There were three cakes for The Birthday this year.
There were also three meals.
For someone who doesn't really care for boisterous celebrations and large group gatherings, to be able to celebrate with family, friends and loved ones was more than I could have asked for.
Birthdays don't necessarily get louder and louder as the years get older.
Sometimes they get quieter and quieter.
Either way it doesn't matter just so long as you are happy with what you have, and who you have celebrating the day with you.
Amongst the cakes this year was a butter one bought by The Parents from the bakery at our house downstairs.
This bakery has been around almost thirty years, and even though at one time we used to get either coffee, yam or pandan from other bakeries, in recent years we've decided that a cake without cream is better for the palate, and easier to keep in the fridge.
Some years we have just the cake alone.
We had it with vanilla ice cream this year.
After the butter cake came along a dark chocolate one gifted by *friends* who happily cut it up into slices of eight, and gave me three.
Secretly I had hoped to get the whole cake just for me (because, yeah, I'm greedy like that) but later I realized just how large each slice of this cake was, and became very glad that I needed to finish only three.
I had expected to finish each slice in fifteen minutes.
But I had completely underestimated the rich texture of this cake and the thick layer of (fudge) on top.
Each slice took me an hour of a slow breakfast every morning over three days.
I didn't mind- it was a great switch- and the cake went perfectly well with my mug of unsweetened milky coffee.
I'd thought two cakes were already more than enough, but then The Parent surprised me with a little matcha chiffon bought from the bakery in the supermarket- because "you say you like matcha" and "the picture very cute"
Yep, The Parent was right.
The picture was cute, and I ate it by cutting the whole cake up into cubes so that I could keep the picture for last and have it with hot milk tea.
It was a blessing to have the matcha cake all to myself.
But it was also a blessing to be able to share.
There was plenty of that for The Birthday this year.
All the meals were shared.
Like the Family Lunch at home with The Parents who had Chupa Chups, quail eggs, vanilla ice cream, food from the coffee shop, steamed siew mais, and noodles two styles.
Like the surprise Dinner at L'Entrecote Customs House where, with The Hedgehog, I shared a steak, a plate of freshly shucked oysters, a bowl of very good French onion soup, a basket of hot, crisp fries and salad.
And like the Supper with The Parent at the space downstairs the block near our house where we celebrated our birthdays with salted fish fried rice, oyster omelet, black bean noodles and little kuehs afterward.
It wasn't only marked with food, by the way.
There was also a long bicycle ride that gave me misty blue scenes of Coney Island and views of rains which I'd never before seen.
