Birthdays in the family

There is nothing better than birthday cake. It's like a slice of concentrated love with buttercream frosting.
Takayuki Ikkaku, Arisa Hosaka and Toshihiro Kawabata, Animal Crossing: Wild World, 2005

November 14th is always a special day in my family. Its my husband Alfred's and our second daughter Ashley's birthday. Eversince the kids turned double digit, they dont want to have anymore 'birthday parties'. Nowadays, birthdays are celebrated mainly dinner with family and a few close family friends. This year, Ashley picked Souled Out, one of our favourite restaurants. A table with an outdoor seating arrangement was pre-booked with everyone looking forward to a wonderful evening... As usual, aunty Melein baked the cake as she always does since my kids were 1yr old!!!

Alas the weather that night was not cooperative; it rained cats and dogs. It was disappointing since everyone loves the ambience of outdoor seating. Nevertheless, we had to relent and reluctantly moved indoor. We were however pleasantly surprised that the cosy ambience of dining indoors was what were much needed after all.....

Predictably most diners with tables reserved for outdoor dining had to be relocated indoors which meant having to wait for quite a while for a table. Whilst waiting for our table we ordered a couple of appetizers; cheese nachos and fried ikan bilis; which were very tasty.

We had our table ready an hour later and some of us decided to scale down on the main course after the appetizers. The food at Souled Out were as always nicely presented and appertizing.

As evidenced from some of the food we had that night, one thing is for sure, local cuisine still ranks high with us...