So it’s quite surprising to me that I’ve been an employee with UCSF for 5 years. I received an email saying that I had a five year service gift waiting for me to pick-up. Our manager kindly picked it up for me and gave it to me at work last week.
The gift included a pin:
I was surprised it also included quite a nice watch:
It’s nice to be recognized for something simple like this.
I just wanted to say thanks again to everyone who sent their well wishes for my birthday and also to share what great gifts I received this year 🙂
Cute stuff, snacks, wine, and a Wii game… seems like we should have a party…
Ronald is testing something for Good.Is
Today was actually my birthday so I just wanted to relax. I woke up early because my contacts were feeling dry. They are Night & Day which you’re supposed to be able to sleep and it’s usually fine most of the time.
I figured I’d get up and read for a while since I went to Borders a few days ago and picked up some clearance paperbacks. I started reading Meg Cabot’s Queen of Babble yesterday. It’s one of those corny chick books which is just entertaining reading. It was only $3.99 so I thought I’d get it for a bit of entertainment.
We went out for dinner around 5pm and headed to Coriya Hot Pot City since I was craving hot pot for some reason. I’d forgotten how cheap the place was, only $14.99 for all-you-can-eat dinner. It’s an extra $2.50 for spicy soup broth though and extra for alcohol. Soft drinks or milk tea included. They don’t have much in the way of seafood, only squid, shrimp, and fish cake. It’s not one of those all inclusive places with cooked food along with the stuff you cook yourself and their dessert is not very fancy… but if you want something pretty cheap and can fill you up, this is the place.
Just a dinner with my hubby to celebrate my official birthday. Thanks to everyone who has called, emailed, and messaged me their well wishes!!
Coriya Hot Pot City
852 Clement Street
San Francisco, CA
So Ron planned a semi-surprise birthday dinner for my big 3-0. I knew we were going out for dinner but I didn’t know where or who would be there.
We arrived at Westlake Shopping Center in Daly City and Ron didn’t seem to know exactly where he was going since we ended up driving around the shopping center and going past the parking lot entrance. Last weekend we went to Lime Tree and Ron mentioned something in passing like “oh, this is one of the Singaporean restaurants that I found online”… so I was thinking “one of”? I guessed right that we were going to Banana Island but Ron wouldn’t admit it to me. But I told him the restaurant was behind the new parking lot so we should enter that way.
The guestlist was a bit given away because as we were driving, we saw Henry’s car parked on the street and then we saw Patsy and her hubby in the parking lot! It didn’t matter to me that it was a surprise but I was just happy that everyone had time to come out to celebrate my birthday.
When Ron and I arrived, Grace unfortunately had to leave but gave me a lovely bottle of J sparkling wine before departing to take care of her sons. I’ll let you know how it is when we crack it open.
Already there waiting were Ron’s brothers Henry and William and Patsy and her hubby. Later on, Nancy and Ryan came. Also Cathy and Tiffany.
Ron did the ordering to give everyone a taste of what we had in Singapore.
Tiger beer.
Satay chicken and beef.
Roti with curry sauce.
Hainanese chicken (missing the chicken rice though).
Stir fried Ka Kong.
Beef rendang.
Char Kuay Teow (stir fried noodles).
Pineapple fried rice.
Po piah.
Fried fish with sweet & sour sauce.
The food reminded us of being back in Singapore although more expensive…
To end the meal, Ron ordered me a very special cake…
A Hello Kitty head.
It’s a cake for kids from Citizen Cake.
I forgot to mention I got a cute Hello Kitty balloon too.
Unfortunately I had to cut the cake and there wasn’t really any other way to do it except through the middle…
The cake was really dense and hard to cut.
I felt so terrible but it would’ve been a waste not to eat it..
My friends tried to stitch her up…
Then they were just cruel…
The cake needed an accompanying cup of coffee or milk since it was really dense. I didn’t eat most of my piece so I’ll be having it for breakfast for the next few days 🙂
These aren’t all the photos so I should be posting up some more later. I took a break from taking photos today so will have to get photos from everyone else.
Afterwards, a few of us went to hang out at a soju bar called The Spot Lounge on Taraval. They serve soju cocktails ($12.95/bottle) in many different flavors: mango, lychee, pear, yogurt, etc.
Reminiscent of our younger days…
The place has food too so looking forward to going back to try their rice cake (duk bok kee).
I guess getting older isn’t so bad afterall… thanks to everyone for coming out for my birthday and all the happy birthday messages!!
Banana Island
416 Westlake Center
Daly City, CA
The Spot Lounge
2325 Taraval Street
San Francisco, CA