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I celebrated my 51st—ouch—birthday this past
weekend. I’d like to think of it as turning thirty and twenty one again at the
same time.
I turned 21 in Amsterdam doing what 21 year olds do best in
Amsterdam.
I turned 30 in Chicago fighting with an ex boyfriend who
thought a blender would be a romantic birthday gift.
Needless to say, both the boyfriend and the blender were
returned.
To turn 51, I invited some of my
best friends over for some cake and yoga.
Doodoo, my yoga instructor is from near Harbin. She is tall,
strong and lots of fun. Plus, is as flexible as the cast of circ du soleil.
The kids did yoga while the adults ate cake. The big kid is
jeff. The legs in the window belong to my other friend, Mandy. She surprised me with the cake.
Now cake in China is big, physically big.
What else would you expect?
And even bigger than the cake is the cake box.
The place we got the cake from is a bakery chain called
JiaHua.
Actually, China does a good job with cake.
Being light and fluffy, the cake itself was a light gold
sponge cake with layers of custard and sliced cherries.
The frosting wasn’t as light as whip cream but was a far cry
from betty crocker’s ready to spread.
The top of the cake was decorated with assorted chunks of
fresh melon, candied fruits and cherry tomatoes (which are considered a dessert).
No smoked duck tongue or dried chicken feet.
Plus, a huge white chocolate flower in the center and a
sprinkling of sliced almonds.
Birthday cakes of this size are about 160 RMB, or $20.
A lot of the frosting ended up smeared on our face (a
Chinese birthday tradition, or so the kids said….)
Jeff enjoyed licking it off.
My birthday was fun. I never would’ve suspected I’d be
licking frosting off of cherry tomatoes to celebrate number 51 in China.
But that’s what makes life interesting.