Hedgehog's (Actual) Day

More than two months it has been since The Hedgehog had a birthday. 

It's always a lovely time- not just because it is a milestone- but because it's a celebration of a life lived, a life with joys and sorrows, dreams and hopes. 

I know for one thing the road Hedgehog has gone on. 

I also know the dreams and the hopes Hedgehog continues to have. 

No more is there a crave for loud, boisterous celebrations (although I think one of those big shimmery shiny balloons might suffice).

Instead it's just a moment to let the day be and let the day pass.

There was a celebration meal, of course, at this izakaya in Holland Village called Takeshi-San. 

Being there in the afternoon has its benefits. 

You have the whole place to yourself, and the already-attentive staff is attentive even more. 

We got one of those platter things- that being what we had come here for- with an amazing spread of food that included crispy, hot fries, fresh salad with (yuzu?) sauce, wagyu beef cubes, and meat skewers two kinds. 

We also got four little salmon belly sushi. 

Everything was so good. 

Almost at once I fell in love with the squishy, soft, rounded taste of the salmon belly over the soft, beautifully shaped rice. There was no fishy aftertaste and the whole piece melted gorgeously in my mouth. 

You know, there're many places that serve good salmon belly sushi, but this is one place that I'll certainly come back to once again. 

Their (meat) platter was just as good. 

The beef cubes were surprisingly tender. The skewers were remarkably fun to eat, and we had a great time dipping everything into the Mentaiko sauce. 

Hedgehog fell in love with the Mentaiko sauce. 

So did I. 

Maybe because Takeshi-San wasn't stingy with the portion, and they gave another full portion when we requested for more. 

It was a relaxing lunch we had that day. 

A good dessert succeeds a good meal, but with there being no more room for waffles and ice cream, we decided to do cake, and so wandered out of Holland Village towards the Star Vista mall down the road. 

We settled for Coffee Bean, and it didn't take long for me to decide what to get for The Hedgehog who has a fondness for anything chocolate, and tea. 

So I got a slice of (something) (something) Thousand Leaves, and a nice, soothing cup of peppermint tea. 

We took time with the cake.

but we still  weren't hungry at dinner time.

Not wanting to end the celebration this early however, we decided to continue on with the dessert streak and made our way down to Chinatown for... tang yuan.

Yes, I know- it's not quite a traditional birthday food- but  glutinuous rice balls (with sesame filling and peanut filling) in ginger soup are one of Hedgehog's favorite traditional desserts, and who doesn't mind a bowl at Mei Heong Yuen anytime?