Celebrating As A Way of Living

Mellie Ablaza throws unapologetically grand parties recreating fairy lands and Camelot, conjuring circuses and masquerades inspired by imagination and her daughter’s memories.

- Anna Isabel C. sobrepeña

Amelia Romero Ablaza sits in the terrace of a sprawling countryside home that bears her name. Mellie, as she is widely known, expresses apologies for the lunch fare prepared on short notice. It was an unscheduled visit happening just before a family holiday but she nevertheless extended the kind of hospitality that approximates legend.

Besides the home-cooked adobo and pancit sotanghon, a suckling pig lies in roasted glory, the crispy skin gleaming a reddish brown. Champagne is poured and lunch commences, a casual, merry affair with a view of fields where baby goats roam freely. Dessert is fruit salad, made in the kitchen, and an outstanding Food for the Gods baked by her only daughter Czarina. Ice cream and fresh mangoes are also served. There was no need for apologies.

Entertaining is in Mellie Ablaza’s chemistry. She enjoys celebrations and does it with aplomb. Occasions marking anniversaries and birthdays are grand, productions recreating fantasies of wonderland and fairytales. She has invited friends to party at a Tiara Ball, a Gods and Goddesses Ball, Cirque de Mellie, and Mellie and the King. She delights in festivities and is unabashed in mounting extravaganzas that normally require months of preparations. Venues are transformed into settings following themes suggested by Czarina, who draws inspiration from her readings. “Either that or she dips into her pocket of memories and comes up with an idea that may have been brewing in her mind for years,” the consummate hostess says.

DRESSED AS A ANGEL