Happy 🎆Belated🎇 🎊Birthday🎊 to Mami Aya!
My Nanay has always cooked unbroken noodles for 🎈birthdays🎁 to signify long life. Usually, these celebratory main courses are spaghetti🍝 or Pancit🍜 (Filipino dish).
Some of us loyal children out there tend to be biased to our parents’ cooking if we grew up mostly exposed to their food. I’m definitely no different; as a matter of fact, I was so spoiled to the point that I as a preschooler once sobbed at my parents’ friends’ 🏠house🏡 when they dropped me off there for date night, and I was stuck with foreign spaghetti.
While many kids cooked for their moms on 💐Mother’s Day, my Mami Aya insisted on cooking her own special meal. Papa Jun and I didn’t mind. Not only have her masterpieces been delicious, but also nutritious!
I never can pass up what I call Nanay’s Bomb Diggety Spaghetti (she used to put hotdogs to keep up with Pinoy tradition ~ she even made my sis’ separately because she only liked the hotdogs)
Here’s a new side dish that she whipped up: Baked Parmesan Zucchini Sticks
I now prefer these over the fried green tomatoes🍅 or fried pickles ~ or any other fried greens, for that matter
Who needs mozzarella sticks with these bad boys? 
The Birthday Girl also cooked her special meal! 
Pancit Canton goes well with Lumpia (eggrolls)! 
And let’s not forget the 🎂cake🍰 ~ bring on Tres 🍶Leches🍼 con 🍉frutas: fresas🍓 y 🍍piñas!
Friendly reminder: Pray🙏 just to make it today!
The Elaine Dispo Journal 
I love that I can connect to you on a religious level and a cultural level. My mother is Hispanic and she had us grow up on big Mexican dinners. So I smile when I think of you.
Awe, YOU just brought a smile to my face! 🙂 Likewise, I love that we connect both culturally and religiously, as we must be collectivistic at home and Church! Speaking of which, when I lived near México, I was accustomed to an abundance of comidas. Just the other day, my Church bestie’s family from Puerto Rico held Mass at their new house that our priest blessed ~ so we enjoyed a festive feast! Hopefully, you still have celebratory meals!