Birthday Dinner

Todd and I have traditions surrounding birthdays. Todd usually has a party called “Super Todd”, since his birthday is usually around the Super Bowl. We would invite all our friends over on Super Bowl Sunday for a birthday party which included catered food and watching the Super Bowl. You can see past Super Todd parties documented here and here. As for my birthday… I usually invite a few friends out to dinner. You can see our dinner celebrations in 2010 and 2011. (I didn’t have a birthday dinner in 2012.) This year we didn’t have a “Super Todd” Party, so we decided to have a combined birthday dinner last Sunday night, in between Todd’s birthday and my birthday. We invited a few friends to celebrate our birthdays together.

Who: Roby, Dejah, Victoria, Anne, Gilbert, Sally, Meera, and AJ
What: Newmans combined birthday dinner celebration
When: Sunday, March 3, 2013
Where: China Max
Why: because we love celebrating birthdays with our friends

As with traditional Chinese banquet-type of meals shared with family/friends, we sat around a big round table with a big round lazy susan in the middle. And we ate family-style, sharing all the dishes.

The meal started with vegetable spring rolls.


Victoria, Anne, and Gilbert waiting for food to arrive. :D


After the spring rolls, it was soup time! This was beef and spinach soup.


Roby and Dejah helping us celebrate our birthdays.


Pork Lettuce Tacos.


Birthday boy and birthday girl! :)


Honey Walnut Shrimp. This dish was decimated before I could take a proper photo! (I’ve never seen anyone NOT like this dish, except for people who are allergic to shrimp or hate shrimp like Todd does.)


So happy that Meera and AJ were part of our birthday dinner celebration!


Fried Tofu with Vegetables and Mushrooms. Yum!


So happy that Sally could join us for birthday dinner! (Thank you to Sally’s mom for babysitting the twins!)


French-Style Beef with Asparagus. This was definitely a hit!


Me and Meera. We walked Finish Chelsea’s Run together the day before. The next day we got to share a meal together. Every day I see her I’m filled with joy. :)


Garlic Chicken with Vegetables.


Seafood Pan-Friend Noodles.


General Tso’s Chicken. I think this was AJ’s favorite. :)


We finished off the meal with sweet red bean & tapioca dessert. This is usually complimentary when you order lots of dishes at a big table at Chinese restaurants.


Another year older and hopefully more wise. We’re both so thankful to have good friends to celebrate our birthdays together. It’s definitely one of the highlights of our year! ♥