December 2011 – The Adventures of a Calamari Queen

Christmas 2011

I had a nice Christmas with my husband’s family. We enjoyed yummy seafood like crabs, lobster, shrimp, oysters and also everybody’s fave the Cheese fondue! It was my husband who took care of that, he prepared cheddar and gruyere cheese fondue! It was such a hit! I think we’ll probably have fondue again next Christmas:) Santa (husband) spoiled me this Christmas because he gave me an LV bag. He said I’ve been nice this year(LOL!). We also spent Christmas eve with my husband’s family(Aunties, cousins, Grandmother) and opened white elephant gifts. All in all, it was a great weekend with family, food, movies, gifts and most specially celebrating the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ!

Dinner,we had ham,turkey,Green Beans,Scalloped potatoe

paella pan,with ingredients and spanish cookbook

Vegetable fried rice with bacon

I made a simple dinner tonight because Sis and I plan to bake some cookies and we want to conserve our energy. I’ve made this before and it was quite delicious:)

Recipe from Food Network Magazine/cookbook...:)

Filipino Chicken Adobo with Quail eggs

Chicken Adobo has gotta be one of the most famous dishes in Philippines. I’m not into it so much but my sister is. I prefer the pork adobo (pork belly adobo). There are many ways to prepare Adobo, like some people marinate the meat overnight and some fry it first before braising. I’m no Adobo expert, so I guess whatever works for you is fine. This is a very simple recipe and was satisfying to eat:) I got the recipe from the Food Network website!

Ingredients

4-5 lbs. chicken thighs ( I used drumsticks)
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup soy sauce
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp. black peppercorns
3 bay leaves

Directions

Combine all ingredients in a large pot. Cover and marinate chicken for 1-3 hours. Bring to boil, then lower heat. Cover and let simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Uncover and simmer until sauce is reduced and thickened, and chicken is tender, about 20 more minutes. Serve with steamed rice.

Chicken with Mustard Mascarpone Marsala sauce

I’ve made this pasta dish a couple of times already and it doesn’t disappoint! This is by far my favorite Giada De Laurentii recipe.

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, each breast cut crosswise into 3 pieces
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
5 tablespoons butter, divided
3/4 cup chopped onion
1 pound cremini mushrooms, sliced
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 cup dry Marsala wine
1 cup (8 ounces) mascarpone cheese
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves, plus whole sprigs, for garnish
12 ounces dried fettuccine

Directions

Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a heavy large skillet over high heat. Add the chicken and cook just until brown, about 4 minutes per side. Transfer the chicken to a plate and cool slightly.

While the chicken cools, melt 2 tablespoons of butter to the same skillet over medium-high heat, then add the onion and saute until tender, about 2 minutes. Add the mushrooms and garlic and saute until the mushrooms are tender and the juices evaporate, about 12 minutes. Add the wine and simmer until it is reduced by half, about 4 minutes. Stir in the mascarpone and mustard. Cut the chicken breasts crosswise into 1/3-inch-thick slices. Return the chicken and any accumulated juices to the skillet. Simmer, uncovered, over medium-low heat until the chicken is just cooked through and the sauce thickens slightly, about 2 minutes. Stir in the chopped parsley. Season the sauce, to taste, with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the fettuccine and cook until al dente, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes. Drain. Toss the fettuccine with 3 tablespoons of butter and season, to taste, with salt and pepper. Swirl the fettuccine onto serving plates. Spoon the chicken mixture over top. Garnish with parsley sprigs and serve.

Weekend Fun!

We had a nice weekend with lots of food and movies, shopping for Christmas gifts, watched Christmas decors/lights and I’m finally done with our Christmas decorations so we are just enjoying our lovely house:)

our drinks while enjoying snowflake lane

Christmas decors 2011

Here’s the pictures that Hubby took in our house this week, I just used old Christmas decorations that we had already and “styled” it the same way like last year:)

:)..a new thing this year and I love the idea..

year 2008 (1st Christmas together in our old apartment, 1st Christmas with our Riley 2010)

friends and family gather here lenox plate and santa chillin!

nativity set on our Dining table! The reason of the season:) The Birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ:)

Spaghetti Carbonara

I prepared this last night, after a long afternoon of cleaning our yard. So that means I wanted a quick and easy meal. Here’s another easy recipe that I got from my food network magazine cook book. What’s not to love about carbonara? Calories aside, it is the perfect pasta! Creamy and cheesy and of course, “Bacony” (if there’s such a word)

December/Winter 2011 Bucket List

Lately, I’ve been writing a lot of “To Do” lists around the house because I really want to enjoy the holiday season as stress free as possible! I feel so productive whenever I cross items off of my lists. It’s also fun to share with my family and friends what we’ve been up to and what we’re gonna be doing for the coming weeks:) Here’s our random lists:

-Attend Christmas Eve/Day service

-Put Up Christmas decorations (I’m still not done, but the tree is up)

-Drink Hot Chocolate

-Play In the Snow

-Argosy Christmas Cruise Dinner (we did this already,post to come)

-Watch Christmas concert (we did this also, post to come) we watched Michael W. Smith Christmas concert

-Take a drive and watch Christmas lights/decorations

-Send out Christmas cards

-Attend my Husband’s company Christmas party

Watch Christmas movies,Listen to Christmas music and dance!

-Bake cookies and give/share with family and friends

-Host Christmas get together

-Go Ice skating

-Blog regularly for family and friends back home (Philippines,Hawaii,NZ)

-Plan something fun for New Year’s Eve

Watch The Nutcracker Ballet Performance

-Lots of cuddle time with our Love Love Riley

Another Shrimp Scampi dish!

We had this scampi dish last month, but we had a hectic schedule last month with our birthdays and Thanksgiving and I forgot to post these yummy pics and recipe. This is the same scampi recipe that I did yesterday (Racheal Rays). I used tiger prawns and instead of pasta we had garlic bread to accompany these succulent prawns!

Baby Shrimp Scampi and Pasta

I cleaned our yard today so I’m really tired and just wanted to have a quick and easy dinner! There’s nothing as quick as pasta for dinner. This is a Rachael Ray recipe that I got on food network website:)

Ingredients

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, 2 turns of the pan
2 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces
1 large shallot, finely chopped
1 lemon, zested
1/3 pound baby shrimp, 300 count
1/4 cup dry vermouth or white wine, eyeball it
1/2 cup grape tomatoes
1/3 pound angel hair pasta, cooked to al dente
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons chopped or snipped fresh chives

Directions

Get your pasta water going. Start the scampi sauce when you drop your pasta into boiling water to cook.

Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add extra-virgin olive oil and melt the butter into it. Add shallots and cook a minute or 2, stirring constantly. Add lemon zest and shrimp and heat shrimp through, another minute or two. Add vermouth or wine and tomatoes. Toss another minute to heat the tomatoes through. Add cooked pasta to the pan and toss to coat evenly in sauce and to distribute the shrimp. Season libe