Another Birthday Treat

Another two friends took me out the day before my birthday. I'm so lucky!!

We had lunch at a restaurant recommended by a mutual friend. This place is in a shopping mall and serves dim sum. They had never been to this place so we opted to give it a try.

The food turned out to be good, slightly tweaked, so that they weren’t the typical dim sum available elsewhere.

As usual, we chatted more than we ate. I guess, being senior citizens, our appetites have diminished and we no longer consume large amounts of food. Hence we usually go for dim sum as the portions are small and we just order what we like.

After lunch we took in a movie, Blue Tears, which was filmed in Miri, Sarawak. It’s a local production and we wanted to see how it would compare with other films. It turned out to be quite funny.

Unfortunately, there were only five of us in the cinema, us three seniors and a young couple. I guess the local folks have yet to learn to support the local film industry.

My 75th Birthday

My birthday falls on 26th June. I never thought that I would reach this milestone for the women in our family pass on before this age. Praise God that He has let me reach this number and to go beyond.

A few days before the 26th, my buddies treated me to lunch at our favored restaurant. We like this place because it has a nice view of the marina and a pleasant view of the gardens. Besides, it is easy to find parking.

We had fun chatting about the latest happenings in our country. Yes, last month we had a new government! And our prime minister is the oldest in the world!! People power overthrew the embarrassing kleptocracy that had made our country the laughing stock on the world stage.
In between the food that we enjoyed, we laughed and giggled, age not withstanding.

Noodles is a mandatory dish for any birthday so we had noodles which was cooked with scallops and prawns. It was delicious!!

The other dishes were a vegetable and dim sum.

When it was time to bring out my birthday cake, it was a surprise that the waitress had brought it out, already with the candles burning!! So many candles that I couldn’t blow them out at one go.

The last candle was determined not to go out despite my attempts to blow it out. In the end my buddy Nary had to help me, so between the both of us, we blew it out!!

 The cake was a carrot cake with walnuts. Very tasty indeed. 

Thank you, buddies, for a beautiful memorable birthday treat.

I feel so blessed and loved.

My Balcony Garden

I no longer have a big garden where I used to grow many kinds of flowers and potted house plants, apart from mango, limes and chillies.

However, my new apartment has a fairly big balcony and I’m now able to grow a few plants. It gives me great pleasure to share my plants with you.

I also grow mint and screwpine which I use when cooking certain dishes.

My spring onions are growing very fast and I can use them now whenever I steam fish.

Chillies are a big part of my diet and I cannot do without them. Since the price of chillies rocketed, I have started growing them. However, it will be a while before they fruit.

The only flowers that I currently have are the Tea Rose and Jasmine, both of which flower one at a time, unlike my beautiful red and pink roses which grew in abundance in my previous home. My red roses never stopped blooming and they bloomed in clusters. Guess it's because they were rooted in the ground and not in a pot.

I'm still looking for my favorite flower, the yellow coreopsis which I haven't been able to find in the street markets. I won't give up on it. So wish me luck in my search.

Celebrating Birthdays

A birthday comes but once a year, to commemorate the date that one was born. It has become the practice for us four buddies that we celebrate one another’s birthday.

This is our way of keeping in touch since we no longer play golf. Somehow life got into the way and our weekly golf game disappeared. I sorely miss those happy Saturday mornings when we rode our buggies down the fairways, enjoying the game and the camaraderie.

I still remember how on approaching hole 9 we would telephone ahead to the clubhouse to have our snacks readied so that when we reached the clubhouse for a short break, our drinks and food would be there. We had only a twenty-minute break before the next nine holes. Those were the days!

Last week we celebrated Josie’s birthday with a dimsum lunch at one of the leading hotels in town. We had two birthday cakes for Josie.

I believe we talked more than we ate!! When chums get together it’s talk, talk and more talk! Catching up was just great.

Next week my youngest grandchild will be celebrating her 2nd birthday. She doesn’t live with us. We will be flying out to where she is and we’re looking forward to seeing her and her brother again. She has just learned to call us Grandma and Grandpa over Facetime. It was such a joy to hear her soft voice across the waves.