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Gingerbread House at Marta’s Cakes

Sunday Nov 30, 2008


Every weekend, my husband and I check our condo unit at Two Serendra and most of all the latest finds at Market! Market! and other ritzy restaurants in Serendra. I am in the lookout for Noche Buena ideas for those who don’t have the time to cook during the holidays.

One of my delightful finds is the Gingerbread House From Marta’s Cakes.


The quaint little houses added such a festive touch to their window display. Curious, I wanted to know if they actually sell Gingerbread Houses.

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Noche Buena Ideas from Salcedo Weekend Market in Makati

Tuesday Nov 18, 2008

salcedo market
As early as November, I already start planning what to prepare for my noche buena. I usually cook 90% of the dishes I serve at our dinner table and buy one dish from stores or restaurants. Last year, the only dish I bought was Majestic Chinese Ham. I took another look at the Salcedo Community Food Market- At the Velasquez Car Park, Leviste St., Tordesillas Sts Salcedo Village, Makati City for Noche Buena dishes that I might serve on Christmas Eve or Christmas day. Here are a few food finds that might also give you some ideas.

Jiro’s Native Lechon for Cebu Style Lechon.

cebu lechon

Instead of having the usual Chinese ham, why not have a succulent Cebu-style lechon? Unlike Tagalog lechon, the meat of Cebu lechon is seasoned with lemongrass, which makes the meat so tasty that you don’t even need to dip it in sarsa.

Jiro’s Cebu-Style native lechon costs 7,000 pesos for 20-25 kilos while it costs 4,000 pesos for 10 kilos. The 1/4 kilo sells for 130 pesos

Joy Swiss Ham

For those who feel that it’s not noche buena without Chinese ham on the table, another good alternative to Majestic Ham is Joy Swiss Ham. According the owner, their ham has no salitre or preservatives.

smoked ham

800 pesos per kilo and 400 pesos half a kilo
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Filipino-American Noche Buena

Thursday Dec 27, 2007

pinoy noche buena in America

Just because you’re miles away from home, doesn’t mean you can’t have your favorite Filipino treats for your Noche Buena. My relatives from Hercules, California sent us pictures of their Christmas dinner and it looks to me like their menu was even more Filipino than ours.

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Pinoy Noche Buena

Tuesday Dec 25, 2007

The Noche Buena meal usually takes place as soon as the entire family comes back from the late evening mass at their parish. We attended the 10 pm mass last night but we spent the hours before church preparing our meal, which consisted of pansit bam-i (Bisayan style), chunky chicken macaroni salad, Majestic ham, and suman for dessert.

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Top Five Noche Buena Dishes

Wednesday Dec 19, 2007

Christmas is less than a week away, which means that a week from now my tummy will be bloated from the never-ending kainan with my family. Not that I mind too much since aside from birthdays and the occasional gathering, this is the only time of the year I can indulge in food that we don’t normally have at home. So next week I shall stop weight-watching and calorie-counting whilst I feast on my favorite noche buena dishes (arranged in no particular order):

Lechon Paella
lechon paella

It’s easy to see why lechon paella would rank above one of my favorite foods in the entire world – it’s pretty much two different dishes in one. You have a juicy lechon roasted to perfection. Hack its crispy skin with a knife and inside you’ll find steaming hot seafood paella. Eat the lechon meat together with the paella and lechon sauce, or eat them separately. Yum.

Chinese Ham
chinese ham

You can’t have noche buena without Chinese ham on the table. Chinese Ham to Filipinos on Christmas is like turkey to Americans during Thanksgiving. I like eating mine in a sandwich while picking on the pineapple or the apple slices, depending on which recipe my mom decides to make.

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