The one about Jo's birthday...

Friday 1st September was Jo's birthday. We had dinner at the new Hardwicke Restaurant and there were ten of us that night. Our usual gang was slightly broken up with Carolyn away at Tioman for a diving holiday while Kian Hio got called away to Xiamen for business. Stacy and Mel brought Naomi along. However, we were also joined by Celina and her friend Anette who happen to be in Penang for the weekend.

The night started simple enough, with both Jo and I arriving first, meeting Yan and his gang of friends Mark, Cyril and others having some wine at Vintage next door. The others arrived later due to this being a work day, but we were all ready and dinner went underway by 8.45 p.m.

The multi course dinner was nice indeed. We had two starters, a soup, sorbet, main course, dessert and coffee to end the night. We also ordered a couple of bottles of wine to accompany our meal. Overall, the consensus was that it was a hearty dinner and well worth the cost. We didn't have a birthday cake after dinner as the restaurant was going to charge us a "corkage" to serve our cake. So we settled for Jo blowing out one candle with her dessert. Naomi presented Jo with a rendition of "Happy Birthday" which was well received to say the least.

As usual I went nuts with my camera and took a flurry of shots and here are only some:

Birthday girl and me!

Part of the group checking out the menu...

Mel having a battle of wits with an elephant puzzle... (he lost!)

Warming up...

Jo opening her presents...

Cool gift eh?

We then proceeded to Soho for drinks. Stacy and little Naomi left us and we were joined by Ruengsak, another friend of Celina's who was out here for a working holiday from Thailand. The scene at Soho wasn't as busy as a Saturday night but the usual chatter and banter had us all occupied. The night ended fairly early by our standards but I believe it was a very nice night indeed, given that many of our friends who would have come were away for the long weekend. Next year, it'll be another long weekend for Jo's birthday, so maybe we should have it somewhere overseas or at least out of Penang. With adequate notice and preparations, it'll be interesting to see if we can fit into everyone's timetable.

Jo enjoying herself at Soho...

Celina, Mel & Yan sharing a funny moment...

The girls urging Sue on?

Yan up to his antics - teasing Jinny mercilessly!

The next day was Saturday but it felt more like Sunday. We took it easy and left the house only at 11.30 a.m. to take Ethan to Tumbletots. We spent the afternoon at Gurney Plaza taking Ethan for his kiddie rides and got home to catch up on some much needed rest. Later after sunset mass, we spent the evening just the two of us at a new Japanese Restaurant in Pulau Tikus (there must be at least a dozen of them there) called Kushihiro which serves deep fried skewered bites of many varieties. The food was good but just a little too expensive for what it was. We left hungry although having spent RM56 on whatever we had. We then spent the night at Coffee Bean Gurney Plaza just chatting away and people watching. Somehow after all the hustle and bustle of the past few weeks culminating in the party the night before, this was a good change and very pleasant for us.

Sunday, was as usual for us except that we had already brought Ethan to Tumbletots and gave that a miss. Leaving the little fellow in the hands of his Grandma, we set out on our first "recky" trip for the Treasure Hunt which is two Sundays away! That took a good two and a half hours and we rested at the Old Town cafe in E-Gate, doing a bit of shopping at Tesco before returning home.

Its going to be another busy week at work next week. I also will be giving a short talk on IT Law this coming Friday to the members of the Bar. Will need to get some materials prepared very soon, amidst the usual work to complete.

Sigh...

But I leave with a note that it was a great birthday we had for Jo and I know she enjoyed herself immensely. I have had the pleasure of spending many birthdays with Jo and I just want to say that each year its been more poignant and I feel more close to her. Jo, I just want to say thanks for everything and I love you...