So a couple of weeks ago (May 15th to be precise) I turned 27 years old...officially in the bracket of late 20's..
When you're 20-23 maybe even up to 24 you can put yourself in the "early 20's" bracket, then 25-26 I'd class as "mid-20's" and 27 onwards is the decline.. "late 20's" up to the day of the big 30.
Sitting here typing this really puts things into perspective..30 in three years? Very scary indeed. It's not all grim I guess, I have three full years left in my 20's and I intend to make the most of them... without bringing skydiving into the picture.
I'm not one for big birthday parties, I don't like making a fuss really...how I see it is that yes, it's my birthday but there are probably some 5 + Billion people on this planet who's birthday is not May 15th and the world doesn't stop spinning for them right? In the usual Jack style too.. I'm celebrating one year closer to being old? It doesn't make sense right? Like celebrating watching your bank account deplete or something..
As part of the mandatory celebrations anyone must have on their birthday for me Family is most important, to kind of tie into my birthday my parents and my sister flew from England to Singapore for a week.
To be honest, the most exciting thing about having my family here or the thing I looked forward to most other than seeing them of course was the food here in Asia. I wanted them to sample as much Asian food as possible; and by Asian food I don't mean Curry & Chips..
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| Cindy teaching the folks to eat with Chopsticks in Sushi Tei - Classic photo :) |
The first night they arrived we went for Korean food; Korean BBQ to be precise in Tanjong Pagar. The Korean BBQ went down very well with my old man and with my sister but my Mother did not like it one bit. She didn't like wrapping the BBQ meats in lettuce, she didn't like the seafood pancake or the Kimchi - her favourite part of the night was leaving.
The second night I did the proverbial boyfriend thing and introduced my parents to Cindy. Cindy a girl who always looks pretty really made an effort than evening she had her hair done for the occasion and had splashed out on a very chic dress making her look probably the prettiest I've ever seen her, she cast her spell well and truly on me and on my family that night.. for hours and hours afterwards and even now almost a month on they tell me how much they loved her, let's not mention the comparison to NL here...not yet anyway.
After the introduction we went for Japanese Food at Sushi Tei in China Square, near Chinatown and to my surprise they loved the food. They ate everything from Sushi to Maki, from Chicken Karage to Ebi Tempura and the pièce de résistance they ate Unagi which for those not versed in Japanese is Eel. It doesn't come as a long black snake on your plate but when you know what it is it's intimidating first time round for us westerners. They loved it all. My sister was the most adept at quick gain Chopsticks, in fact she picked it up probably as quickly as I did... my parents were totally hopeless bless them.
To top off one of my favourite nights in a long time Cindy bought me a birthday cake! The first cake I've had in many years..
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| The deepest, most moist Chocolate & Banana cake ever - Thank you Cindy ;) |
Day 3 - There isn't to be honest THAT much to do in Singapore except Shop, go to Sentosa Island and visit a few landmarks but not of them (with the exception of Marina Bay Sands) have any oomph really. We went shopping and i showed the folks my place I'm staying at and for dinner we went across a bar at Somerset, across the road from the mall the Somerset MRT links into - it's called 5 or something like that but does some of the best bar food I've ever eaten in all my years. Onion Rings, Mini Burgers, Pizza, Chicken Wings all really good - none of this frozen bag from Iceland malarkey you get in most pubs and bars in the UK.
On Thursday we went across to the bar at the Big D for a quick drink and my parents funnily enough bumped into NL which was one of the most awkward moments in recent months but never the less I was very much looking forward to the evening; on Thursday evening Cindy picked us up and we headed over across the causeway into Malaysia and to Cindy's place in Gelang Patah for dinner. We even got my folks the traditional Malaysian drink Teh Tarik and they loved it which I never expected!
Cindy and I cooked my parents some Chicken with Broccoli & Mushrooms in a Soya Sauce, Tamil style Marinara Shrimp and Asparagus wrapped in bacon with mountains of white sticky rice. They ate up ever last morsel of food.. earlier before dinner I had told them even if they didn't like it they were obviously obliged to eat it but they assured me they loved it and I believe them to my core; it's the only time my family gets quiet; When they are eating!
The following day (Friday) me and my folks took a flight out to Phuket in Thailand and Cindy hadn't come along as she had originally got the dates confused with her girly trip to Bali, not that Bali is for girls just that she was going with a girlfriend of hers - just to clarify :) At the last minute my Dad insisted Cindy come along and I agreed wholeheartedly and we booked her a last minute flight, she got 1 day's short notice leave off work and flew across to Phuket the following day. I don't want to spoil the Phuket trip for you all so I'll make a separate blog about that sometime.. it takes me so long these days with long working hours to do anything productive outside of the work place so God knows how long it will take but it will come :)
So.. after a few time fast forwarding days in Phuket (you know those days that the hours just fly by as if someone had your life on fast forward?) we arrived back in Singapore with about 12 hours to kill before my parents flew back to the UK. I used this time wisely; clearly on the hunt for more food and took my parents to my favourite white-man restaurant in Singapore; Fish & Co. We ate fish and chips and although a mockery to the Fish lots we can acquire from Grangetown Fisheries round the corner from my folks house we sat and were merry as if I was back home.
Thank you for coming to visit me on my Birthday, Thank you for being a wonderful Father, a wonderful Mother and a wonderful Sister to me. I love you all very much and count the days until I see you again. Last but not least thank you to Cindy for being so lovely, for cooking the best Chinese food my parents have ever eaten and for being so adorable my family now seem to love you more than they do me! :)
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| Left to right: My sis, me, Cindy, The Old Man and the Old Lady finishing up our Japanese adventure with a can of Asahi |
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| Best Mother 2012 Award Winner - Mrs Karen Smith x |
Until next time...
Peace
