Nephew's bday party - "13"

This weekend was my nephew's birthday party (last year's post). But before we went, we passed by this taco truck located on the corner of Beyer Blvd and Del Sol in the Valero gas station parking lot. One of my friends told me about this one. Hell yeah, man, this is our old neighborhood. The gas station used to be Mobile. Anyhow, I heard their tacos were good so we are going to try this next weekend!

My nephew (my sister's oldest son) just turned "13". He is now officially a teenager!!!

Now every Filipino party has to have one of these...(and this is the small one too)!

Since there were lots of middle school aged boys, there were lots of snacks & fried shit (not pictured: Doritos and other types of potato chips). I'd never tried Munchos until this year. They're like thin wisps of potato goodness. But I like "TGIF's Tato Skins Chips " better because they are thicker and have more of a crunch. The "Earthquake" flavor was kind of like BBQ but with a tang to it.

My mom wasn't there to contribute her pancit bihon. She was home babysitting the youngest baby nephew. It was really cold and windy that weekend. The downside of my mom not being there was the lack of her homecooked food. Nevertheless, my sis made do with food ordered from various places. This was Pancit Canton mixed with Bihon noodles. Noodles are usually de rigeur at Filipino birthday's (a custom taken from the Chinese) because noodles represent "long life".

This was Shanghai Lumpia from JNC Pinoy Food Mart (located across from Southwestern College).

My dad picked up some Fried Shrimp from some Chinese place near their house. Looks like boxed fried shrimp not shrimp that the place actually breaded on their own.  This was pretty popular with the kids.

There were also Rangoons - this was the first item to go. As you can see, there were a lot of fried finger foods there!

My dad wasn't too happy with this Chow Mein from the Chinese place. It was mostly bean sprouts. It was the least touched dish there. In one word: CRAPOLA.  And three more: WASTE OF MONEY

This is Menudo (also from JNC) - this is sauteed pork shoulder with raisins, diced bell peppers and potatoes, and garbanzo beans. This is one of my favorite comfort foods...

And yes, you gots to have the SALT AND PEPPER CHICKEN WINGS! You know what the best part is? The fried garlic bits with the chili pepper seed and sliced green onion tops! Yum! Fried chicken skin = GOOD!

My sis wanted me to make sushi but being the lazy bum that I am (plus I really had no time to go out to get the ingredients and roll these things), just bought a tray at Costco.  You can also see the boxes of Little Caesar's pizza and the sweet and sour sauce for the lumpia.

One of the desserts was my Cheesecake Lemon Bars (Check out my recipe here). I went all ghetto and reused a Costco Hye-Rollers container!

Cookies...

And what's this? Somebody broke out with their Banig - a handwoven mat used in East Asia or the Philippines for sitting or sleeping! Memories of childhood picnics!

The other nephew's birthday is coming up next month...so more food to come. This time my sis didn't order fried squid or have too much Filipino food. Just the basics. Ha ha, you can see my shadow in the lower left corner! Until the next party...