Sis Christine's Birthday Lunch At Flavours Restaurant/Bulldog Cafe

Last year on 11 November, I had an appointment with Sis Christine in town to pass to her some event cards which I had helped her to print. When she arrived with her car, she told me, "Today is my birthday..." At that time, she was a Calvarite with whom I was acquainted more often because of our then TC2 group. As it was raining and I was going back to my house, I simply said a greeting. In my heart I told myself not to miss to celebrate her birthday in future as I was getting closer to this sister in Christ.

Last Wednesday night, I received a funny forwarded message from Sis Christine half an hour before her birthday. I responed by asking her if she would like to join me for lunch, afternoon tea or dinner in town the next day. She had something on in the morning and would only confirm later.

Thursday at lunch time, she finally telephoned me to meet up at Flavours Restaurant, formerly known as Bulldog Cafe.

Entering this nyonya and western food restaurant for the first time, I was immediately attracted by its interior design. Household appliances of my grandparents' times

and old pictures were used as decorative items everywhere.

Since Sis Christine was the birthday star, I let her decide on the menu.

I expected her to order typical nyonya dishes. When the food was served, I was puzzled and thought, "Are these their specialities? I can fry the same omelet while Mum can cook the asam fish, kangkung sambal and salted vegetable duck soup!"

Though the warm and spicy dishes were just nice to eat under the cool weather, Sis Christine was not satisfied with the soup which only contained almost meatless bones. We also found that the vegetable and eggs were a bit too salty to our liking. The portions were enough for three to four persons. At first, I thought we were going to pack leftover food. As we spent the whole hour eating and chatting, we managed to finish everything and quench our thirst by sharing an additional bowl of rice and cup of Chinese tea!

Never underestimate small-sized women--They may have big stomachs.