Birthday dinner, fam style

My family made a lovely birthday dinner for me and we enjoyed it with some out-of-town relatives. Lots of awesome Chinese food that I rarely get to eat, so it was definitely a major treat.

Cold noodles. They have to be long because it's a birthday meal and they promote longevity or wealth or many male babies or something like that. Toss in some sliced cucumber, egg, bean sprouts, and a sesame sauce and some yummy green onion/garlic/ginger concoction.



Here's mamacita showing us how to plate it.



A traditional "appetizer" platter at a Chinese banquet. Tea eggs, beef tendon, baked tofu, you know, all the normal stuff you eat daily.



Tsong yo bing. Basically scallion pancakes, but these are way better than any you'll find anywhere. Could eat about a million and a half of these and get really fat.



I call these "Chinese Empanadas". They're meat-filled. I ate leftovers for lunch for about a week. yum.



Me and the kiddos with my Kings Hawaiian cake. you know, the three-layered kind. (yes, I am still not eating sugar. everyone else loved the cake. haha)