Happy birthday, MF

Today is the birthday of my sister-in-law, MF. She is the wife of my brother, LB. To celebrate her birthday, my family had arranged to have a Teochew porridge buffet dinner at the Crystal Cafe located at Orchard Grand Court Hotel. The hotel is located at Killiney Road.

As the dinner reservation was made for 7 pm today, Da and I decided to attend the 2.30 pm church service this afternoon. As such, we had the morning available to laze around at home.

My family has a tradition of celebrating birthdays with a birthday cake. In more recent years, as we started celebrating our birthdays by having a buffet meal at a restaurant, we have invariably foregone the birthday cake because we are too full by the time we are done with our meal. However, since I had time this morning, I made a marble cheesecake for MF's birthday.

In the late morning, I contacted my mother and arranged to meet her, my brother (LG) and LG's girlfriend (ZT) for lunch at Katong Shopping Centre. En route to lunch, Da and I brought the marble cheesecake to my mother's home and stored it in the refrigerator.

Before we left my mother's home for lunch, my mother gave our little Boy-Boy his medication for an ailment that he is currently having. The little rascal is very ingenious. When you open his mouth to insert his pill, if you fail to place the pill near his throat, he will hide the pill under his tongue, pretend to swallow (you can even see the swallowing movement in his throat!) and when your back is turned, he will spit out the pill!

Lunch was a light-hearted affair at the food court at Katong Shopping Centre. It was very crowded today as we arrived right in the middle of lunch-time.

After lunch, Da and I made our way to church. Gosh! The car park was so full today! When we managed to enter the church auditorium, the praise & worship segment had already ended and they were starting to have communion. It was another powerful message by the pastor today. Sometimes in life, God gives us instructions that go against human logic. We should let our human logic be subservient to our faith as the Lord uses the simple things to confound the mighty. Also, people who come against us (eg. scheming colleagues, etc) mean evil but take heart because God will turn the evil for our good.

Feeling energised after the church service, Da and I met Da's cousin (MT) for tea-time at Han's Cafe. My apologies, MT, for being a little late in meeting you. I was held up at the church book store buying two Christian books to read. Today, other than discussions on the property market in Singapore, we also discussed more theological topics such as our salvation. Let me leave you with a thought-provoking question that MT raised - Do you think that money (or for that matter, blessings) drop from heaven?

After we parted ways with MT (who proceeded to his brother's home in Redhill), Da and I drove to Orchard Grand Court hotel at Killiney Road. Along the way, we saw many Indians gathered near an Indian temple at River Valley Road. Da remembered that it was the Indian festival of Thaipusam. I craned my neck to see whether there was anyone carrying the kavadi but I did not see any.

When we managed to park our car at the car park at Orchard Grand Court hotel and proceeded to the Crystal Cafe, the rest of my family had already arrived.

Although you can order your food from the menu, many diners at the Crystal Cafe opt to eat the Teochew porridge buffet. We were no exception.

Today, all the fruits in the fruit section were exceptionally sweet. The selection of cakes was also very tempting.

The hot dessert served at Crystal Cafe's buffet changes daily. On sunday nights, they serve "Ah Balling", also known as 湯圓 (tāng yuán).

After a very satisfying dinner, we proceeded to my mother's home for cake-cutting. I took the marble cheesecake from the refrigerator and inserted a candle in the middle of it (MF requested for the pink candle, "to match the purple colour of the cheesecake"). We sang "happy birthday" to MF and she made a wish before she blew out the candle.

Even Boy-Boy did not want to miss out on the action. He loves it whenever we celebrate our birthdays with a birthday cake because he knows that he will be allowed to take photographs with the birthday cake. Sometimes, he also gets to take photographs with the birthday boy / birthday girl together with the birthday cake.

As there are seven of us, my brother (LB) sliced the marble cheesecake into seven slices. Goodness me! Each slice was huge!

As Boy-Boy was not allowed to eat the marble cheesecake, ZT offered him a piece of vegetarian pineapple tart which was given by MF's parents.

We were not sure whether Boy-Boy would like the pineapple tart but he loved it! He ate up every crumb.

On the occasion of your birthday, MF, I wish you very many happy returns of the day. May you be blessed always with long life, peace, prosperity, happiness and love.