Posts Tagged ‘dinner’
Monday, December 28th, 2009
What I love about Christmas is that so many friends from all over the world come home to celebrate Christmas. There is nothing like a Filipino Christmas! We just know how to celebrate this important holiday like no other race on the planet!
I recently had the pleasure to join a super chic homecoming dinner for one of our dearest friends Noel de la Rama! Noel has not been home for more than a decade. He resides in New York and is a personal chef for super famous people. Currently, he is the personal chef of Mr. Dustin Hoffman! Noel is like my own personal Zagat guide, giving me tips on the latest, hottest, best eats in New York City! Apart from that, Noel is really one great guy! We all love him!
He decided to surprise his best friend Junie Rodriquez with his home coming! Tita Fe (Junie’s Mom) was in cahoots with the whole surprise! The evening was an immense success! The meal was lovingly prepared amidst the most chic environment! Tita Fe & Junie are really my personal lifestyle heroes!
The Rodriguez's Christmas tree!
Junie was visually surprised with Noel's arrival.
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Tags: christmas, Christmas party, dinner, dinner party, Fashion Insider, Fe Rodriguez, food, friends, homecoming, Junie Rodriguez, Noel de la Rama, party, rajo laurel
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Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009
I recently had the opportunity to have dinner with Mr. Ernest Escaler. He is one of my personal idols and I was more than happy to comply to his invitation. The dinner was in honor of our friends Artus Concepcion and his partner Jonathan Richter. They are spending the holidays in the Philippines.
Ernest is our Chairman of the Asian Cultural Council. I sit on the board and he has really influenced my thoughts on philanthropy and art appreciation. He prepared a sumptuous meal composed of ingredients that he grew himself! How many of us can say that? After the meal, he toured us around his beautiful home filled with the most incredible art. I really enjoyed the evening, as it was one of those super intimate dinners. Hope you’re all doing well!
Ernest is in the center being flanked by Artus, Nix and Jonathan.
We started the evening by enjoying the cool breeze of the Philippine december air. I wish it was the weather was always this agreeable.
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Tags: art, Arturo Luz, Artus Concepcion, asian cultural council, Bencab, dinner, Ernest Escaler, Fashion Insider, fernando amorsolo, friends, Hidalgo, home decor, homes, Jonathan Richter, library, Murillo, paintings, rajo laurel
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Thursday, November 26th, 2009
I celebrated a triple whammy of an evening recently celebrating Thanksgiving, the going away party of my darling Malu and the birthday of my friend Joey Carpo. We held it in our favorite restaurant, which doubles as our club house: CIRCULO! My extended family was there, as I am a proud member of the Carpo clan. You can call me a Carpo chick anytime.
The menu was absolutely wondeful, lovingly prepared by Chef J Gamboa. We had a Thanks giving feast which started with pumpkin soup, then we had some beautiful asparagus served with chopped eggs. Then we had the turkey, which was smoked to perfection. It was the juiciest turkey that I have ever tasted in like forever. The secret is in the basting, as you inject this with a super secret sauce. LOL! J outdid himself with the stuffing. I am a stuffing kind of guy and his version was heavenly, filled with wild mushrooms, panccetta and other herbs. I ate one bowl to myself! YIKES! The sidings were just as great, the gratin potatoes were so smooth they kill me!
The birthday cake!
My extended family!
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Tags: birthday dinner, Chef J Gamboa, Circulo, dinner, Fashion Insider, food, friends, Joey Carpo, Malu Gamboa, rajo laurel, thanksgiving
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Thursday, September 24th, 2009
I found it so amusing when Tessa recently invited me to a dinner party for her birthday! I have attended 4 other parties in her honor and one more dinner is not so unusual! LOL! This time, the dinner was being hosted by Anton San Diego. It was really an intimate dinner of 10 people and it was really fun! Anton held it in his club/lounge The Establishment. We had the entire place all to ourselves!
The dinner was an intimate group of 10.
Cheers to Tessa!
The dinner was prepared by the super talented chef Godfrey Laforteza. I first tried his cuisine in Jakarta and have remained a fan ever since! His specialty is Asian fusion and the evening meal was really yummy! The dinner was a huge success; it had all the right ingredients, perfects setting, amazing food and the stories… If only the walls of Establishment could talk! Happy birthday, my darling Tessa!
The starter plate was really good, prawns with foie gras and a chawamushi with truffle essence.
Dennis and one of my idols Tita Virgie Ramos.
Herb encrusted lamb chop!
Sea bass with a sweet plum sauce! This was my favorite.
The beef steak!
Then the desserts came out! They were all ordered from the kitchen of Mara deLa Rama.
The talented chef, Godfrey Laforteza.
Happy Birthday ....Again & Again & Again...Tessa! We love you!
HUGS!
RAJO!
Tags: birthday, dinner, Fashion Insider, friends, rajo laurel, tessa prieto-valdes, the establishment
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Monday, August 10th, 2009
Remember me telling you that felt like hosting dinner at our place? I really love hosting dinners, but because of my toxic schedule, hosting dinners can be really a major challenge. Nix and I really enjoy entertaining at home and we recently had the pleasure of hosting a small dinner for our favorite love team Martin and Leica!
