Yet another year has hurtled past, we two feeling it's just been a blink of the eye since this same birthday season was upon us last year. Cass is delighted that I've finally caught up to her again: she takes the nine days when she is senior to me very much to heart and visibly relaxes when my birthday has come and gone! In Taiwan, our birthdays almost always coincide with the onset of blooming sakura and other Asian blossom, so it's warm and sunny and the spring in the atmosphere transfers readily to our step: a great time of year in the northern hemisphere!
Marcus was busy coaching athletics at a regional carnival at school over three days in the latter part of the week, so he was an unlikely starter for Friday night drinks. When I say regional, I mean that 5 international schools sent their best athletes to Taiwan for the annual showdown. It's a huge deal and of course the schools make it bigger than the Olympics: there are "official" officials, video replays, sensor timers and every other latest trick and gadget necessary to pump it up to level 10 in seriousness! As it turned out, Marcus was happy to come and have a few beers at Uli's to debrief: I think the antics of some of the coaches needed to be aired in a neutral zone! Cass, at the same time, took the opportunity to go and see Joe the Jeweler on some mysterious trip seemingly based around Val's pearls. Usually something else materializes from these trips....I'll wait and see.
We decided to do a combined birthday celebration and picked out a favourite for both of us, the upmarket American chain Ruth's Chris, where we've never had a disappointing experience, in fact quite the opposite: each time we're more and more impressed. We went for years to the branch downtown, but this time and last we've tried the branch over at Dazhi, near the Neihu commercial hub through the tunnel from our suburb. We got an Uber there and back for extra convenience: despite a plethora of yellow cabs flooding the roads at all hours, we can get the Uber door to door allowing for cover from rain and kindness to high heeled clad commuters!
As usual, we were escorted to our table by liveried wait staff, this time being ushered past the drifting curtains to a richly upholstered booth and table near the back. The place was far bigger than we'd realized and already filling up with expectant diners! We ordered fillet steaks of different sizes, accompanied by some asparagus with Hollandaise sauce, and a plump, piping hot baked potato smothered in sour cream to share. The steaks arrived on a sizzling plate radiating a frightening heat, just perfectly cooked to our specifications. Cass had mentioned it was a birthday celebration in the booking, so we received a boutique serve of bread and butter chocolaty pudding with a blazing candle perched on top. We shared a substantial cheesecake with raspberry sauce and cream for dessert: as usual, the food was sublime, the ambiance relaxed and the staff attentive and competent. We had a wonderful celebration!
Exciting(!) activities like grocery shopping and football watching occupied different slabs of time on my actual birthday, but it was nice to get a call from the Williamson clan as well as mum. I got email messages from the sisters and numerous messages on social media making the passing of another year just a little more acceptable!
I've had two frozen shoulders diagnosed affecting my annual push-up performance last year, but this year could have been even worse as I've cut down just a little after the surgeon I consulted back home expressed horror at my regime of exercise. I rallied for the task and managed to punch out the same total as last year: says a lot about positive thinking and visualization...it actually works! See video up the top for a week, then here later. Photos: book-ended by blossoms, some temple structures and shots from the restaurant.