J-emine's reflexionando

I read somewhere recently of January being the Monday of the year – well, I don’t really see it that way. Nor, do I like to liken it to the start of the new year and you get to scratch off the shit from the year prior and whathaveyounot. Sign of maturity? Heh.

January will always a busy month for the family with two birthdays, preparation for LNY and locking down activities for Q1. Last year , with LNY in January and coming back from Europe with only few (maniac) days to prepare had me promising myself never again will I go away in Jan. Luckily this year it’s in February – but that’s another story, for another day :).

This year Mum’s Birthday was on a weeknight – we didn’t want to pull her favorite  boys out on a school night and she refused the hassle of gathering her closest nieces and nephews, so it was left to the three of us.

Dinner was at Tong Le Private Dining, I decided to go for the ‘Eternal Happiness’ menu. Knowing every dish on that menu could be whipped up and in perfection by my Dad, and my ears may not live it down. Luckily, he was a good boy and only said – “okay lah ..it’s fresh” must have been prepped by Mum.  The ‘Prosperity Pot’ – a strong broth filled with abalone, bird’ nest, fish maw and sea cucumber’ touched the right chord. Soul food to nourish one’s winter body. I was disapointed that the kitchen no longer don their longevity buns in a beautiful Chinese painting-like presentation for those celebrating birthdays. Nonetheless, we had a good laugh belting out a slightly off -tone birthday song for her, and she had a little surprise at the end too (on my IG story).

The bottle of wine that night went really with the meal. Dad decided he wanted an Italian red and chose a 2011 Barolo, which according to his memory was dark, oakish, soft etc – true enough it was. What I liked was it didn’t overpower the food but bought on an exquisite aftertaste in waves.

After dinner, we took a slow stroll along Fullerton Bay with Dad sharing stories of him as a teenager working at Clifford Pier, Mum trying to take wefies of us.

These two. They make me brim with pride.