Martin lives in the States and Leica lives in Manila. Having a long distance relationship is really hard, but they are managing quite well. Since Martin is in town, we decided that it would be perfect to host. We live in a cozy apartment (read: small!) so we can only take a maximum of 8 people for dinner. Nix cooked a really wonderful meal and we all had a lovely time making kwento. I just wanted to share with all of you some photos of my home and the dinner that we had.
This is our place. We make it a habit to move the furniture around every few months so we do not get tired of the look. We edited quite a number of pieces this time making the room appear larger.
Another view of our apartment.
Dinner guests included our main gal pals Malu and Leica with Martin and my co-host Nix! LOL!
I had to throw a photo of me in!
My beautiful friend Kitty also came by with the best dessert ever!
I love this grainy shot of Martin and Leica! They are so happy! (enter collective SIGH!)
BFFs! Kitty and Malu!
HUGS!
RAJO!
Tags: dinner, dinner party, Fashion Insider, friends, home, leica carpo, loveteam, martin, rajo laurel
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Friday, July 3rd, 2009
One of my favorite people is in town: none other than international accessories designer Rafe Totengco. He flew in the other day and called me to have dinner with him at Lusso! We had a fantastic time chatting away and talking shop. I really adore this man; he is a true inspiration to all of us. We were joined by my other dear friend Reggie Jacinto-Barientos, who happens to be one of Rafe’s BFFs, and Nix.
I took care of the ordering and had a bevy of Lusso’s greatest hits! The shepherd’s pie was PHENOMENAL! YUMMERS! Rafe and I will be hitting Cebu for the weekend and will definitely do some blogging about that! Till then!
Reggie and Rafe sharing a hearty laugh! I just love to laugh, don't you?
Nix joins the photo session.
The super fine and absolutely fresh Divine Lee was next door so she stopped by to say hello!
We had to stop taking photos at one point and began to dig in! We started with some super deluxe mac and cheese and well......the rest, as they say, is history!
BIG HUGS!
RAJO!
Tags: dinner, Divine Lee, Fashion Insider, food, friends, lusso, rafe totengco, rajo laurel
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Saturday, June 6th, 2009
Nix recently organized a dinner with his dear friends at one of our favorite restaurants in the metropolis: Apt1B. We end up having dinner there at least twice a week. I was running late from a meeting, so I only joined them at the end of the meal. The dinner was a really wonderful, as Nix’s friends have not seen in each other in a really long time. I was pleasantly surprised when John Lloyd Cruz happened to be there. He is soooooooo CUTE! LOL! Nix and John have been friends for nearly a decade. We all had an amazing time!!!
Enjoy the photos!
BFFs! Nix, John Lloyd and Joanna!
Bianca Roque was also there. She is a TV host and commercial model. I think she has one of the freshest faces in the industry!
I tried to catch a candid photo of her, but she was too conscious.
Merlyn Manuel and Carla Pangilinan have been friends since they were in grade 2! That is what you call FRIENDSHIP!
Group shot! Nix, Bianca, John Lloyd and Joanna!
HUGS!
RAJO!
Tags: dinner, Fashion Insider, friends, rajo laurel
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Wednesday, May 20th, 2009
The main reason why I am in Japan now is because it’s my birthday. Normally, I would have had a nice big party with all my friends, and we would have a full evening of decadence and debauchery. This year I wanted something different: I wanted time to reflect and focus on what I want and need to do with my life. However, the party person in me still wanted a party! LOL! So I asked my Tokyo friends to find me a beautiful restaurant to celebrate in.
After careful research, I ended up deciding on the 2-star Michelin-rated KEYAKIZAKA. It is a teppanyaki restaurant, meaning they cook the food right in front of you. Keyakizaka is located a the Grand Hyatt in Roppongi hills. The architecture of the whole place is really breathtaking! I could not help but think of my Lolo again that night, as he introduced me to teppanyaki when I was all but a child. I had a really magnificent time, since the food was excellent and the company was divine! It was a really wonderful dinner to usher the next year of my life! Thank you to Dong, Tina, Jeff and to Nix for celebrating with me!
KEYAKIZAKA...I loved how subtle the styling of the restaurant's signage was. It's these quiet ways that really make Japan so endearing.
Landscape is taken into a whole new level here in Tokyo.
The restaurant's interiors!
Dong and Tina smile with me as we wait for dinner to start.
I should have told our chef to smile first! LOL!
We all ordered the full 8-course meal! YIKES! LOL!
We started out with a Japanese-style Caesar salad.
Group shot! Don't you love our bibs?! LOL!
Next came the King Crab legs, which were so juicy and sweet!
This was really odd but amazing! The vegetables were cooked in these plastic pouches! I guess it's a special plastic because it did not melt. Inside this was a delicate white fish that was just delicious.
Then we had some meat! LOL! Japan has really excellent beef.
