Happy birthday, grownup! I guess now that you’ve crossed this threshold, I really don’t get to call you siew pang yao anymore, eh?

It took me a while to figure out how to write what I wanted to say here, but I think I’m just gonna go with the pictures. Suffice to say that these are some of the best memories I’ve got of Hong Kong, to date, and probably will be in the Top 10 no matter how long I end up here. And I’ve got you to thank for them. So thank you, for letting me claim that chair on your balcony, for coming with me to hunt down my elusive, unreachable park-in-the-middle-of-a-flyover, for scarfing down scones (and everything else I’ve put on a plate in front of you) until you felt so ill (and really boosting my ego there haha), for the neverending drives, for being in Hong Kong. :)

So here’s wishing you a delightful birthday! I hope it’ll end up being one of your plusplusplus-es. It pisses me off that this is the first time I’ve been able to wish you happy birthday (and I’m not even there in person), but it’s okay, ‘cos I know I’ll be around for the next gazillion. Gettin’ rid of me ain’t as easy as leaving the Kong!

PS: Someone else misses you too.

I spent the past weekend in Hangzhou, capital of the Zhejiang Province in China, visiting a friend who’s working there for a couple of months. Hangzhou is probably best known as home to West Lake – one of the most picturesque places in China, and purportedly one of the few places where the hyperbole of Chinese poets did not overstate its beauty.

Now, as famous as West Lake may be for it’s beauty, it’s a good thing that I wasn’t actually there for the scenery, seeing as I went at probably The Least Picturesque time of the year. It was kind of sad – you could see the potential for how pretty a splash of colour would have made it, whether in the form of springtime flowers, with a general lake-wide hue in autumn, or blanketed in winter.

But the hordes of (domestic) tourists jostling all around the narrow causeways, hurtling through the crowds on rickety bicycles and speeding around on electric golf carts just didn’t help. Even on a very pleasant, breezy, and quiet boatride through the lake, we managed to encounter a slight traffic jam (everyone was stopped to take pictures of the Three Ponds Mirroring The Moon scene).

Still, we ate (Lou Wai Lou definitely deserves its reputation), we walked around the scenic West Lake area, trawled the streets looking a bunch of recommendations that Did Not Exist, but happened across a gem of a find, known as Me Too Cafe. Located on Jin Hua Road, it’s a comfortable, gorgeous loft-space set in a converted warehouse. With free Wifi, fantastic service, pretty decent food (go for the ham & cheese sandwich or salmon salad, but skip the apple and pear tart), and great coffee at affordable prices, it’s the sort of place I’d love to park at with some friends, or my laptop.

But most of all, it was beyond incredible to have an entire weekend with you: laughing at ourselves, feeling old, smoking way too much, spotting imaginary squirrels, eating ourselves silly (and being so amazed when we managed to show the barest sliver of restraint!), and simply being able to reach out and touch you.

Now, if only I just didn’t have to miss you quite this much when we’re apart.

It’s not quite this cold here, but it’s great to finally be having a cold Christmas in a place I’ve learnt to call home, with you finally next to me. :)

(Also, I don’t have any Christmassy pictures ‘cos I’m too full from the massive feast we had to take anything Christmassy to post up here. Haha.)

But anyhoo, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to one and all! I hope all of you are having a Christmas that’s as satisfying and warming-towards-the-cockles-of-your-heart as mine is.

Anyway, since there’s nothing on the food front to report on, I figured I’d leave you guys with a photo taken last week in Koh Samui. (When I say “you guys”, I’m really referring to the 5 imaginary people who still read this blog, considering how often I’ve done these disappearing things.) Hope you like it.

*passes out on beanbag*

And my bunny is no different. Today’s her birthday, and since I’ve made a habit of baking something on Mondays – my off day – I decided to let her pick what I’d bake this week. I had hardly finished asking her when she immediately squeaked, “CAAAN WE HAAAVE CARROT CUPCAKES? WITH THE LITTLE BABY CARROTS?”

She was talking about these little sugar decorations that we’d chanced upon while in Sydney over my birthday, which I’d conned her into buying.

When we first moved in together, Bunny and I would go out for a nice dinner at least once a month – “date night” we called it. Date Night was really just our excuse to go out and splurge on ourselves. Ever since we moved into our current apartment that came with a nice kitchen that I’ve since fastidiously decked out, instead of going out to spend time together, we now love nothing more than being able to have a quiet night in, just the two of us, over a meal that I’ve cooked for her. Since I’ve started work, we obviously can’t eat together – whether at home or dining out – as much as we would like. As such, I thought I’d not just bake cupcakes, but cook dinner for the two of us at home. On the menu were Pork Chops with a Mustard Sauce (from Nigel Slater’s The Kitchen Diaries, a book that’s bursting at the seams with oodles of thoroughly English recipes), a beautiful orange sorbet from the same book, and – as requested – Carrot Cupcakes.

I know many people (my age) looking in would imagine that she and I lead rather boring lives – we both go to work, we hardly see each other till after 11 at night. We don’t even get weekends together. When we have time to spend together, instead of going out and painting the town red, we opt to stay in and lie in each others’ arms, just enjoying the quiet silence of each others company. Yet, there’s nothing more that I could want in this world. Nothing gets me through those days where I spend 12 hours standing in a hot, humid kitchen, assembling starter and dessert after starter and dessert than knowing that at the end of the day, she’ll be there for me to climb into bed right next to and fall asleep with, and that no matter how smelly I am, and no matter how loud I snore, she’ll be here by my side.

Happy birthday baby. I’m so glad I’ve been able to spend the last 3 with you, and I look forward to the next 50 together.

that i wasn’t there with you. i’m sorry i left, and left you all alone. if only i could have had one more week; if only you could have held out till wednesday – i was coming over then.

if only there was something i could do to bring you back.

This one’s for you. Just so you know I’m thinking of you (and worrying about you – as usual). And also so you know that it’s going to get better, since rain’s always followed by rainbows.

-hug.