Saturday, April 14, 2007

The Dinner

Not as big as I'd planned, but it was cosy. One day, one day, I will be able to see my friends in a group rather than individually.

Lydia and Anthony (the twins), my friends for 27 years (we don't even remember meeting), and Shiho, my friend from Christie's, came through for me at Cocoon, on Regent at Air Street. The others turned up at 11, but we had left by then! Ha. Lydia asked if I would be blogging this, and when I said yes, she said I should put all the pics up, so here they are. (Except for the scary closeup one Tony put on when we weren't looking, and it made me jump when I reviewed the pics.)


(In the larger version of this pic, we look related!)





We ordered lots of edamame with salt. All sorts of sushi - with FRESH wasabi, which was nice. Duck rolls. Seaweed salad. Softshell crab tempura (this was my fave!). We enjoyed the food, and had cocktails. I had a Jasmine Fizz (fresh passionfruit in champagne with jasmine), and then a lychee martini (vodka, lychee juice, rosewater, and a lychee fruit in the bottom).


Nice lighting.


Then we had dessert. Lydia and Shiho got sorbets on banana leaf strips on blocks of ice in wooden trays (banana, mango and rhubarb, passionfruit, strawberry).



Tony and I ordered green tea mochi with white chocolate and green tea ice cream and warm chocolate sauce, also all set on top of ice.




I had to help Lydia with her dessert



They want to come back here...

Shiho left, then we moved on to The Pigalle, that new 40s-style jazz club that has opened on Piccadilly.



Both Lydia and Anthony enjoyed themselves and know loads of people who will like it. We thought we were showing our age by turning up at, and enjoying, a place where the average age of the guests was 40, but Lydia said we were actually showing our wisdom. She always looks on the bright side. What I love about my Twins is that they make me laugh like a maniac.


Kindred spirits forever and ever...Lyds n Liv.



My favourite twins in the whole world!



Lydia said he looked a bit drunk in that one (he wasn't), and insisted on taking another:




So he put his glasses back on. Awwwwwwww, sweet eh?

***

Here I opened my gifts. Shiho had given me a delicate selection of Japanese items:


A tiny mirror



A tube of incense wrapped in handmade paper with handwritten calligraphy



A tiny gold bookmark, nearly as delicate as a leaf


From Lydia:

A leather purse, coincidentally also Japanese

From Lyds & Tony & their entire family:


A special marcasite heart pendant. What is the green stone???

25 comments:

Selba said...

Oh my GOD!!!

It's your birthday!!! I wasn't aware of it!!! So sorry!!!

Happy Belated Birthday dearie!!! Wish you all the best...

*hugs & kisses*

At the pics, you looked very lovely last night :)

p.s: psssttt... Anthony looks very cute without glasses ;)

AmitL said...

Oh..wow...Great pics,and quite a scrumptious menu,Olivia...Many Happy Returns of the day again.:)*grin*at "My friends for 27 years(we dont even remember meeting)"..that's unusual.

Prerona said...

looks like you had lots of fun! you look v nice :)

L B said...

Wow!! Such a nice time you had too! I love that table top! Fresh wasabi, eh? *grin* Too cool..

Happy Birthday (again)...

Olivia said...

Selba - haha, you are funny. I guess when we were chatting yesterday I didn't mention why I was having a party?

P.S. I think he looks cute with them on.

***

Amit - we were discussing how unusual it is to know someone for that long and still be in touch, and not only that, but very close. We think that it was my move to America that forced us to keep in touch because I had moved schools and we had lost touch, but when we moved I informed them, so we wrote regularly.

***

Ricercar - thank you, it was a pleasant evening.

***

LB - Roses in the acrylic, interesting, eh? Lydia told the story of when we were little we stuffed out mouths with rose petals one playtime, and the dinner lady caught us.

Anonymous said...

what a lovely collection of gifts, did u see the illo I sent u?

I think to ur hotmail...I realy hope one day we could celebrate a bday together...

:)

jia

The Moody Minstrel said...

