Two months ago I went to a friend's daughter's baby shower. The baby has since been born and is a happy and healthy two month old...
That shower was one of the most put together and over the top (decor and theme-wise) I'd been to...
The color theme was purple/lavender as well as black & white. The motifs included both Minnie Mouse and French/Eiffel Tower. Talk about going all out. There were bracelets with Minnie Mouse ears and lavender roses...
There were also desserts galore with rice pudding in cups, a bundt cake, cream puffs, chocolate dipped strawberries...plus the cake itself (don't even remember the flavor).
Everything was so nicely prepared and arranged...
Later on, someone brought mini fruit tarts and chocolate eclairs...
as well as chocolate dipped Oreos made to look like Minnie Mouse with a bow...
Mini cupcakes were also on hand (red velvet, chocolate, and lemon)...
along with purple and white Eiffel Tower shaped chocolate pops.
There's those cookies again...
There weren't just sweets though, but crackers, cheese, and even more cheese and savory olives.
The mini croissants filled with curried chicken salad were delicious. Not shown were these mini roast beef and ham sandwiches...
Two types of salads were enjoyed by all - Caesar and a spring mix with strawberries and almonds. All of this food was prepared by my friend's uncle, who is a caterer. The event was held at a very nice communit center out in Eastlake.
Fruit kebabs anyone?
The party favors were candies inside the little pink bags and lavender booties. The silver tins held votive candles and the glass vases were wrapped with silver and purple ribbons.
My plate in which I tried a little of most of everything.
Later on, the desserts! TC helped me out with this!
Man, that must have been a lot of work planning and making everything!
This next series of photos are of Nephew #1's 16th birthday party food. His party, which was reallyjust a big family gathering, was a few weeks ago. Of course, you gotta have the Salt & Pepper chicken wings! These were not from Mandarin though, so they weren't as good, but I'm still not complaining!
Mac salad (from my mom)...
Fried shrimp with some sort of unnaturally bright red sweet and sour sauce on the side. I avoided this dish at first because I thought it was pork, but when I found out it was shrimp, well then! I had some after all! Not bad either! Ordered from the local Chinese joint near my parents' house.
Chicken lumpia (made by my dad), pancit bihon (gotta have noodles for long life, made by my mom), and curry chicken, also made by my mom. I thought that was a random choice, but it was one of the more popular items that day.
Nephew #3's favorite Filipino dessert, kutsinta, which my mom made.
My dad was the one who grated the fresh coconut; they have one of those stool/grater things. It's called a 'kabayo' (from the Spanish word 'caballo' which means horse; my sister's MIL calls hers the "Mustang").
The nephew's cake -cookies and cream. I think they got this from Vons or something.
Nothing too fancy here.
The last event I attended was earlier this afternoon. It was a 1 year old birthday party for a former student's daughter (she was class of '97!). The theme was mixed as her daughter is of mixed heritage (Filipino and Mexican). Around the picnic area were these handmade construction paper parols (star lanterns) waving in the breeze.
The food and dessert tables were festooned with garlands of papel picado (in this case, made of plastic) and brightly colored tablecovers.
Her dad and husband were out grilling the Korean beef and the chicken for tacos.
The hit of the day was this pig, named Hamilton. He is the pet of one of the party goers. Apparently, Hamilton is a "celebrity" downtown where his owner lives. He can sometimes be seen during his walks (on a leash, no less). He performs simple tricks, is quite tame, and can recognize his name. His breed is called a Tea Cup Pig; he is two years old and is considered full grown. Damn, I should be his publicist, ha ha!
Fresh fruit and nuts, as well as (randomly) granola bars were the snacks available...
Along with more fresh cut fruit and salad items. They also had a jello cake, and turon (banana fritters) in the small white box. The wrappers were so thin and crisp!
In keeping with the mixed theme, there were malongs (a tubular and multifunctional piece of cloth used in the Southern Philippines - it can be used as a skirt, a head wrap, a dress, or even a baby sling) on several tables.
I didn't take photos of all of the party food. The usual suspects were there like white rice, pancit, and chicken wings. This item, however, was a dish I hardly ever see because it's so time consuming to make. This is Rellenong Bangus (Stuffed Milkfish). The fish is deboned (and milkfish is notorious for having a lot of bones) and then restuffed with the meat.
My former student's MIL ade the chicken and vegetable tamales...which were really tasty!
Here's a cross section of that stuffed milkfish...
I really liked the colors of their plastic cups. You normally see the red ones. They had purple, pink, lime green, and turquoise! Very festive! The drinks were the kind you'd see at a Mexican place, Jamaica (hibiscus flower punch) and horchata (rice water flavored with cinnamon; not a big fan).
This was my favorite drink that day - the Stawberry and Peach sangria! I had to make sure I didn't have too much!
They also had beers for those who didn't want the fruit stuff or sodas (Dos Equis, Shock Tops, and Coronas.
This was really cute - the birthday girl had a dessert table with cannisters filled with Mexican and Filipino sweets. The pails held paper bags which you could fill with whatever you wanted.
Bert and I only got one pecan tart each. We weren't into the candy stuff. If TC was with us (she was MIA that day at another party for a friend), she would have been filling one of those bags!
We were surprised by happy to see a pabitin there! This is like the Philippine version of a pinata. It's a wooden lattice with toys and gifts attached by string. The lattice is raised and lowered like a pinata while kids try to grab at the toys.
Although we didn't stick around for the whole party, we found this custom made pinata very amusing. This was shaped like a Philippine jeepney, which are WWII era vehicles that now serve as a form of public transportation in the Philippines. They are known for their wild and wacky decorations (and drivers!). I thought this was really cool!
The tarts looked so festive wrapped in the bright cellophane, I almost hated undoing it just to eat it.
During the time we were there, the pig would randomly trot by and sniff around and sometimes eat food food that was dropped by the guests.
There was a point yesterday when the pig started rubbing itself on Bert's leg, much like a cat would. Funnily enough, the pig started to scratch itself on Bert, then plopped down on his feet and then rolled around on the ground. It repeated the same thing with the other leg! WTH! Hilarious! That pig was pretty tame and didn't try to escape of anything. It just walked around with the leash dragging around much to the amusement of everyone there.
Anyhow, those were three parties with excellent food. With summer coming up, there should be a few more of these types of get togethers to look forward to!
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