One of the five occasions to celbrate--Dan's birthday

December 15 is my husband's birthday--one of the 5 occasions we celebrate every year. Though he is 63 years old, he sometimes acts like a child. For example, long before his birthday approaches, he will talk about how to celebrate it. Then we'll get into several discussions about the restaurant where he wants to celebrate his birthday. Besides this eating event, he will give me some hints of what birthday present he wants to have. He's a bookworm, so books are always the best gifts for him. However, most of the books he's wanted to have are not available in Taiwan. I have to order online--Amazon.com and ask them to mail the books. It sounds easy, but the problem is that he won't tell me what book he wants until a month earlier. By the time I know what book he wants, it doesn't leave me enough time to get my order done and then get the book mailed to Taiwan. For the past few years, I used the strategy--I ordered the books for him to read for a year and had them send to my former student who has worked in the States for years. I wait until she comes back to Taiwan to visit her family. She would carry all the books I had ordered. I remember one year I got carried away because I ordered more than 20 books from different websites. After I realized I had ordered way too many books, I told myself not to do the same thing again.
This year's birthday celebration went very well. I made a reservation at Pierre, the cozy restaurant which serves the best pasta in my neighborhood. When I made the reservation, I asked the owner if she could play the music of "Happy Birthday". She said they didn't have that kind of music but promised they would prepare something special for my husband.

Potato & corn soup

Pierre home-made hot roll

Seafood pasta with tomato sauce

At 5:30 we arrived at the restaurant. Then about 10 minutes later we started enjoying the first dish of the meal--a hot home-made roll with potato corn soup. After that, we savored the delicious salad--lettuce with cheese dipped in oil sauce. While having the meal, Dan and I were chatting happily. Then our entree came--my favorite seafood pasta with tomato sauce and Dan's favorite salmon with pesto paste. My pasta tasted perfect! Dan loved his salmon! After the entree, we were served two small cup of sour milk with figs in red wine. Having no idea what it was, I asked the server Zhi-wen what it was. Then she told us that it was Pierre's treat for my husband's birthday! What a wonderful gesture! My shy and low-key husband looked so happy and surprised that he thanked the server several times. Boy, that dessert was the best dessert I had ever eaten. I'm a gourmet and have eaten so many delicious foods in Taiwan and some foreign countries, but I had never eaten such tasty dessert before! When I went to pay for the meal, I asked the owner if I could talk to the chef, the owner's husband, in person. Once again my husband thanked the chef and the owner for their thoughtfulness! He said this birthday celebration was one of the most unforgettable ones in his life!