five (or was it six?) years ago, I really wanted to make it more memorable.

Thanks to Google, I found two good choices - Carousel at the Royal Plaza at Scotts and one of the restaurants at the Meritus Mandarin.

Both had good reviews. I called both dining venues. However, since it was just a few days away from Christmas eve, both restaurants were already fully booked.

A little more Googling and I was led to a restaurant at the Pan Pacific Hotel.

It seemed like a really good choice.

I had no idea whether the food was good, but I was confident that the venue was going to be super. So I decided to go ahead and book a table for two.

Saturday night. Pg Boy came from another appointment. I came from my home. We agreed to meet at 7PM at Suntec Convention Center.

Close to 7PM, I get a text from Pg Boy that he's running late. It's Christmas and I was really excited for dindin, so I just stayed cool. I called the restau and they were more than happy to hold the table for 30 more minutes.

Christmas can still be saved. Haha!

By 730, Pg Boy arrived. We walked to Pan Pacific right across the street. We got into the lift. Someone already pressed 37. I moved really close to the window to get a good view of the city during the ride up.

The lift doors opened and we were at our destination - Hai Tien Lo.

I thought it was a really nice restau. After giving my name to the reception, we were led to our table. I asked for a table that gave a nice view of the city, and I was really glad that they granted my request.

Haha! I dunno if it was because of the formal setting or what, but it felt like we were on a first date. I felt nervous, and was a bit tense. Haha! We were back to our usual selves once the food was started to be served.

The starter was a deep-fried prawn with wasabi mayonnaise sauce and barbecued duck. Soup was braised shark's fin with fish maw and chicken. There was also spare ribs with seafood spring rolls, followed by poached white cabbage with baby abalone in shark's bone broth. Since it was a Chinese restau, rice had to be part of the menu. Hehe. The main was Wok-fried rice with scallops and eggs.

The dessert was really good, too. Chilled cream of pumpkin with rock melon and ice cream. At first, I wasn't so sure about the idea of pumpkin but it turned out to be really nice.

So did the whole dinner experience.

I was actually grateful that I didn't get to book a table with the other restaus. Otherwise, it wouldn't have been as nice and romantic as the one we had. Things do happen for a reason, yeah.

Really memorable.

Chrissy din...

In Manila, one of the highlights of the Christmas season is the annual Christmas party with the gang, which we have called Queersmas party (Hehe!).

The first ever I can recall was in 2003, I think, at the place Xoch and Jigs were renting. Since then, it has been a yearly thing. Sometimes, the venue would be at a restau. Sometimes, it would be at someone's home.

Wherever it was, the gathering is always meaningful, full of laughter and happiness. For me, it's a time to be with friends who have made the year that is about to come to an end very memorable and special.

I'm really glad that that tradition was carried on here in Singapore.

Despite our busy schedules, Ian, Chris, MkSurf8 and I were able to plan a Chrissy dinner for friends. Hehe.

Thanks to MkSurf8 for agreeing to have the dinner party at his place.

Thanks to Chris' contact, we were able to have Filipino dishes - chicken adobo, lumpiang shanghai, sisig, and rice. Hehe! Guests also brought food and booze. Ray Conniff music played. The TFC was on. Hehe.

It was the OFW version of the Queersmas dinner party. :) Definitely a good first Queersmas dindin away from home for me.

Happy Christmas!

It's the start of Xmas 2011...

It's officially Christmas.

Yesterday, I attended my first Pinoy gathering for Christmas 2011.

Friday night, I was checking Facebook and that's when I saw the message from JoAnn inviting people to their home for a Christmas gathering.

JoAnn and Kym adopted me on several of my trips here to SG. They also adopted me on my first month in SG. That's why I am so, so grateful to this couple.

After checking with Pg Boy our weekend schedule, I confirmed our attendance to the gathering with JoAnn.

I thought it was really sweet of her to call me on the morning of the gathering just to tell me to ask Pg Boy to go.

I was also looking forward to the gathering because I know that the food will be Pinoy. Woohoo!

Saturday morning, I headed to Ikea Tampines to look for present Pg Boy and I can give for the exchange gift.

Since Pg Boy moved to Tampines, it was much easier for us to get to the home of JoAnn and Kym. Their place was only a few bus stops away.

By 5PM, I was back in my first home in SG. I kinda miss that area. Though it was a bit crowded, I like it that I had access to almost everything I need.

Some guests were already there when we arrived. Other guests started arriving minutes after Pg Boy and I came.

It was a nice gathering. I definitely enjoyed the food. For someone who doesn't really celebrate Christmas, I think Pg Boy did okay. He liked the lumpiang shanghai. And he was game enough to join the games prepared by Rej, JoAnn and Jackie.

We didn't get to stay for the exchange gift part though. It was date night for us, so we had to leave around 8 plus.

Still, it was a good dinner and games night. Thank you to JoAnn and Kym for having us.

It's officially Christmas... err... the holiday season...

The holiday season is officially here.

Last night was the year-end party of the company.

The theme was "Everyone's a Star." Employees were encouraged to come as their favorite star.

Usually, I would be game enough for this. Just look at the photos of the holiday parties when I was still with Smart.

However, I didn't have enough time to prepare for the party because I've been indisposed these past few weeks, and I wanted to see Manila friends Jamie and Ros who arrived on the day of the year-end party.

So, I came to the party as myself. LOL! Many others did.

But it was really so good seeing many of my Filipino friends come to the party as some "star." Chris came as Johnny Depp. Specifically, the Mad Hatter. Alexie and Paula were Audrey Hepburn and Kate Middleton, respectively. Miguel went as Harry Potter.

While I do miss the Smart Xmas party, the company party we had was also a memorable one for many reasons. It was held at Resorts World Sentosa. Food was okay. Nothing spectacular. (Or maybe because I wasn't feeling well. :-/) Several gift vouchers, iPod shuffles, and other gadgets were raffled off. Oh, I also won a 500GB external hard drive during the raffle.

The best part I have to say was seeing Miguel and Chris up on the stage wowing the crowd with their "dancing" skills. Hehe!

2011 has definitely been a good year, a very good year.

Obviously, the best thing that happened to me this year is the Singapore dream becoming a reality when I bagged the job with Wiley.

I'm very thankful.

Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree...

Check out this nice tree at Vivo City.

Woohoo! Starting to feel Christmas-y here!

Yey!

Christmas is fast approaching...

My fave holiday of the year is just around the corner.

Today, I heard a Christmas carol being played at a nearby mall while I was waiting for my train to arrive.

I couldn't help but smile.

It's going to be a different Christmas.

Also, check out the ABS-CBN Christmas 2011 Station ID. I can SO relate, and it made me teary-eyed. Haha!

And I have to agree, Da Best ang Pasko ng Pilipino.