I had mine medium! ITTADAKIMASU!
We then moved to another part of the room for dessert! I love how that room looked. Nice idea for a living room.
My friends surprised me with a cake! My favorite strawberry shortcake!
Tina models my pasalubong to her!
Here I am with my gifts! I love how Jeff wrapped his gift to me Furoshiki-style!
My friends wanted to make "salubong" my actual birthday, so we moved to the hotel's jazz bar called Maduro.
In Maduro, we had more drinks!
Maduro's interiors!
Glass walls and dark wood with amber colored lights! I love the interiors!
GIANT HUGS!
RAJO!
Tags: birthday, dinner, Fashion Insider, food, friends, japan, rajo laurel, travel
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Saturday, December 27th, 2008
For the last 35 years, we have always spent Christmas day at the house of my Lola! I look forward to this tradition annually as it really makes me feel what Christmas is all about. My Lola loves to cook, even to this day, at the fabulous age of 90! She still hovers around her kitchen, trying new things that she learned from her cooking class.
This portrait of my Lola Betty was done by Fernando Amorsolo. I love this painting so very much! She is just the most elegant woman I know.
This year is very special as she turned 90! Her birthday falls on the 26th and we had a grand celebration for her. I really enjoyed the food she and my Tita Ditas prepared. It was a lunch filled with nostalgia, from the Paella, in which the recipe has been handed down from generations, to the Lentejas (lentil soup), to the white fish with caper sauce, it really was nothing short of wonderful!
At 90, my lola is stunning!
Nix with my Lola Betty.
My Lola's Paella! This got consumed in 5 minutes flat.
White fish with caper sauce and Chicken Galantina!
The festive table setting!
Tita Ditas prepared some food for the gods and it was so good that my Lola Lydia went nuts trying to eat them all! LOL!
Lola with me and Nix for a quick portrait!
I assume all of us did their own share of feeding this season! LOL! No worries! It’s Christmas and we can now begin to think of ways on how to lose all those extra pounds! Any suggestions? Mine will be simple! Not to eat so much and get thee to the Bikram Yoga studio! See you soon!
HUGS!
RAJO!
Tags: christmas, dinner, family, food, holiday, parties
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Monday, December 15th, 2008
It feels like I have not blogged in ages! I arrived five days ago from Hong Kong and since I only had 6 hours to do my errands I failed to take any photos! I feel bad that I was not able to take photos of the items that I bought but let me tell you, whoever conceived of the new Giordano concepts is a genius! LOVET! I am happy that I hear Rockwell mall will have it soon as its really the best in all categories! Style, fit, fabric and above all PRICE! Check the website Giordanoconcepts.com and drool!
Anyhoo! I arrived in Manila and played host to my BFF Bob McCubbing! He used to live in Manila and now lives in China! He loves the Christmas spirit here and since there is no Christmas in China to speak of he decided to come over and get some Christmas cheer! His timing could not be perfect as I had scheduled a tiny Christmas cocktail in my apartment, for my design team and close friends! I wanted everyone to experience our tree as you can really feel Christmas by taking a whiff of that lovely pine smell ! PASKO TALAGA!
Our Christmas tree! I edited the lashes that I originally placed as I felt that it detracted much from the tree. Kept it simple and real!
BFF BOb with my cutie NIX! Loving his prep-school look!
In my opinion I have hosting parties in my place down to a science. All I need really is 6 hours and a few telephone numbers and it’s done! I start with the food! Milky Way is the best for this, you call ahead and you place for food orders for the party and you pick it up and TADAH!!! Party na! I always order – you can eat standing up!
My flat is tiny and I tend to over-invite so table space is a luxury! This is my party mix and everyone just loves it. One part chicken lollipops, one part corn dogs, one part pork BBQ and one part macaroni & cheese equals happy peeps! (Call Milky Way at 028108735 have them fax you the party menu, believe me it’s a godsend.)
Kept desserts nice and simple! Who does not love the rolls "ROYCE"of chocolates! So happy that they are now open in the Rockwell mall! They disappeared so fast in my party! LOL!
Beverages are a must at any cocktails and I like to keep it simple. Grey Goose vodka is a must and a selection of mixers, like orange juice or Cranberry as well as tonic water and sodas. Then you have your red and white wine and always have some champagne! I then call on Robby Carmona to make me a music party mix! Not only is Robby a fantastic show director he is an amazing DJ! He just actually emails me the list I transfer it to my IPOD and it’s done! Of course it’s really about the mixture of people. Invite who you love and everyone will feel that!
My first guest! YOYA! I laid out a self-service bar in the middle of the room so people can just help themselves.
Malu, Anton, Gela and Leica...Merry merry indeed!
Bob and Leica hamming it up for the cam!
Leica taking charge!
Party in full swing!
Can you imagine I was able to fit 20 people in my tiny flat! That is what I call cozy!
I am sure you’re all in the thick of the holidays! Have fun and be safe!
HUGS!
RAJO!
Tags: christmas, dinner, Fashion Insider, food, friends, home, party, rajo laurel
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