I had a quiet 4th of July birthday. I spent most of it wishing I could be here, but managed to fill the day by baking date squares, opening cards, writing letters to a couple of people who sent the cards. Then hubby and brother took me out to my favourite Thai restaurant for supper. Then I watched the 4th of July fireworks (when I was growing up, Mom used to say: "See? Everyone in the US is celebrating your birthday!") So I still love to watch the fireworks and remember actually believing that.

HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY EAGLE HEART!!! It was so charming of your Mom to say that. They also had bands, floats and a parade for you when you were little. Hope you had Pad Thai noodles at the resto. My friend, Confucius says, it means long life. It rained here on the 4th. Likewise, Confucius says, it means prosperity. So there you go...signs of a good year ahead of you. Wishing you all the best.

Thanks Lola. Pad Thai was my main reason for choosing this particular restaurant...my mouth waters for it hours before we even get there! And it rained here too, so I guess I have long life and prosperity to look forward to in the last half of my life. I also bought myself a lucky bamboo with eight shoots - apparently that means prosperity too. So I'm going to be rolling in prosperity...wait, I think I already am!

You like Thai food as well? That's all I have for lunch at work when I am not having sushi. Now, I'd be thinking of you every other lunch when I trek to my regular Thai resto. Is the bamboo the type which you just plonk into a dish with water? Confucius says, 8 is supposed to be a lucky number. Good fortune then, Grasshopper.

Lola, I crave Thai food. My brother discovered this tiny restaurant a few years back, and that was my first Thai experience. It was phenomenal, your typical "hole in the wall" kind of place, but the food is exquisite.

Yesterday I was out most of the day. I was in an unfamiliar part of the city around lunch time and just picked a teeny-tiny Vietnamese restaurant because it was only a block away from where I had to go after lunch. There was nobody else in the restaurant, which made me a bit wary. But I ordered the special - chicken, BBQ pork and shrimp with veggies in curried noodles. Well, Lola, there are no words to describe this dish. I took one bite and actually started to cry - I've never done that before in my life - it was indescribably exquisite. My mouth just couldn't believe the profusion of flavour and I couldn't stop my eyes from leaking tears of sheer gastronomical joy! Like I said before, I've NEVER even come close to doing that before in my life, and we've eaten in a lot of great restaurants over the years.

We enjoy Thai, Vietnamese, Japanese (I don't eat the raw fish, but my husband does), authentic Chinese (my step-daughter-in-law is Chinese and her father cooks what he calls REAL Chinese food), Indian, Greek, Cuban, French, Italian and plain North American home cooking too!

Yummy! I totally get you on that experience.

Vietnamese Pho and a che dac biet beverage are two things I highly recommend the next time around. The first is similar to Japanese soba soup but presented in a different way, and the latter is a concoction of beans, sago, jelly and coconut milk served with crushed ice (very good to have in the summertime).

My step-daughter orders che dac whenever we go out for Vietnamese. She's been trying to get me to taste it, but I haven't done so yet.

I rarely order soup in the Vietnamese restaurants (my esophagus has been severely burned in the past and I'm just too sensitive to hot soups now) But when my husband and step-daughter order soup, I'll sometimes just get the asparagus and crab soup and either put ice cubes in the soup as soon as it arrives - or wait until half-way through my meal to eat it! My favourite soup is the Thai Tom Yum.

I am so sorry your Birthday got all messed up with us being down. You sent me the most beautiful card I have ever received from anyone and it makes me sick to have missed your day. HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY and all your life following the special day. I love Tai food but then if I could I would live on Oriental cuisine forever.

Thanks Chatty! My birthday was a lovely day. It started at 5:30am, kissing my husband off to his full-time job, then sitting outside on the front step watching the morning come to life and listening to God lead the birds in a beautiful Happy Birthday concerto. Really...they were all in the tree closest to me singing and twittering away...it was serene and magical. It was a bit lonely without this place, but I was so aware of His Presence throughout the day that it actually brought tears of joy to my eyes.

I could live on Oriental cuisine too - we do a lot of Szechwan, Japanese, Vietnamese and Thai stir-fries, make our own Vietnamese salad rolls, vegetarian sushi - and thoroughly enjoy sampling the foods of our many ethnic neighbours.

Happy Birthday dear, dear, Eagle. I hope you know just how loved you are! May you have 100 more, and may they all be filled with love and laughter.

JJ