Blessed is one who lives through a year.
Blessed more is one who lives through a year with peace, joy, quiet and love.
When my birthday swung by in the latter part of last year, there was really nothing a better birthday present than to have the presence of family, friends and loved ones all of whom were in peace and good health.
Still, as life goes, we try to have a celebration whenever an occasion arises, and so that's what I did.
Let's just say that there was more than one celebration, and let's just say that there was a lot of food. :D
There was the homecooked, the late-night, the prepped, and the self-prepared.
All of which were special.
Some, I have to say, especially more so, with The Parents buying up a packet of frozen siew mais from the supermarket downstairs, steaming them up, then arranging them on a plate with lettuce and cherry tomatoes thrown into the mix whilst rummaging around the fridge for anything to decorate the butter marble cake that they had bought to sing the song.
Others, however, were no less memorable.
A late night supper at this mala xiang guo place near our home saw us having beef, beancurd skin, beancurd, seaweed, lettuce, Taiwanese sausage, mushrooms as well as a couple of quail eggs and cherry tomatoes that we sneakily dropped into the bowl.
A McDonalds breakfast on a weekend saw me having my childhood fave of hotcakes, fast-food style scrambled eggs, and muffins.
A mookata one evening saw us having beef and pork and lettuce and carrots and sweet corn.
And a dinner one evening had us getting a wide selection of tapas-looking dishes in the form of cute little servings on cute little plates accompanied by heaps of oysters, servings of sashimi, very good laksa and dessert.
All of this looks like a lot, but can I just tell you?
What mattered most to me was the company- the people whom I was having the meals with- and I pray that in years ahead there shall be new company to come.