It has not been my usual self lately.. hehe.. That's what people who know me has been saying last Christmas Eve.

What has gotten into you?? You're cooking?? Oh well.. I just wanted a not so common way of celebrating Christmas. I did not want the common foods on the table, the usual gift giving at midnight.. I wanted something different! And this is my way of expressing variety! -- thru cooking!

I have not been good at cooking. Even before I start holding a pan, people at home will tease me. Ask me if I'm delirious or having a slight fever.. Well, I'm going to be a year older soon I thought, so, I might as well do what I want to do. Haha..

I asked a friend to share me her recipe for Kaniloni. I was able to taste this pasta during her kid's birthday and was immediately excited to try it out for myself. On the 23rd, I bought the ingredients I needed. My golly, the lines in the grocery store was unbelievable! Its a good thing I have a very long line of stories waiting to be told. I passed the test of boredom by telling my partner a lot of stories while waiting in line.. By night time, my friends have been ringing me and asking when they can taste my masterpiece.. In demand! 😝

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Image by Crissy Ocallaghan

The 24th came.. It was my mom's birthday. I asked her to accompany me to the market to buy some crab. It has long been my plan.. to eat crab on Christmas Eve! By the afternoon, I visited some friends who were still out and breaking their backs from selling their pika-pika foods. They were all in eager anticipation of this long awaited Maricris-cooked pasta! Told them, I'm going to bring some to them on Christmas day, the 25th.

Before I prepared the pasta, I had a 30-minute nap, for it was really a long day for me.. I woke up after this short nap and prepared the ingredients. I finished cooking at around 7:30pm. Maybe just in time for dinner. I had to let the Kaniloni sit and wait for the sauce to seep into the pasta. Shortly after eating, I had a plate of my own masterpiece.. and viola! It actually tasted great!

I brought some to my friends the next day.. and they finished it up like it was just a barbecue stick or some pika-pika they were eating.. and guess what? They were asking me to cook another batch of Kaniloni.. Christmas definitely became something worth to remember because of this success! 😄I just hope I don't cook every 25 years of my life.. Haha!

For this coming new year, I'm kinda planning to cooking something more challenging.. Watch out for my next post on my cooking spree this holiday season! Hehe.. 😉