Another Birthday

My family is so good to me.  Today being my birthday, they let me sleep in while they gather my favorite comfort foods.  We're talking authentic island food that is so bad for your health you can only have it once a year.  LOL.  It's our family's tradition to eat noodles on your birthday, for long life.  They got me pancit palabok, my favorite of all the pancit/noodle variation.  Also, I have been craving these stinky dried fish for a while now and they heard me talk about them, so they got those, too.  So my birthday brunch was stinky dried fish  with garlic rice and pancit palabok.

Mom asked me yesterday what kind of birthday cake I want this year but I could not think of any cake that I had to have.  One of my sisters went to a filipino bakery this morning and grab things that I normally like.  For dessert we had, clockwise left to right  turon, karioka, kalamay, bibingka cake and brazo de mercedes.

I opened my presents after brunch.  I must say, as always, I made out like a bandit.  Got some cash, lottery tickets, clothes and cards with heartwarming thoughts from my family.  Then I popped my favorite muscat, so yummy!!!

Just a small bottle, after all I have to be in church at 4:00.  Ian serves at the mass every third Saturday of the month.  We had some time before church and the girls wanted to play mahjong, so we drank and played.

Then it was off to church.

Only thing left to do now is indulge in my personal tradition of sipping Champagne cocktail on my birthday, a toast and thanksgiving for all the blessings that was bestowed upon me.

Cheers everyone!!!  

P.S.  

Wanted to add the note my 13-year old son gave me.  So sweet!