The Chronicles of a House-Crasher: Greek Cookout

The rewards of house-crashing: power-ups on culture points, culinary knowledge, priceless bonding moments

 
Gone are the days of malling and unrelenting night-outs--as noticed by almost each member of our circle, we've slowly veered from those, as if unanimously--since we've discovered the joys of house-crashing.

It started with Pad-raiding (via the now-defunct Makati Ghels: first Marion's, then Chuckie's), then house-hopping (courtesy of the South Sirens: Carla, Meg, Shey, and again, Chuckie; then the Northen Stars: Ivan, Kara, J; later on, via MDAFI: Leo). Not only because it's budget-friendly (what's more economical than raiding the ref/month's worth of supply of a family!? haha kidding, sometimes we bring goodies over!) but because there's nothing like amping-up the party ante within homebase, away from the prying eyes of the public, where you can dance sans the heavy make-up/expensive outfit/guestlist worries/overpriced booze and do whatever strikes your fancy without getting booted/hugely humiliated. The disadvantage, of course, is less new eye candy for the singles, (unless one of us brings along new "prey" plus "colony") but that is hugely overlooked by the priceless moments collected each "session".

We've always had booze sessions before, and there were times that we had cook-outs, but there's nothing like the one we had last Maundy Thursday. Last year, Maundy Thursday was a Pad-Crash session with Marion, Nikos and Ivan: we cooked Tuna Pasta, swam-walked in the condo-pool with my very athletic bathing suit (pang-varsity as per Marion hahahaha!), watched ANTM, had a visitor, experienced a flat tire, plus other..... uh..... adventures. *wink*

This year's Maundy Thursday was Gourmet Staycation, a cook-out session with our dear friend and celebrity chef extraordinaire Mitchie Sison, Sunnex' newest endorser of cookware. (Yep she has her own cookware! and... standees! :p) And though she's been subjected to countless teasing by us re: her standees, posters and such, she was super gracious enough to teach us lots of cooking basics.

The Menu:
Grape and Mango Greek Salad
Grilled Chicken with Pepper Couscous
Tuna, Tomato, Olive and Feta in Angel Hair
Raspberry and Chocolate Oatmeal cakes

The group checking out Ivan's garlic smashing skills

Mitchie carefully explained a lot of concepts and taught each of us how to properly handle kitchen equipment, how to cut, slice, chop, clean food, roast, saute, boil, grill, mix, bake (the list goes on)... and it really felt like being in a very fun, informal cooking class! Sobrang thank you, Mitchie! Thank you for being very patient with us! :) We really learned a lot!

No, not a class--it felt like we were in a Lifestyle Network show. :)

Ivan's first try: Opening cans

Mitchie teaches me how to saute!

Chuckie's turn

Oh, feta!

ang pinakafasyon na cook sa balat ng lupa! Carla and the pasta sauce

expert nut chopping skillz by Chuckie

prepping the pasta and setting the table

Nikos checking out the chicken

Ivan studies his prey

Mitchie and Maxine!

Really overwhelmed with so much good food

Carla a few seconds prior to being the day's casualty :P

Fresh, healthy, Mediterranean, and best of all, made by US. :) We were extremely pleased with our new-found cooking prowess! (naks!)

We've already contemplated on a show format, ala-After Hours with Daniel by Daniel Boulud, wherein we'll gather to cook in Mitchie's house after a day of work and preparation, and where the conversations and the actual act of consuming food will be the focus of the show. :P

Borlogs after!

Kanya-kanyang internet pocket time

 Oooops, di pa tapos! We saved room for merienda-dessert: Blueberry Tea paired with the OATMEAL CAKES!

Mitchie teaching us how to "lighten" the butter

oh, the joys of baking: NAKAKAPAYAT!

Tea time :)

We've planned to make our "house-crashing" a weekly/bi-monthly affair, complete with themes. Next up is Viet night; but then I've already been hearing about "Temptation Island" night, since it was proposed that our theme-nights should cater to each attendee's field of work: there should be movies, too!


So Mitchie, what's on the next menu? :)

*all photos taken by Chuckie Chavez