10 years ago on 9 April 2008, I welcomed my third and last baby girl. She was delivered via elective C-section at 37.5 weeks. Her name was to be Calista but my Chinaman Ah Pek hubs didn't like Calista ~ it sounded too glamorous for this Chinaman to handle 😆. In fact the name Sherilyn proved too fancy for this Ah Pek, thus he prefers to call our Drama Queen by the Chinese name of Kay Yi. We also had to think of whether the mil would know how to pronounce that name and imagined how that name would be mispronounced by many, especially by those who are not very proficient with English. My younger brother commented that Calista sounded like some galaxy name. But I really liked that name, partly because my favorite actress then was Calista Flockhart, the star of Ally McBeal, which was my favorite TV series. After days of deliberation, we finally settled on the name Cassandra. And I have since loved that name 💓
Since Cass was 6 weeks old, our lives changed forever. That was the day she had her first UTI attack and later diagnosed with Grade 3 Kidney Reflux with a right duplex collecting system. For many of you who have been loyal readers of my blogs, you would have read the nightmare that I went through since Cass was 6 weeks old until her surgeries were performed when she was 13 months old. I had never faced so many curveballs thrown into my life than Cass' first 14 months of life. I didn't know I was that strong mentally until strong was the only word I could use to describe myself then. There was no time and allowance to be weak and cry.Today as I was jogging in the morning, I reminisced about Cass' birth and all the procedures, scans, radiation that her little body had to endure, pain inflicted and screams from my baby and wondered if my heart was made of steel OR flesh and blood.
Long story short, every birthday that Cass celebrates is indeed a celebration for her and me. Cass has a lust for life, loves to try dare devil stunts and adventures, loves long hikes and badminton, is a party animal and her optimistic outlook in life always amazes me.
With all that said, we had two simple dos to celebrate Cass' first double digit birthday; one on the eve of the eve of her birthday (Saturday) and another one on her actual birthday (Monday).
On Saturday, 7 April 2018:
Dinner at a newly opened Italian Cafe at Faber Tower. I can't seem to remember the name though (Portollini?). It was the cafe's opening day on the day that we went, thus I managed to sweet talk the manager into giving the birthday girl free ice-creams 😆
Pizza for my pizza-craze Alycia (check out her impatient hand that photo-bombed the pic) and mushroom soup for moi:
Lasagna for Cass and pasta for Drama Queen:
Pork chop for moi and steak for the gourmand hubs:
Crispy roast pork salad and 'orange split' ice-cream (on the house):
Dinner was pretty satisfactory and the only beef that I had was the pork chop, which I find too salty for my low-sodium palate.
On 9 April 2018, Cass' actual birthday:
We had dinner at our favorite neighborhood 'tai chau' restaurant, Seng Kee Kitchen. My younger brother, Roy and the girls' grandaunt were invited to the dinner:
The Hello Kitty strawberry cake from RT Bakery was surprisingly delish and not cloy or sweet. It's a very light cake with strawberry flavor. After giving two slices to the lady boss (who has become our good friend after being her loyal patron for over 10 years), the cake was completely scarfed down. Good, as we needn't schlep any leftover cake home, find space in the fridge, only to end up in the bin 3 days later.
'Pai kuat wong' (fried pork ribs):
Butter milk fried prawns with curry leaves:
Spinach in superior soup; steamed seabass fish:
Thai style deep fried Chinese bacon and steamed salted free-range chicken:
Cass was utterly enamoured on her birthday as she received ang pows from her mum, grandma, Roy kau fu and Wendy koo poh. I teased her that she's richer than me now and everyone pulled her leg and asked her for a treat of pizza the next day.
Since Cass was 6 weeks old, our lives changed forever. That was the day she had her first UTI attack and later diagnosed with Grade 3 Kidney Reflux with a right duplex collecting system. For many of you who have been loyal readers of my blogs, you would have read the nightmare that I went through since Cass was 6 weeks old until her surgeries were performed when she was 13 months old. I had never faced so many curveballs thrown into my life than Cass' first 14 months of life. I didn't know I was that strong mentally until strong was the only word I could use to describe myself then. There was no time and allowance to be weak and cry.Today as I was jogging in the morning, I reminisced about Cass' birth and all the procedures, scans, radiation that her little body had to endure, pain inflicted and screams from my baby and wondered if my heart was made of steel OR flesh and blood.
Long story short, every birthday that Cass celebrates is indeed a celebration for her and me. Cass has a lust for life, loves to try dare devil stunts and adventures, loves long hikes and badminton, is a party animal and her optimistic outlook in life always amazes me.
With all that said, we had two simple dos to celebrate Cass' first double digit birthday; one on the eve of the eve of her birthday (Saturday) and another one on her actual birthday (Monday).
On Saturday, 7 April 2018:
Dinner at a newly opened Italian Cafe at Faber Tower. I can't seem to remember the name though (Portollini?). It was the cafe's opening day on the day that we went, thus I managed to sweet talk the manager into giving the birthday girl free ice-creams 😆
Pizza for my pizza-craze Alycia (check out her impatient hand that photo-bombed the pic) and mushroom soup for moi:
Lasagna for Cass and pasta for Drama Queen:
Pork chop for moi and steak for the gourmand hubs:
Crispy roast pork salad and 'orange split' ice-cream (on the house):
Dinner was pretty satisfactory and the only beef that I had was the pork chop, which I find too salty for my low-sodium palate.
On 9 April 2018, Cass' actual birthday:
We had dinner at our favorite neighborhood 'tai chau' restaurant, Seng Kee Kitchen. My younger brother, Roy and the girls' grandaunt were invited to the dinner:
The Hello Kitty strawberry cake from RT Bakery was surprisingly delish and not cloy or sweet. It's a very light cake with strawberry flavor. After giving two slices to the lady boss (who has become our good friend after being her loyal patron for over 10 years), the cake was completely scarfed down. Good, as we needn't schlep any leftover cake home, find space in the fridge, only to end up in the bin 3 days later.
'Pai kuat wong' (fried pork ribs):
Butter milk fried prawns with curry leaves:
Spinach in superior soup; steamed seabass fish:
Thai style deep fried Chinese bacon and steamed salted free-range chicken:
Cass was utterly enamoured on her birthday as she received ang pows from her mum, grandma, Roy kau fu and Wendy koo poh. I teased her that she's richer than me now and everyone pulled her leg and asked her for a treat of pizza the next day.