Sheng Speaks About MJ

He died. Millions mourned. Each has their own tribute. Each has their own story to tell, as if offering a glimpse of who Michael Jackson really is. Because for many of his fans, he's just the King of Pop, with his trademark suit, his trademark dance, and of course, his trademark voice. Then to some, he was also Wacko Jacko, whose eccentricities were caught on camera and being laughed at all over the world.

I am a fan because I love his music. His dance songs make everyone dance. His ballads make everyone cry. He's like no other.

But countless times, especially after numerous child molestation controversies plagued his popularity, I wonder if the Michael Jackson being portrayed as someone who cares deeply for the children, the environment and the world is the same Michael Jackson who moonwalks and cries Aw! Isn't it just a ploy to make the global pop icon closer to being human like us?

Sheng Receives Bad News in a Green Envelope

I got a mail today. In a green envelope. I even exclaimed how lovely is the color of the envelope, as I was carelessly ripping it open. Only to find out that it contains a very frustrating news.

It was a notice of overdue balance from BDO.

What the...?! How did I incur an overdue balance? As far as I know, I've settled all my bills for the month of June in time and even made an advance payment for the July 7th due date.

So I promptly called BDO's Collection Department to clarify this mess-up. But to my further dismay, the collection officer told me that no payment was reflected for the June 7th due date. And there was a payment made last June 25 (which was supposedly for the July 7th due date), but they considered it as payment for June 7th and charged me additional fee for the delay.

What the...?! I am sure that I settled the June 7th balance. My BF also remembers it because he was with me that day. The officer told me if I have the receipt for the payment, she can revert the billing and I can just disregard the notice. Okay, sounds fair and simple. I only need to find the receipt.

Food: CCME Homemade Foodstuff

I learned of CCME Homemadefoodstuff when I was searching for an affordable wedding caterer. Their catering service is affordable indeed and they enjoy a good number of positive feedback from those who have tried their food. But I decided against getting them when they told me that they only use artificial flowers for the table setup. I figured, it'll cost me more to hire a separate event stylist to dress up the reception venue.

But then, because a lot of people are raving about their food and their price, I recommended CCME to my brother for his first son's christening party. He had a limited budget and opted to have the food delivered instead of availing their complete catering setup. Based on menu recommendations I've gathered from online forums and other blogs, we ordered the following dishes:

• Chicken Pastel (6 orders)
• Beef Morcon (4 orders)
• Barbeque (3 orders)
• Chopsuey (3 orders)
• Lumpiang Shanghai (2 orders)
• Dark Chocolate cake (3 orders)

Rating Guides:

= A big headache!
= Relieved that it's over.
= It wasn't that bad. But it wasn't that good either.
= Happy about the outcome.
= I wouldn't be grinning this big for nothing.


How did they fare?

Food:

Chicken Pastel. A lot said that this is highly recommended and they were right. It's delicious and had big chunks of chicken, sausages, juicy button mushrooms, potatoes and carrots in a light creamy sauce. But I failed to considered that a lot of people are not fond of milk-based or cheese-based dishes. Out of the 6 trays that we ordered, we had 3 leftovers. So we had chicken pastel for dinner and for breakfast the morning after. Surprisingly, it tasted even better than it did the day before. My mom said that it was cooked well that's why it lasted until the next day and was even better tasting.


Beef Morcon. I'm not a fan of their beef morcon. Probably because my mom cooks a better version and all the other beef morcons I've tasted pale in comparison to her cooking. But it doesn't mean that the beef morcon is not delicious. A lot of guests loved it. They just didn't like the sauce that came with it. One guest even said that it tastes better with the vinegar concoction that came with the Lumpiang Shanghai.

Pork Barbeque. It was ok, tasted a notch better than regular barbeques. But like the morcon, I've tasted more delicious barbeque recipes.



Chopsuey. I saw that the Chopsuey has generous amounts of ingredients like button mushrooms, carrots, cabbage slices, shreds of chicken, etc. The vegetables were not overly cooked and overall, it tasted good. But again, my dad cooks a really scrumptious and crunchy version of the dish so I can't really rave about CCME's Chopsuey.

Lumpiang Shanghai. I didn't get to taste the Lumpiang Shanghai except for a small bite. And I forgot how it tasted.

Dark Chocolate Cake. The cake was too sweet for me. But it was moist and the kids love it so I guess, it was ok.



Ordering:

Ordering was done through phone. I made several calls before giving my final order and whoever answered was very polite and patiently entertained all my inquiries. There was just a little misunderstanding when it came to what they'll write on the cake. And they misspelled my nephew's name.

Delivery:

Delivery Fee was remarkably low and delivery time was more than punctual. Our food was scheduled to be delivered at 10:30 am. The delivery van arrived at 9:45 am. Before the driver left CCME, he sent me a message asking for directions. I gave him the vaguest of directions and yet he was still able to arrive 45 minutes ahead of schedule.

Packaging

The dishes were piping hot when they came, as if they've just been cooked which is impossible because it came to Laguna all the way from Quezon City. They were in cardboard box containers lined with aluminum foil wraps and covered with plastic. Although not aesthetically appealing, these containers are very convenient and can easily be disposed of. The sauces and dipping were packed separately in plastic bags.

Serving:

They said 1 tray can make about 10-12 servings. That is, if you only have 1 dish to serve. But if paired with other viands, 1 dish can serve at least 20 persons. Our orders above can feed about 80 to 100 persons. And for only P10,340.00 (including delivery fee), that's really an affordable way to cater a party.

Overall: We'll definitely order from them again.

Food item list and prices, and contact information are available at CCME's website: www.homemadefoodstuff.com