Fiesta adventures!

On Friday, the AG's office threw a big birthday-party-plus-welcoming-party fiesta for everyone who had a birthday or who started working during the last month - so Nick's name was on the big cake. I (Brookie) was invited too, oh boy! 

So apparently in Guam, a big party with food is pretty much essential for every occasion. Like a potluck, but more exciting - dare I say more delicious? No potato salad or baked beans here: we had (going down the table -actually four tables):

Titiyas (sweet Guamanian flatbread); fried spam; ribs; fried chicken; beef kelaguen (Guamanian ceviche - not sure if the beef was cooked or raw!); native sweet potatoes (they're purple and very sweet); homemade hot salsa with soy sauce and boonie (wild) peppers; corn on the cob; red rice (sticky rice cooked with achiote); chicken curry (Indonesian style curry I think); Pansit (Filipino stirfried noodle dish - you encounter it EVERYwhere here); spam salad (I think -didn't try this one!) seafood salad with tiny pickled octopus and fake crab; romaine salad with a vinaigrette; a broccoli/dried cranberry waldorf-style salad; sashimi; kimchee; vegetarian chili; steamed buns stuffed with pork, hot peppers, and hardboiled eggs; and more! For dessert there was too much to even look at: a chocolate fountain with fruit and marshmallows; egg custard pies, many kinds of cakes and bars, and fruit salad with young coconut, mango, something white (sweet tofu?) and maraschino cherries... and ... and ... more than that, more than Nick and I combined can remember. 

The food is set on the tables and nobody can eat it until the tables are officially opened - they open the tables with a prayer! No establishment clause concerns here! And once the tables are opened - word gets around fast when the tables are open - the party begins. A feat! A fest! A feast!