Dad's 73rd

Time to switch it up...

The presence of pancit can only mean a few things...

a Partay...or more specifically, a Birthday Party. Noodles = long life.

A Filipino birthday party is not complete unless you have lumpia as well. My mom made the pancit bihon and the lumpia you see here. These are some thick ones too, made with ground chicken.

Beef skewers grilled by my dad - marinated with soy sauce and banana ketchup and a few more ingredients I can't remember. So juicy and flavorful!

My mom's pinakbet - she put chicken in it (that's a first, it's normally pork).

A dessert/drink below called gulaman (refers to the agar-agar based gelatin cubes), with coconut milk, evaporated milk and kaong (palm nuts). The gulaman are different flavors - the white is almond, the green is pandan, and I'm not sure what the orange one is.

Fresh fruit was represented by cut up Tuscan melon and red cherries. One of my parents' favorite stores is Sprouts (formerly known as Henry's, formerly known as Boney's)

Good ol' Dad's chocolate cake, bought from the Commissary. Nothing fancy here. He's a pretty simple guy.

Dad turned 73 last week. Mom's turn will be at the end of next month.

Without my dad, we wouldn't be in this country.

As part of the Third Wave of Filipino Immigration into the United States, my dad joined the Navy in 1963 in search of a better life outside of the Philippines. He had attempted college but it wasn't for him. He would end up getting his degree after his retirement. He would be the first person in the family to leave the country and venture to the U.S.

The Military Bases Agreement of 1947 was a joint agreement between the Philippines and the U.S. signed on March 16,1947. This treaty officially allowed the US to establish, maintain, and operate air and naval bases in the country, such as Subic Bay and Clark Air Force Base. This agreement formally ended in 1991.

One of the provisions of this agreement allowed the U.S.  to recruit Filipino citizens for service in the American military. Due to discrimination, Filipinos were specifically recruited for the US Navy to work as stewards (to put it mildly, a "hospitality" type job or more bluntly, a "servant"). Along with other minorities such as blacks, Filipinos were trained as stewards at the Naval Training Center in San Diego, long before it shut down and reopened as the gentrified and commercialized Liberty Station.

My dad doesn't normally talk about his negative experiences in the Navy, even when prodded by me. I know he must have endured some sort of crap back then but when asked, he focused more on the positive, which was getting out of the country, making a good salary as a submariner (they received extra pay called 'hazard pay'), and seeing the world (Japan, Hong Kong, Guam, etc).  With job security, he married my mother, a school teacher in 1967 and brought her to San Diego the following year.  The move was also a big sacrifice for her since she was the first person in her family to leave the Philippines. All three of us were born in quick succession soon after and thus began our family's history in the U.S. In short, my siblings and I owe a lot to our parents for providing a life for us here.

My dad doesn't read my blog or even know that I blog, but I owe so much to him for all that he's done for us and also for my family now. Thanks Dad and Happy Bday!