Birthday Weekend #1

Wednesday is my birthday--I'll be 31--so in classic Leo style, I'm milking it for all its worth. Mom and Dad suggested I come visit this weekend so they could treat me to a birthday dinner out and some cake. They gave me my birthday present a month ago (some more training sessions at the gym--woohoo!) but always like to help me celebrate the day.

So I happily came home yesterday, toting Millie and Harley in their cat carriers and blasting the A/C and my Keen On Keane playlist on the iPod all the way from Stockton.

Tonight, we went to dinner at a place called Hop Sing Palace in Folsom.

To the newer readers of this blog, I grew up in Folsom, California, home of the infamous Folsom Prison--yes, the very one Johnny Cash sung about and performed at. My childhood bedroom had a view of the prison lights a mile or so away. We moved there in 1987 and left in 2004.

But I digress!

Hop Sing Palace is a Chinese restaurant that's been there for 40-something years. It's a family-owned business, and my family has been eating there for 20 years. We have never found Chinese food that we have liked better.

After all this time, the owner (we think he's a son who inherited the family business, because 20 years ago he was waiting and bussing, not managing) recognizes us and always greets us with a huge smile and a warm welcome. I don't even know his name, but he is as much a part of eating at Hop Sing's for me as the food is.

We've never had a bad meal there, and tonight was no exception. I snapped a couple of pictures. In all the years I've known this place, it has never changed. There's something comforting about that.




After stuffing ourselves with chicken chow mein, fried rice and sweet and sour pork, we drove back to Lincoln, stopping at Safeway to pick out a small birthday cake.

Even C. would allow me to have birthday cake!

I ended up choosing an adorable cupcake cake with a flower design. It was so cheery and happy, and the frosting was to die for.



There were 7 cupcakes...we each had two. Now Dad is trying to call dibs on the last cupcake, and I'm trying to guilt him out of stealing the last bit of his daughter's birthday cake.

I have to work on my actual birthday, and that evening is Back To School night at one of my sites. I think I'll take a small cake to share with my colleagues. Next weekend, I'm going to Streets of London pub with whichever friends can make it (not looking like a lot of people, but that's okay, it will still be fun). Maybe I'll treat myself to their yummy curry. And a pint of cider. :)