portioned, marzipanned, decorated, and wrapped the christmas cake.

© Joselito Briones

so we decided to share one of our home-made fruitcakes with our neighbors (we still have one soaking in brandy).  charles made marzipan from scratch (very good).

we went to the east village to get a present for one of our neighbors' new baby, then to broadway panhandler and got those green and red bits for cake decoration (above photo). we weren't gonna get anything from there - one of those things where "oh it's just there, let's see what they have" and of course we walked out with the cake decorations, a spatula, and an all-clad roasting pan.

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eating mini christmas cake at 2:30am

© Joselito Briones
whoever said that patience is a virtue obviously doesn't know the smell of baking christmas cake.  this is fresh from the oven, and is supposed to be drip-drowned in brandy for days before consumption, but i'm eating it now.  the large, proper-sized version is still in the oven (charles and i started baking late at 10pm), hopefully that one will last until christmas.

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helping take down city hall xmas tree

space is pretty.

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royce' - what i did christmas eve

courtesy of eric and mals! super yummy and silky dark chocolate. finished the box and did marathon viewing of lord of the rings trilogy.

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sp2 christmas dinner at gaddis in peninsula hotel, hong kong

the occasion: 2011 office christmas dinner of sp2

the place: gaddis at the peninsula hotel, hong kong

in attendance: mr. joseph fung and his guests: francis au, douglas young, benjamin lau, nicholas wong, and sk kan; me of course, and the rest of the people who work at sp2: carl, john, david, karen, raymond, wing, danielle, ligaya, eric (with wife sally), and lorenzo.

all photos © Joselito Briones


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i spy

i spy
with my little eye...
something beginning with L and V

hmmm... i wonder who's the gonna be the lucky one.


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what can you buy for $20

as an experiment, i invited my nephews and nieces (and kids) to submit a gift wish for the early christmas celebration - with the condition that it should cost US$20 or less, and that if i can't find it in the price limit, they'll automatically get PHP50 instead.  you should've seen the list they made:  lens for a digital camera, wrist watch, desktop speaker with subwoofer, and the one that takes the cake, a complete kitchen package from ikea. well that one's from my youngest sister, and of course she'd pay for it, but i'm in hong kong and she actually expects me to put the whole thing, cabinets and all, in one door-to-door box.  between her and my eldest sister who thought up the early christmas celebration, i wonder why i bother making up fictitious characters for stories.

anyway, kids today have a very grand idea of what a gift can be, and no idea of the value of money. no one asked for a certain book, or cd (i suspect they all just download anything they want), or any traditional toys, or some special food, or something really basic, like a new pair of socks. sign of the times? i remember when getting ANY sort of gift was a real treat - now it has to be branded products and electronics, and only the latest ones will do.  in a way i guess it's also a good indicator that all the basics are well provided for.  now that's really something to celebrate.


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