Joining My Blog Friend Vince's Birthday Celebration

Saturday late afternoon, having slept well in Batu Pahat the previous night and been relieved with Mum's medical checkup result, I was back to Melaka in good spirits. Since I did not have to cancel my appointment to cook dinner for the Calvary Care Home (CCH) boys, I stopped at Bukit Baru instead of driving towards Paya Rumput.

As I had arrived early, I waited and rested twenty minutes in my car before Albert P came to CCH with the boys who had just finished their tuition. When we were about to enter the house, I received an SMS "Hi Lee Sah, free tonight? Care for a dinner?"

As soon as I saw the sender's name, my first reaction was "Oh, thank God he's sent this message." That day was my blog friend Vince's birthday. I had been reminded of it by Facebook while quickly surfing the Internet between my outings with Mum the previous day. Last year, Vince was the only one who had bothered to remember my birthday to send me a greeting that day itself and gave me presents the next day when he came to Calvary Life Assembly to attend our Christmas service. Since, I had been telling myself not to forget his.

Finally I still missed conveying him an early greeting. Maybe I should have gone for a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease when accompanying Mum to the hospital...

Once I put the ingredients in the kitchen, I replied to Vince to wish him a happy birthday and to tell him I would only be free after 8pm. Vince explained to me that as his buddies were not available, instead of eating alone, he had decided to invite me to join him for the meal to make the day fulfilling. It was always my pleasure to be a blessing to my friends even though I might not be among the first in their list. So I happily accepted his invitation but told him I would go with empty hands since I was still busy at CCH.

At first Vince suggested a western cafe at Equatorial Hotel. Soon he changed his mind and mentioned another venue which I did not know. Lastly I met him somewhere at Bukit Baru to follow his car to Rock&Roll Blues Cafe at Melaka Raya.

The decoration and atmosphere there evoked my memories of bistros in France while the service reminded me of the French restaurants where I had been either a waitress or a client. We were not rushed to order. After he had left us the menu, the waiter of Caucasian origin who was also the owner of the cafe only returned ten minutes later.

Vince who was eating there for the second time asked for chicken chop. After he had described to me that the crusts of their pizzas were thin, unlike the soft pan pizzas, I decided to order one with toppings of my choice.

This cafe was an ideal place to test my understanding of English with American accent as well as my patience. Our food was served about twenty minutes later than our drinks.

I had almost eaten nothing at CCH to keep my stomach for this birthday dinner. In fact I was not hungry at all, given the dishes and snacks I had swallowed during my stay in Batu Pahat. To celebrate Vince's big day, I had to say "wait!" to my weight loss programme again.

Since I had known Vince, who was also from Batu Pahat, through my blog last year, we had always met in Melaka and sometimes explored new places for our blog entries.

Before we left, Vince asked me, "Do you have to get up early tomorrow?" To me, early meant before 6.30am with the help of an alarm clock in case. So I shook my head. He suggested that we extended our gathering to a bistro.

Thanks to the coffee I had taken that morning, I did not yet feel tired or sleepy. We moved to the next destination at Jonker Walk which I had not visited since last April. It was crowded with tourists because of the night market.

Vince led me to Jalan Hang Lekir, a street famous with bistros. At first, the two that he liked were full. After ten minutes, we manged to get a table at Ringo Classic Bistro which was just opposite Geographer Cafe.

I began to know Vince's western taste better. Like Rock&Roll Blues Cafe, this bistro, named after the owner, was also heavily decorated with old pictures, posters and antiques.

Mr Ringo was a musician. While we were having our beer and conversation, he was playing guitar and singing 1970s English classical solo with a touching voice. Listening to his live performance was another wonderful experience.

I said to Vince, "This owner must love his job very much. I don't know about his vocal skill but I can feel that he's singing with all his heart." He agreed with me.

We suddenly heard a birthday song from Geographer Cafe. There was a celebration there. So I joined to sing the song for the birthday star in front of me despite the loud music from our bistro.

When I had finished my last glass of beer while Vince his second small bottle, it was already over midnight. It was still safe for us to drive since none of us was drunk. I knew I would either fall asleep during the church service or at CCH the next day. But it would be worthy for I had fully enjoyed the evening.

Thanks for your invitation, Vince. And wait for me to find out another western cafe or restaurant in Melaka or Batu Pahat where we can spend long hours at a dining table chatting, listening to oldies and eating with folks and knives again!