Hedgehog Had a Birthday

The Hedgehog turned a year older not too long ago. 

The plan this year had been to do something a little different from the last.

But for some reason we were still quite clueless what to do even when the date rolled around. 

I suppose it might be because we're the kind who don't necessarily have to go for the full cakes and balloons and fantastical meals but instead prefer to head straight for what speaks to us for that year. 

Some things are staple, of course. 

Like a card. 

There's always a card. :) 

This year we decided to kick off the celebrations with tang yuan because The Hedgehog likes them little balls of glutinous rice with peanut and sesame filling bobbing about in the ginger soup. 

After that was done we decided we'd go for hotpot. 

Near the MRT station at Chinatown was this place which seemed pretty good, so we went. 

Two soups- one each- of tonkotsu and tom yum- which at first made me wonder because tom yum, like mala, tends to override everything that you dunk inside, but I later found out the flavor was more complementary than overpowering. 

There was a great selection of meats- chicken, pork, and beef amongst others- on the menu, Ours, however, were mostly pork and beef as well as lamb. The meats arrived at our table beautifully laid out in square shaped platters that stacked up well and which were easy for us to pick out and dunk them in the soup shabu-shabu style. 

There were also a good variety of vegetables at the counter. Took me a while to decide, but eventually I settled on two types of mushrooms, one piece of corn, two servings of egg tofu, some carrots, and heaps and heaps of lettuce leaves. 

One thing special about this place is that they've got unlimited servings of xiao long bao. 

So, the Singaporean in us ordered five baskets in all. 

They were the highlight of the meal, as was the dessert of ice cream which we chose our favorite flavors of chocolate, rum & raisin, durian, and yam. 

The birthday celebrations didn't end with the hotpot. 

There were breakfasts afterward where we had eggs done scrambled and sunny side up all served with hash browns, organic sausages, lightly fried bread, orange juice, coffee and tea. 

Then, because a birthday month always means deals, deals and more deals, we checked out the McDonalds app and ordered in the Angus burger which came with fries and drink, but had chicken nuggets and cute little winglets too.

One evening saw us having ramen for dinner. 

Because we're Chinese. 

And even though we could have ordered Ee Mian or Hor Fun from the zichar stall at the coffee shop, The Hedgehog decided one big pot of ramen and luncheon meat frites done in the pan would do just fine. 

All in all it was a wonderful time we had. 

Yes, we did feel a little different- the emotional gap was there- but a birthday is a birthday is a birthday, and I'd like to think that The Hedgehog had a pleasant, enjoyable time.