The banquet program went smoothly and it was a nice affair celebrating 35 years of the organization. I joined in 1993 and that is how I met many of my educator friends such as KD, TORC and Divalicious. One of the officers put together a slide show from older photos and I popped up in a few of them. It was funny to see a photo of me circa 1996 back when my hair ws super long (long as in "down to my butt long"). The photo was taken during a summer picnic and adobo contest. Ironically, I actually "won" the contest that year with my first attempt at making chicken adobo. WTF right?
As with any banquet, there were hors d'oevres (Shit, I probably spelled that wrong) such as cheese and crackers. However, we enjoyed the Chocolate Fountain which had pretzels and marshmallows for your dipping pleasure.
As for dinner, there were two choices (actually three - the third was a vegetarian plate). The plate below was Bert's which included Grilled Alaskan salmon with French roasted chicken wiht a creamy white sauce served atop a bed of rice pilaf along with a side of steamed vegetables (asparagus and carrots). It was garnished with this long red flower (not edible) which I thought odd. Most garnishes are edible. Bert does't reember the sauce for the salmon which shows you exactly how memorable it was.
Here's another view...I had a bit of his salmon since my Flank steak was a bit too raw for me... 
Here is my plate - Grilled Flank steak with mushroom sauce along with shrimp scampi served with the same starch and sides as Bert's...I didn't think "scampi" sauce would be creamy looking. Hmmm.
I really liked my sauce and the fatty edges of my steak, but the interior proved to be too pink for me so I traded pieces of my meat for Bert's...
Dessert was a square of what they called Tiramisu - I didn't really eat mine. It was too sweet and it was kind of strange to eat tiramisu with fruit sauce on the bottom of the plate. The flavors did not mix for me. In the background, you can see the Census 2010 mug (I got a free one back in October from the Armenian Festival). One of the banquet co-chairs works for the county and they helped sponsor the event, hence the Census mugs at every table.
Attire for the evening was formal or Filipiniana. Instead of wearing my traditional kimona which meant I would have to wear a camisole and a skirt (nooo!), I wore a vintage 1970's men's barong Tagalog that I bought on eBay several years ago...At least I got to wear nice pants.Here's me and KD (who is wearing a sheer kimona with lace appliques). My barong is pimptastic isn't it? I love the pointy collars. The winged cuffs are also pimpin'. Very Barry Gibb. I just need a gold medallion dudes. I'll skip out on the hairy chest though.
