Passion is Thy Name!

It may be belated but it was still a dynamite of a celebration!
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The night started with yummilicious Italian food and great wine (Ruby Cabernet is our current new love) at our favourite restaurant downtown.
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Continue reading ‘Belated Celebration’

It has been 3 years since our first hello.
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Born and bred in different parts of the globe, never in our wildest dreams did we think that our paths will cross one day. We led different lifestyles, built different dreams, moved in different social circles and drove down different career paths.
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All it took was a casual conversation between some guys who found themselves thousands of miles away from home that brought him into my world. I will be forever grateful to RH for bringing him to my dinner party that night. A strong, lifelong friendship was forged that night.
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For the past 3 years, we maintained on-and-off contact as we rode the waves of our separate lives.
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You know how strong a bond you feel with certain folks no matter how far apart you are physically? Or how different your lives are led? Or however short time you knew that person? That’s how my bond with him is.
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We can sit together in comfortable silence in the dark. Or just drive around aimlessly talking crap the whole night. Or just share a private joke over the dinner table. Or a wink across the dance floor (especially when I spotted a hot chick and dared him to pick her up!). Or some real serious H2H talk about matters that are closest to our hearts.
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This is him carving our X’mas turkey last year.
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And this is him goofing around with Sweetheart at my man’s birthday party earlier this year.
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He is also the guy who took me on my virgin visit to a gentleman’s club.
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This guy celebrated his birthday last Sunday. We threw him a surprise party. Dinner was a fusion of Italian and Indian food. Birthday cake was dark belgian chocolate (can you guess who was in charge of getting the cake?).
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Here’s a picture of our dinner.
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Baby asparagus and baby potatoes were from our CH trip, the only vege I bought from the highland. Dessert was the birthday cake.
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The night was perfect … the fusion food, the b’day cake, the super late night Mahjong session … except for one thing …
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The birthday boy was MIA. :`(
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I’m sorry,  D…that you are going through this rough patch at this point in your life. And I’m sorry that those you love couldn’t be with you on your special day. We tried, we really tried…but we found out too late that you didn’t want company.
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I will not lie and tell you I understand what you are going through now coz I don’t. I can offer you what you are willing to take from me. What I am capable of giving to you. That hug you gave me on Saturday night was a silent one that spoke a thousand words to me. Although no words were exchanged between us, I felt your sorrow and your pain as we held each other tight. I had to choke back tears then. I have to choke back tears now as I write this.
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Know that I love you very much and I am here for you whenever you need me, k?

She just turned 67 but does not look a day over 47 to me.
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This lady has got to be the most generous person I have ever known. An example of her generosity was when I mentioned in passing to her that I liked Estee Lauder’s Pleasure and I suddenly found bottles of it for my birthday, Christmas, New Year or whatever possible occasion to be presented with it as a gift! I felt so bad about it that I had to tell her a white lie that I no longer like the fragrance. :\
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A trip to the mall is quite an adventure with this energetic lady. She walks faster than any 60+ year old woman I know and definitely faster than a lot of 30+ folks I know!
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She has so much love to give that it’s sometimes mind-boggling wondering how that small (in physique) a person can have so big a heart to give out such an abundance of love.
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There are many wonderful things she has achieved in the past 67 years and one of them is giving birth to an extremely caring and wonderful guy (although he can sometimes be anally retentive!). No, I am not trying to kiss your ass, M … but just to remind you that your mom is really a wonderful person. Despite her quirks and eccentricities, she has touched the lives of many - mine included.
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P/S - I managed to steal a picture of her from M’s FB photo album. Here’s the birthday gal blowing her birthday cake.
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I look forward to many, many more birthday wishes for this wonderful lady.

The recent excitement on Sweetheart’s milestone birthday made me think about my past birthdays. I found myself strolling down memory lane - reminiscing on certain birthdays that are permanently marked in my heart.
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21st birthday

• Somehow, I still remember this like it was just yesterday. My mom gave me the customary gold key pendant with a gold chain to mark the day I turned 21. I wore it for a couple of years before deciding gold is not for me. Have not worn any other gold accessory since then.
• It was a celebration with 2 of the most important persons in my life then - my mom and my then Sweetheart.
• Definitely a birthday to remember till I am old and gray.

25th birthday

• This was my first birthday celebrated outside of my homeland and without my family and closest friends.
• It was very exciting to have Mexican guys serenading me just before I blew the candles on my birthday cake. My then-colleagues took me to this great Mexican restaurant (unfortunately, I don’t remember the name of that place anymore) in Sonoma County to celebrate the day I turned a quarter of a century.
• The memory of the romantic drive along Bodega Bay with a certain someone will be forever etched in my heart. :’) We enjoyed a really good dinner at a seafood restaurant overlooking the bay. Totally breathtaking!
• Another sweet memory of a different romantic drive along the coastline of Marin County (the other end of the Golden Gate Bridge from the Bay Area) with another certain someone. We stopped for some clam chowder at a quaint town along the coastline. It was the tastiest claim chowder I’ve ever had! I still remember my heart beating a thousand beats per second as I sat across the table from him.
• Yes, it was definitely the year my heart was going many different directions at any one time!

