HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!!! 😀

Yep, he’s a New Year’s Eve baby.. so everyone celebrates his birthday *lol* Mum got him a Lana Cake. It’s an interesting story – the owner, Violet, bakes the cakes herself, and sells only from one tiny store. Yet, almost everyone in the entire country knows and loves her cakes. Thing is, apparently she’s the only one that knows the ‘secret recipe’ so who knows how long Lana Cake will be around if she doesn’t expand/franchise or pass the recipe down to her kids? Anyway, it’s one of my fave cakes. It’s very different to Western-style chocolate cakes – it’s almost salty in comparison and really moist and fudgy, yet doesn’t have that creamy ‘heavy’ feeling that Western cakes have. It’s totally divine :)~ Dad was like “I don’t want just 1 slice, I want a quarter of the cake!” but I managed to stop myself after one slice *pats self on back* I gave him a Ralph Lauren polo but it’s a size Small which is a bit tight on him, so will exchange it for a Medium instead. Fingers crossed they still have the same style! The colours look great on him 😀

My aunt (mum’s sister) threw a dinner party for him, which was kinda a quasi-birthday party and also just a fun dinner party.. something we do annually. Mervyn, ‘s fiancee, cooked of course!! He didn’t disappoint 😛 It’s really tough cooking for around 20 people, so it’s always impressive when the chef accomplishes it and manages to serve up tender, juicy dishes. We kicked off with an assortment of Cheese and crackers, olive bread with olive oil dip, grapes and vegetable dips. My favourite was the Camembert :)~

Cheese and crackers, olive bread with olive oil dip, grapes and vegetable dips

Assorted wines

The actual meal was buffet-style, and very Atkins Diet-like, with no carbs in sight 😉 The only alleviation from the meat & seafood was some Salad greens with Balsamic, which turned out to be really tasty. I think Balsamic Vinegar is my favourite salad dressing now.

Salad greens with Balsamic vinegar


The various meat and seafood dishes were simply fantastic. Sometimes, I wonder why we go to restaurants when Mervyn cooks the food just as well, if not better! The assorted dishes:

Massive chunks of pork

The pork was sooo fatty but the taste & flavour was
subtle yet packed with flavour. Divine.

Always a fave of mine, the lamb chops were super tender. My favourite of the night!

Lovely homemade sauces

The fish was delicate and sooo moist

Tender beef ribs that just melted in my mouth

The rich flavour of this was to-die-for.. and I’m not even a fan of yabbies normally!

This was only okay, I’m not adventurous enough 😉

The spread!

My plate, with a Hoegaarden beer. Didn’t take a pic of my 2nd helping
because it was exactly the same as the first 😛 But the 3rd helping was
just 1 more lamb chop and 2 more slices of pork, was too full for more!

I normally don’t eat apples, but I polished this all off (with vanilla ice cream)

Assorted fruit, but didn’t have any. Bleh!

Booyah!!