すごい!とてもすてきな夜みたい!特にあのレストランは素晴らしそうと思う。料理も雰囲気も最高の様だ。(寿司と枝豆?素晴らしい。あのアイスも氷の上にある天国みたい。

君の目はいつもよりもぴかぴかだや。当然だと思う。お誕生日おめでとうございます!

(Hopefully the online translation makes sense...)

The Moody Minstrel said...

Hmm...I tested out both Alta Vista's Babel Fish translator and Google translation, and both of them gave me virtually identical (hideously bad) translations!

I know my Japanese isn't that bad, and I'm surprised neither of those translators knew such a basic expression as "o-tanjoubi omedetou gozaimasu" (Happy birthday), the last Japanese sentence in the message!

Olivia said...

LOL Minstrel, those translations are hilarious!
And there is an untranslatable character.

I tried out some other sites and they were even worse.

But thanks for the message, it is beautiful to look at and I get the gist.

Beenzzz said...

I looks like you had one fantastic birthday dinner! The presents you received were all so unique and beautiful. I really liked the gold bookmark.

Anonymous said...

oh, I wish I could have been there. Great people, yummy food and cozy atmosphere-- can't beat that!! The pics are great. Tony looks very different without the glasses. Lydia wasn't wearing black!?!? Love your jewelry!! (I have one just like it-hehehe :))
Happy Birthday, sis. love you. hope we'll celebrate the next one together.
Vanessa

ML said...

Looks like you had a lovely birthday with great friends. I do love that pendant!

Olivia said...

Jia Li - ooh I got the illo, thanks! Me as an illo, how fun!

***

Beenz - yep, my friends are excellent gift givers.
They know me so well.

***

Vanessa - ooh! I forgot to mention that YOU GAVE ME both the necklace and the earrings!!! I told Lydia, and she reminded me to tell you, but I forgot! Thank you sweetie! So, that is one way you were with us in spirit :)

***

ML - yea, it is so heavy and cool, it will be great in summer. I still don't know what stone it is.

Anonymous said...

Oh what beautiful gifts and what a gorgeous restaurant! I am so sorry I couldn't be there :(

Hope you had a wonderful time sweetie.

Much Love!

xxxx

Anonymous said...

I'm glad u liked!

jia

Olivia said...

Hey Ames -
My gosh, I think I started this comment hours ago, ate some dinner, fell asleep, ate something else...

anyway, will see you soon, don't fret.

Love ya
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Anonymous said...

I never thought I'd see you stoop to blackmail, Arty! ;)

Happy belated birthday - looks like you had a lovely time. That pudding looks delicious ...

Olivia said...

Ooh, that was quick!

You know I did this whole page comment thing just because you asked, now aren't you special?

:o

Katja said...

Special ... yes ... :P

I had my email inbox open as you commented, hence the quick reply.

neena maiya (guyana gyal) said...

Happy belated birthday. You had fun, didn't you? Lots 'n' lots. Ahh, such lovely gifts. Maybe the next gift will be a great job and a lovely man :-)

Shees, my sister's birthday was April 15 and I almost forgot but I didn't. I told her 'happy Kim Il Sung's birthday', that's his birthday too. When we were growing up, that didn't please her.

Olivia said...

Guyana-Gyal - ahhhh that's a lovely wish...I hope it comes true.

So surely your sister STILL doesn't like it when you tell her "Happy Kim Il-sung's birthday". :P

Pandabonium said...

I wish a Happy Birthday in 2008 (you obviously enjoyed this one!).

Looks like a wonderful evening with friends, music, food, presents...wow.

Lotus Reads said...

What a delightful post, Olivia and such fantastic pictures, too!

Cocoon looks and sounds great...I have to order the softshell crab tempuras the next time we go to a Japanese place. Yum@ the lychee martini and the Jasmine fizz, too!

And what great presents...marcasite was all the rage in India when I visited there last...my ma-in-law gave me a marcasite watch for my birthday.

Could that green stone be Malachite? It's beautiful!

Lotus Reads said...

Forgot to say...you look lovely!

Again, many happy returns of the day!!!

neena maiya (guyana gyal) said...

She laughs now, I guess she's trying to pretend it doesn't bother her, snicker snicker, I'm a wicked big sister.