The thing about pinoy birthdays is: there’s always a buffet – a fiesta. There’s none of that boring, western-type, sit-down, six-course dinner. Our parties are intended as a free-for-all for our friends, family, or even the entire barangay!
And, of course, there’s the ubiquitous pancit or noodles (for long life), the bbq or hotdog on sticks, the lechon, the savory meat dish, and the glutinous dessert, among others, hehe.
So even as we moved here to the US, we’ve always adhered to this tradition and would always cook up a buffet “feast” for our small barangay of pinoy friends.
For instance, Ninna’s second birthday saw the emergence of the Kapampangan in me. That’s me looking over my (ehem) first foray into handaan cooking.
Proud of my spaghetti, cocktail hotdogs with mallows on toothpicks (hehe), menudo, lasagna, cupcakes, embutido, and lumpiang shanghai. Pwede na, di ba?
And so, when Ninna turned three, I was as seasoned as a seasoned fiesta cook could be.
On Ninna’s third birthday, I prepared all of the food I cooked for her second birthday PLUS a few more, including my husband’s lechon kawali request, hehe. It was a good thing that we had a good-sized pinoy barangay in Charlotte back then, so it was a blast to cook for all of them.
In contrast, Ninna’s fourth birthday handa was pretty simple – just her favorite lasagna and an ice-cream cake. Why so tipid? Well, aside from the fact that we were celebrating by our lonesome threesome, we actually also spent her real birthday in DisneyWorld instead. 
For my 33rd birthday, I paired hubby’s bbq with my first-time ever pancit malabon experiment, hehe. It was no Jollibee or Amber’s, but no one complained.
A Carvel ice cream cake for me, tops the celeb.
I love birthday food. Cooking it is a totally different matter, though, haha! But then, when you’re cooking for the people you love, busog na busog.
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My extra late LaPiS entry for Soup is newly-posted HERE, I hope you were able to visit it, too.
If you want to join this weekly whetting of appetites, please do visit the Lasang Pinoy Sundays page HERE. See you there, thanks!
