56th Birthday Week was FUN!

Heya Posse! What a splendid week of fun and celebration. Even though most if it was pretty small scale it was super satisfying. Quite a few of the people I care about managed to make the Birthday Lunch at our local Chinese. I may have talked last week about Authentic 1970s Australian Chinese Cuisine. It’s only tangentially Chinese food and absolutely riddled with sugar but so bloody delicious, you have no idea. It is getting harder and harder to find in Sydney as the world gets more health conscious. Some of the crew at lunch are now calling it Country Town Chinese. It was the final event for 56th Birthday Week and 24 of us came together.

Poor Jin came down crook on Thursday night. As soon as we arrived at our city hotel, Sofitel Darling Harbour, he seemed to collapse into the most hideous cold. We seriously thought it might be C19 but tests showed it was not, thankfully. Poor bugger went from delightful to wretched before my eyes. So, as you can imagine, he was a joyful ball of love and light. NOT! One joy was that it was lightly raining and the view of Sydney CBD was so beautiful from our room on the 17th floor.

He has continued unwell all weekend and missed out on a few things. Our buddies were devo not to see him and I was a little at a loss.

56th Birthday Week was FUN!

The worst thing about having a sick husband at your 56th Birthday Week was there’s no one to wait with. We have a couple of friends who are compulsively early. So I dutifully wandered around the corner to our destination Canton House to be meet and greeter at 11.30am for a midday meet. HA! This one time no one showed till 11.57 and I was getting really anxious. So I called Jin and he was reassuring through his moldy old man coughing and nose blowing, poor guy. We even managed to have a laugh, which sent him off again.

I’d booked for 24 but there were a few pullouts overnight for various reasons and we hadn’t heard from a couple so I pulled it back to 20. HA! Should have just bloody left it. So there was a last minute scurry to add an extra table. No real drama. All worked out fine and we spent nearly three hours eating, drinking and catching up. Some friends had not met yet so that meant a flurry of introductions and getting to know you conversations. Actually, it was very chatty on the two tables. We were loud but within reason and we had another really joyful table next to us as well. The place was jumping.

Another thing I love about Canton house is how affordable it is. We were groaning from overeating, had enough left over to bring Jin a mixed take away container and it was all only AU$30/person. That included a tip! For those in the USA, not all Aussies tip because our waitstaff are on reasonable, live-able wages. As you can see below, no one will become a billionaire but just live-able. We still like to tip because every little bit helps and most of us remember the joy of leaving hops work with a few extra $.

Fragrantly, I wore Cedre Atlas by Atelier Cologne. There is an upcoming review. Also my mate Tim gave me a BNIC bottle of Comme des Garçons Daphne. A unicorn I’ve long anguished about not buying while its was available. Seriously cool gift.

There was a NO GIFT POLICY in place this year. I’m about to buy a serious sound system for MCing weddings and other events. It’s a big ticket item. The deal everyone was given this year was please write a card and hide $0-$50 in it. It’s not about the money, it’s about the sentiment. All funds to go towards the buying of the new system. Almost everyone complied and I’m super thrilled not to be taking a bunch of gorgeous but unwanted stuff down to the charity store this week.

Jin went for gold. A real, old fashioned metal twirling cages egg beater! Like we used to lick, yeah? They’ve basically stopped making them so he imported a set from South Korea! Hugely appreciated. Also, a doo-hicky that cleans the inside of the car windscreen without all the gymnastics and bloody knuckles. PLUS: he bought me the 3kg bag of South Korean mayonnaise. This man is a genius and these are the kinds of gifts that make me so happy. Lastly, Jin bought me a replacement Spode teabag mini plate after my Royal Albert Old Country Roses one smashed recently.

So another years birthday is over. I’m glad to have had so much fun with so many beloved people.

Jin is improved but still not fighting fit. He went back to work today, Thursday but should have left it another day. He’s going to work from home tomorrow. That’s always nice.

Thanks for reading this far about my 56th Birthday Week,
Did you ever try Atlas Cedre or Daphne? How did you find them?
Portia xx