My birthday

My birthday was last Monday. Ella had a doctor's appointment so we had to go to Hong Kong that afternoon. Then, Tim and the boys were to meet us and we were going to go to Hard Rock Cafe for my birthday dinner. Our dear friends from Hong Kong had other plans, however. I was met at the ferry station, taken shopping and to the doctor appointment, and then we all met for dinner. We decided to stay on Hong Kong island rather than trying to get to Kowloon during rush hour, so my friend made reservations at a really, really nice restaurant.

We had a lovely supper in a restaurant that overlooked a huge park. If you can figure out the date of my birthday and subtract 18 years, you will hopefully be able to recall the terrible events of that day here in Asia. As we watched throughout the evening, thousands of people filled up the soccer pitches with candles as a moving and sobering reminder of the events that transpired the day I turned 21. It was a little tough explaining to the boys exactly what the people were holding vigil for and what happened that day, especially since news reports are still fuzzy. But it was also cool in a way to be a part of remembering and to hear the music and speeches and to see how many people still take it personally and keep the memory alive. Our friend explained that when the event happened, millions, literally, millions of Hong Kongese filled the streets - there was no traffic, just people marching. The whole city shut down, which is like New York City shutting down!

It's been really stormy here in southern China the past few days again. Last night there were terrible storms. Today when we went to Sea World for lunch, we saw that all the restaurants on the lower level were filled completely with dirty, muddy, nasty water up to the door transoms. We could see the tops of the table umbrellas underwater. It is so sad, because I am quite sure insurance doesn't work quite the same here for the people who own those restaurants and shops. I think if those business ever do open up again, it will be a while, if ever, before I'm comfortable eating at any of them. Cleanup will be long and tedious and done by all the sole proprietors whose source of income is right now under a bunch of sewer water. We were just at a birthday party last evening at one of these restaurants.

My cake business is picking up here on this side of the world. Today I decorated a graduation cake, which I've never done before. I'm not especially proud of the results but I do know it's going to be a tasty treat for the people who eat it. Cake here is severly lacking in texture and flavor - it's normally very flat and tasteless. I hope they appreciate the cake, at least, if not the design. The problem is that I can't make black or red icing, it just takes too much food coloring and they taste bad and the colors are still muddy-looking. I used to purchase them ready-made at the cake supply store, but can't get them here. So I am quite limited in the colors I could use (the school colors are, yes, black and red) as well as some of the equipment I used for similar cakes back home. A photo cake would have been nice, or some sugar decorations having to do with graduation. I ended up making it look like a diploma with her name on it, and then adding Chinese characters for "congratulations" "graduation" and the school name. I hope it's okay with them... Tomorrow I have a princess cake due for a little girl. I really wish I had my shaped cake pans, I could do so much more. Oh, well....