the 34-year-old baby

Recollection was a bunch of bullsh*t tied up together to make one hell of, well, sh*t.

Didn’t go to the office on Thursday and Friday, it was full of sh*t anyway.

But my week didn’t end with piles of sh*t. It was Lei’s birthday, dinner needs to be cooked and her friends need to be fed. And they were satisfied… to the point of going beyond satisfaction. With all the mmmm’s and ooooh they made with every bite, people would think they were making love. In a way, they were. They made love with the food.

Lei wanted a Japanese night so I gave her that. First off, I want to give a little history on Japanese night. Japanese night began when Lei had a 5-7 pm Grad school class on Mondays. I would be left bored and wandering at the grocery while I thought of what to prepare for dinner. One night, I remembered my tita who showed how to roll a sushi. So I grabbed the ingredients for California maki and paid at the cashier. While walking, I thought it would be a nicer surprise if we used Japanese utensils and stuff too so I got some from the department store. Lei enjoyed the dinner so much that she named it and proclaimed that Monday is Japanese night. Unfortunately, the semester ended and so did the jap night. Since then, Lei bugs me about it once a while.

Going back to Lei’s birthday celebration, it was just a little one. Initially, we planned to invite her 2 best friends only. The guest list (as if we needed to list it) grew to 6 but 1 cancelled. We just wanted it to be a quiet one and it turned out great.

The Food

Of course, I only know the basic and simplest Japanese food – chicken teriyaki and tempura. I also stir-fried some bean sprouts and carrots. Lei prepared the California maki, miso soup and kani salad. Again, the guests mmmmmed and oooohed with every bite so I was really happy.

The Crowd

There were only 5 guests:

Ghe is Lei’s friend for 17 years. Imagine that! They plan to throw a party for their debut next year. Ghe and Lei walked from Imus to Kawit, literally, just because they wanted to. Figuratively, they’ve walked beyond that. I can say that they’ve walked through earth and back and back and back and back and back and back and back and back… oh, you get my point.

Lucy is Lei and Ghe’s friend. During the initial parts of our relationship, Lei said that she only has few friends but her friends are the real deal. Lucy is one of them.

Louise is Lucy’s daughter and Lei considers Louise as hers as well. When Lei first saw Louise, Lei sang “Lupang Hinirang” to her while crying. Last week, Lei told her that story and Louise told her that the “Lupang Hinirang” should only be sung from the heart. They then proceeded to feel their heartbeats.

Mabel is Lei’s grad school classmate who turned into a friend who turned into our neighbor. When we moved into our current house, Lei and Mabel were like bored housewives who kept on sending each other food.

Jacqui is our uber funny and wacky officemate/friend.

All in all, Lei’s birthday was hit. Everybody overate but they were happy. Coffee, tea and wine were served with cake after dinner so they overate some more. So there goes my birthday gift to Lei.

Happy birthday, munchkin. You make the rest of my life something to look forward to. Olive juice.

posted by gail @ 1:10 PM