Our small condo is the go-to place for the Holidays. It’s our HQ for low-key celebrations.

But this year’s Christmas was a little bit different…

I can finally cook decent meals!

The whole year of being on a lockdown helped in improving my cooking. We seldom order food these days, but if we do, it’s usually burgers and pizzas. And because of that, I’ve probably spent half of this year in the kitchen, which contributed to my new found confidence to try new dishes.

This Christmas I planned on preparing the following food for our Nochebuena.

• Lechon Pork Belly
• Steak with Entrecôte and Mushroom Sauce
• Salted Egg Fried Chicken
• Mashed Potato
• Pumpkin Soup

And guess what?! I completed all those dishes with the help of my brother and sister, of course! It feels great to accomplish the things that you have planned, right?

Well, here’s how I did it! Watch the vlog.

4:30 am

I started my day at 4:30 am. I knew that it would be a long day, so I made sure I did my workout before anything else. My daughter was still asleep, so I had enough time to vlog before our breakfast. I even had enough time to shop for cold cuts and cheese!

11:30 am

I had clear goals for the day – start with the sauces and then work on the soup while the Lechon pork belly is roasting in the oven. Things were running smoothly in the kitchen, so I hopped on our bike for a quick cycling session with my daughter as my trainer.

2:00 pm

I felt a bit tired in the afternoon and thought about taking a nap. But my energy was still high, so I decided to finish the mashed potato and pumpkin soup before my daughter wakes up from her afternoon nap.

4:00 pm

The Lolo and Lola arrived, so there’s a little bit of pause in the kitchen. I hope I gave them some snacks because I couldn’t remember serving them anything that afternoon. At that point, I was already feeling the drag, but there’s no way I’m getting the power nap, so I kept working in the kitchen.

6:30 pm

Finally, my sibs arrived to help in the kitchen. I just needed them to look after the chicken and prepare the steak because most of the dishes were done at this point. They added salmon and lasagna, so our small round dining table was almost full.

8:00 pm

We had our dinner at 8:00 pm, and everyone looked happy to finally get a taste of what we had been cooking the whole day. Right after dinner, Kerrigan distributed our gifts to the family. The gifts were very simple this year. Next year, our Christmas gifts will be super extravagant, and I will make sure of that! 😉

11:30 pm

We did Live streaming one Kumu while waiting for the 25th. We tried my favorite Italian Holiday bread with coffee, and it was delicious, of course! Everyone went home not long after that.

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