Last year was the second Christmas without Papa. It was better than 2009 though because my brother went home from Manila and stayed for more than a week. He probably sensed my frustrations when i told him Mama spent new year's eve at my aunt's house and i went home and was alone at midnight.
Last Christmas I cooked my vegan spaghetti. We celebrated Christmas in Bacolod as usual. I made some vegan lumpia too. Too bad they didnt like it. :) Our cook liked it but i couldnt tell if she was sincere or not. Well i only prepared it to have them taste my culinary invention hehehe. My brother said it tasted good but the spaghetti was weird. Hmm it was more of a vegan pasta. For a vegan pasta it was delicious but my relatives are carnivores so the concept is strange to them. Instead of real spaghetti i used Lucky Me noodles. Cauliflower instead of meat. mixed with corn and nuts. My cousin micmic ran to our house in the compound and complained to her mother who was with me and asked, "Nay, what kind of spaghetti was that? it had corn! hehehe. Tita Jumra said oh your Manang Karen made that. And then he started to massage my back and said it was good. hehehhe. Anyway, to make up for that embarrassment, on New Years eve, i cooked for my brother a real spaghetti, using my father's recipe. And he liked it. Of course, for me, it was the best! :)
