The nephew and TC are one day apart but rather than combine the bdays (which I would prefer because I'm efficient like that), they end up having separate bday celebrations...
Of course I understand that each kid would want to feel special and all, but c'mon. It's the same family and for the most part, the same food that we're eating.
Except this year.
My bro claimed one of the Saturdays (a few weeks ago) for his boy. I got the next day. Both parties were lunch time. My mom brought in this shrimp salad. Unfortunately, I wasn't a fan of this. Shrimp, mayo, and celery don't taste that good together to me.
I forgot that name of this dish in Tagalog, but it's basically a steamed fish (trout). My mom topped it with mayo and garnished it with chopped boiled eggs and vegetables. Looks pretty but I didn't like the mayo or the fact that it was served cold. I sound like such a hater but I think I'm just not used to my mom making this dish. It's not one of her tried and true favorites.
My bro's GF made Eggplant lasagna. OMG, this was one of my favorite dishes that day. Puts me to shame since I didn't really cook for TC's bday. Well, just one dish.
She also made shrimp jamabalaya...chock full of shrimp and scallops!
Aaaaaand, she made shrimp linguine! This was the winner of the day! Loads of shrimp and garlic and butter in this dish!!! She had to keep refilling the serving platter. So, no pancit for nephew's bday but the linguine does count since they are noodles!
An overhead shot of the food. Not pictured as a closeup were the grilled chicken legs (they looked too ugly to be seen up close). I love my brother's kitchen island. So big!
Desserts were from Gemmae Bakery in National City - here are their pecan tarts.The crust and filling were really good but I wasn't a fan of the chopped nuts. They were chopped way too small in my opinion.
Hope ya like Hopia! These are by far, my favorite version of hopia!
Filled with yellow mung bean paste and surrounded by tender and flaky layers that just melt in your mouth, these hopia were amazing!
So that was the nephew's bday lunch.
Fast forward to the next day for TC's. The one thing that I did cook was Gambas al Ajillo (shrimp with garlic).
Saute olive oil with chopped up garlic (loads of it!), a pinch of smoked paprika and red chile pepper flakes. Then add the a pound or two of shrimp and cook 'til it turns pink.
Top with chopped Italian parsley. This was pretty damn good I must say.
The bday spread...green salad with toppings (blue cheese crumbles, sliced almonds, thinly sliced pear, and dried cranberries), the shrimp, and salt and pepper fish from Mandarin.
My mom brought some shrimp cocktail. I ended up resurrecting this shrimp as "Gambas al ajillo" the next day. I didn't want those skrimps to go bad so I jazzed them up Spanish style. They were easy to make since the shrimp was already cooked.
My mom also brought chicken adobo (cut up thigh pieces). She makes it dry and with lots of garlic, ginger and black peppercorns.. The only thing about the chopped up thigh pieces are that there are some bone fragments, which I hate. Plus, she removed the skin! Wut!!!!!
We ordered lumpia from JNC Pinoy food mart - these are the Shanghai lumpia (the smaller and thinner ones but filled with all meat). Their sweet and sour sauce was so gross, I ended up tossing it and just using La Choy instead.
Another one of my generous mom's contributions was pancit bihon (the mandatory noodle dish for Filipino birthdays).
Here's some of that salt and pepper fish. If you like the wings from Mandarin, then you will like this fish. It's prepared the same way with lots of those spicy and garlicky nuggets. Mmmmm, tastes so good with rice.
Not wanting to be left out, my dad also brought some homemade beef meatballs. I froze the leftovers and they will soon be resurrected in spaghetti.
The dessert table:
Broken glass jello with TC's favorite colors - green (lime), purple (grape), pink (watermelon), and blue (raspberry).
Ordered from some Filipino dessert place (don't remember the name) by my parents - these sesame rice balls, also known as "buchi" in Tagalog, are filled with red mung bean paste. I had only one. I remember these feeling a bit "heavy".
We also had fruity gels (arranged by TC) and cut up fresh melons.
These banana turon were a big favorite. The thin and crispy wrapper was caramelized with brown sugar and gave a satisfying mouth shattering crunch when bitten. The sweet bananas within also had a sliver of jackfruit. Loved this!
For the kids, four different types of Ramune (melon, grape, orange, and strawberry)...
TC's cake can be seen in this post.
The kids are now tweens and will be official teens next year. It's so funny that they see each other at school and that the nephew is friends with a lot of people from her school. They don't have any classes together but will usually bump into each other during lunch time.
These were the official birthday celebrations with the family. We had a separate one with her school friends and that post will be up next.
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