I never care for birthday cakes or normal cakes. I can't say I don't have a sweet tooth because on the occasion, I welcome a not-so-cloying strawberry shortcake or an olive cake. I still love juices and such. But I have no fondness for desserts. It's not even a matter of 'resisting'. I simply don't bother with sugar on a daily basis. I can do without it, so that once in a while if I have it, it tastes good.
However, I would be horrified if any of my friends thought it would be a great idea to get me a fancy cake. It would rarely taste good, and it simply means that they don't know me! Thankfully, over the years, if a cake must be bought or baked, the faeriefolk have stuck to simple cakes as a symbolic celebration (fruit mousse of sorts or dark chocolate) because everyone else would eat it. Hahaha.
This year, somehow cheesecakes made their way into memories of my 42nd birthday. A 12-year-old Missy insistently wanted to celebrate with me and suffered some hunger pangs after school to meet me at the newly opened Gather. We had a late lunch, and Missy was pleased to be able to personally give me her handmade card.
Savory galettes hit a spot for lunch, and a fig and camembert crêpe resulted in a surprise find of a fig jam from Melbourne's Yarra Valley. That's the exact brand I love and bought a few bottles of. After they ran out, I never had a chance to buy it again. And Y asked to purchase a bottle of it for meeee. Waaaaah.
There was a cheesecake conspiracy between Y and Missy and the staff of Gather, and a dainty slice of burnt passionfruit cheesecake presented to me at the table. Then there was a surprise box of a pair of beer glasses from tzulaï that S and V prepped for me as a gift. Oh my! I was overwhelmed. It was a gorgeous lunch. Y refused to let me split the tab and insisted on getting it. Aiyoh.
The man didn't buy me any coffee beans (again. what the 😠) from Tokyo. He came back with offerings of Salt and Camembert cookies from Tokyo Milk Cheese Factory. as well as a Hokkaido Double Strawberry Cheesecake (北海道苺のドゥーブル) from LeTAO. FINE. Luckily for him, I accept savory cookies, and that cheesecake was surprisingly not too sugary! All these brands have set up shop in Singapore, but apparently they don't carry all the flavors except for the popular ones. I wouldn't know because I've not stopped by these shops!
'Have 42 desserts', the BFF wished me. I was like, NO. I didn't even want to inhale 42 drinks over the weekend, or 42 savory things. Duhhh. I'll hit this number over the week anyway. Hahaha. Besides going to the dog parks and hanging out outdoors, the man and I mostly stayed in over the weekend. He just gotten in from Tokyo; although he had a low-risk itinerary, he wanted to minimize any possibility of him infecting humans if he had gotten the sniffles, or something worse. I had the best birthday lunch in the form of nasi padang tapau-ed from a favored stall in Beach Road. Loved their sambal terasi, paru and begedil.
Here I am at this pronic and abundant number. I certainly don't feel cleverer. I'm quite clever to begin with. HAHAHAHA. Academically, I'm not sure I'd do any better. Intelligence quotient doesn't quite rise with age. It's the sum total bonus of the experiences and schooling gleaned over the years that make me feel all intellectual. #privilege I wouldn't trade the knowledge and life skills that I've acquired at this age to be thrown back to 25 years old again. I don't even want to be 30. Without these privileges and the opinions of strong women who raised me, would I be who I am today? Ideally, I would love to stay 42 forever.
However, I would be horrified if any of my friends thought it would be a great idea to get me a fancy cake. It would rarely taste good, and it simply means that they don't know me! Thankfully, over the years, if a cake must be bought or baked, the faeriefolk have stuck to simple cakes as a symbolic celebration (fruit mousse of sorts or dark chocolate) because everyone else would eat it. Hahaha.
Savory galettes hit a spot for lunch, and a fig and camembert crêpe resulted in a surprise find of a fig jam from Melbourne's Yarra Valley. That's the exact brand I love and bought a few bottles of. After they ran out, I never had a chance to buy it again. And Y asked to purchase a bottle of it for meeee. Waaaaah.
There was a cheesecake conspiracy between Y and Missy and the staff of Gather, and a dainty slice of burnt passionfruit cheesecake presented to me at the table. Then there was a surprise box of a pair of beer glasses from tzulaï that S and V prepped for me as a gift. Oh my! I was overwhelmed. It was a gorgeous lunch. Y refused to let me split the tab and insisted on getting it. Aiyoh.
The man didn't buy me any coffee beans (again. what the 😠) from Tokyo. He came back with offerings of Salt and Camembert cookies from Tokyo Milk Cheese Factory. as well as a Hokkaido Double Strawberry Cheesecake (北海道苺のドゥーブル) from LeTAO. FINE. Luckily for him, I accept savory cookies, and that cheesecake was surprisingly not too sugary! All these brands have set up shop in Singapore, but apparently they don't carry all the flavors except for the popular ones. I wouldn't know because I've not stopped by these shops!
"42 is the answer to the “ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything,"
~ says Deep Thought in Douglas Adams's 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' (1979).
'Have 42 desserts', the BFF wished me. I was like, NO. I didn't even want to inhale 42 drinks over the weekend, or 42 savory things. Duhhh. I'll hit this number over the week anyway. Hahaha. Besides going to the dog parks and hanging out outdoors, the man and I mostly stayed in over the weekend. He just gotten in from Tokyo; although he had a low-risk itinerary, he wanted to minimize any possibility of him infecting humans if he had gotten the sniffles, or something worse. I had the best birthday lunch in the form of nasi padang tapau-ed from a favored stall in Beach Road. Loved their sambal terasi, paru and begedil.
Here I am at this pronic and abundant number. I certainly don't feel cleverer. I'm quite clever to begin with. HAHAHAHA. Academically, I'm not sure I'd do any better. Intelligence quotient doesn't quite rise with age. It's the sum total bonus of the experiences and schooling gleaned over the years that make me feel all intellectual. #privilege I wouldn't trade the knowledge and life skills that I've acquired at this age to be thrown back to 25 years old again. I don't even want to be 30. Without these privileges and the opinions of strong women who raised me, would I be who I am today? Ideally, I would love to stay 42 forever.
2 comments:
To a healthy and happy 42nd, Imp!
My thanks, D.
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