30th birthday

• I remember being totally carefree and living Life at its best then!
• It was the year I arranged a really good local caterer to feed my family and friends at the party.
• It was the last year I got to enjoy zero financial commitment (I don’t consider a car loan a ‘real’ commitment. Too small an amount and can easily be paid off in 3-5 years).
• It was also the last year I got to enjoy the shopping Life of nary a glance at the pricetag before deciding to purchase an item.
• I purchased my apartment the following year. End of financial freedom. But no regrets…love my pad to death! *Start of lansi moment* Hey, not everyone is able to do it alone - without any bf/hubby or sugar daddy to sponsor some dough, k! *End of lansi moment*

33rd birthday

• This was the most recent one. It was special to me because I celebrated it with Sweetheart over a romantic dinner at the tallest building in Bangkok. Blisssssss.
• He gave me my birthday kiss at the backseat of a Thai cab when the clock struck midnight. *silly grin*
• It was also special because I celebrated it again with my brother and some very good friends when we got back to Penang. T’was a 3-in-1 celebration that night. To mark my return from a tiring business trip to US and Japan, my double-3 birthday and also, CNY which was just around the corner then. My, what a celebration!
• Definitely one to remember for a looooonnnnggg time to come.

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Now, don’t get me wrong. There are still many other birthday celebrations which were special in their own way. It’s just that the ones listed above are, well - extra special.

On Sunday, we celebrated the belated birthdays of 2 March babies.
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The guest list was kept small coz not much energy to do any elaborate cooking due to the previous night’s big birthday bash for Sweetheart.
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So, only 2 items on the menu for dinner on Sunday (other than the birthday cake lah).

• Mixed Linguine with minced pork
  - we mixed regular linguine with a gourmet hot chilli linguine I bought from an Italian gourmet store in Austin. Bad news was we overcooked the hot chilli linguine ‘cos was too busy cooking the minced meat sauce. So, it turned out too soft Wasn’t really happy with the results.
• Mashed Potatoes with crispy bacon
  - this was a HUGE success! I knew it was a winner when Sweetheart commented "Baby, you know I am not a fan of mashed potatoes but this is reeeallly good! I don’t mind having extra helpings."
• Birthday cake was tiramisu. An all-time favourite with most folks.

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The belated birthday babies.
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After dinner, the owner of the dishwashing task (aka Sweetheart) recruited a helper. He washed while his helper wiped dry.
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Now, do not let the pout fool ya! He was just putting on the act so that we girls will come to his rescue and offer to take over the task from him. Of coz we were not fooled.
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We then called it an early night. Partly because most of us were tired from the previous night’s partying but mainly because we all had to work the following day.
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Overall, a FANTABULOUS weekend of celebrating, indulging, and loads of loving!

It started with a mini celebration when the clock struck 12. We had a small cake (thanks to some new friends we met a couple of weeks ago) to celebrate the first few hours of his day. Pictures were shared earlier.
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Fast forward a few hours and some much needed sleep later. We found ourselves in the company of some good friends enjoying a sumptuous meal at Ribs. Sweetheart thoroughly enjoyed his Baby Back. Yum! Yum!
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Halfway through dinner, we received a call from a dear friend who has moved to the other side of the world to chase her dreams. Mari, thanks for calling and I know I said this to you over the phone but don’t care! I will say it again - WE ALL MISS YOU VERY, VERY, VERY MUCH!!! Faster come back to visit us sometime soon, ya! And we promise that we will gather the entire of Penang (well, at least all the happening folks on this island! *wink*) to come out and party with ya!
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After dinner, we joined MORE friends at our favourite club in town. It started with some friends filling up the VIP area from 11pm and within the hour, the place got so packed that I had a hard time moving around to snap pictures. I did get some happy shots though.
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He loves dark chocolates. So, I got him a dark Belgian chocolate cake. He loved it, I loved it, our friends loved it and the folks at MoMo loved it.
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And as expected, they tried hard, reeally hard…to get the birthday man drunk.
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They almost succeeded but Sweetheart was insistent that he didn’t want to KO at his own birthday party. He wanted to stay sober to enjoy every moment of it and so, between the 2 of us, we hatched a plot to keep him from going under. What plot? Well, if I share it here, I will hafta kill all of ya!
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Despite all that, I controlled my own intake the entire night to ensure that I stayed sober by the end of the night to drive us home safely. Wasn’t even high when we walked out of the club at past 3am. Oh well, it was his night. As long as my man is happy at the end of the night, that’s what matters most to me.
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And of coz there is Ham, strawberries and what they do for him. Being the good friend that I am, I ensured he had at least one of the few strawberries from the top of the cake. Don’t ever doubt my love for you, eh!
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More friends having a ball of a time.
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Some joined us much, much later (almost 2am) but they still had a good time. Some even took a short nap to sleep off the booze and woke up ready to party some more!
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Although 2 of their brothers were unable to make it due to unavoidable circumstances, they were definitely there in spirit and mind. So, the remaining 3 brothers did some improvision in order to pose for a ‘brothers shot’.
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Jo & ‘Mirt, you guys were there with us that night. See your happy faces on their phones??? Yes, you were definitely there!
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And I’ve saved the best picture for last.
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He was indeed a very, very, very happpppeee man that night! Thanks to each and every one of you, 5th April 2008 will be forever etched in his heart as one of the happiest days in his Life.
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Thank you from the very depths of my heart for making it so special for him. *happy, happy tears* :’)