Birthday Party Food

I attended a birthday party for a five year old yesterday and have to mention the food selection. There was a taco guy who supplied Mexican food to the guests and a cupcake cake. First let me explain about the taco guy. If you are not from San Diego (or Southern California), you might not be familiar with this term. It is often the custom here to hire a taco guy to cater parties, even small ones for five year olds. Usually about two guys set up a grill and some tables at your house or wherever your party is (in this case the park) and prepare tacos to order. That means they cook the meat right then and there, prepare all the fixings such as guacamole, onions, cilantro, cheese and there is also usually rice and beans. Once the preparation is done, guests go up to the food station and order whatever kind of taco they want. Yesterday's selection consisted of carne asada, chicken or el pastor, which is marinated pork. All were equally delicious. In our circle of friends and family, we have enjoyed the offerings of the taco guy on more than one occasion. It also is cheaper than having a full-blown catered event and it keeps the atmosphere light. There is no fancy sitting down or even a place to sit down to begin with, for that matter, meaning there were no tables at yesterday’s event, just plenty of chairs. It’s a great way to entertain and also good for your wallet.
To move on to the cake made of cupcakes now. I had seen cupcakes introduced at parties to replace traditional cakes but for some reason, I thought yesterday’s cake was just genius. A bunch of cupcakes were placed next to each other (vanilla and chocolate flavor) and icing was spread on top of them to make it look like one large cake. Once the birthday song was sung and the candles were blown, no knife was necessary to cut the cake. All the mom had to do was distribute the cupcakes, frosting and all, to the children. Easy peasy. Personally I wasn’t crazy about the cake flavors and the frosting is the kind of sugar-laden thing I can’t stand, but the idea was great. I wouldn’t mind trying that technique with homemade cupcakes and a lighter cream cheese frosting maybe. Here are some pics of a taco man set up and the cupcakes, although these are just random photos not taken at yesterday's event.