Saturday 14th May 2022 and Friday 20th May 2022

Our very dear friend-like-family Rajeev was 40 on Thursday 12th May. We knew we had to do something to mark the special occasion as he is seconded here without his wife, and whilst he has some other friends we wished to take over the role of his family and organise something for him.

Part 1: Table for 13 people (4 families and a friend) at a posh restaurant just day after his birthday had to be postponed to the week after, as there was a national curfew due to the political unrest; the prior Monday’s protest got interrupted by violence from mobs supporting the PM.  Instead we invited him to spend Saturday afternoon and evening with us and he accepted. We started with a cake (schuh pastry with cream) and ended up with UBER eats Japanese cuisine and watching the very naughty but hilarious movies Ted and Ted 2.  The kids loved them!

An English brunch with bacon, scrambled eggs and freshly baked sourdough bread was a delicious start to Sunday, and Rajeev then left us to go to see other friends and play his favourite badminton.

Part 2: Curfew had luckily been lifted and Steve was by now back from his business trip to the UK, so we all went for the posh dinner at Tintagel.  Fuel was still in short supply as it is now, so our friend Aruna who was also joining the celebrations kindly sent his driver in his shiny BMW to collect us.  Unlike our previous time dining there, we therefore arrived in style befitting the establishment, rather than a tuk tuk!

A wonderful time followed, starting with pre-dinner cocktails.  Rajeev, Sherin and Steve enjoyed flaming B-52s very carefully drunk through a straw, as we all enjoyed too the typically delicious and beautifully presented dinner that followed.  We were surprised at how well the chef and his team managed given that none of the imported produce they’d normally use is now available.

I had baked a cake that was served with coffee to round off the evening and given the special occasion Steve even broke his very low carb regime to enjoy not one, but two tasty slices!

Aruna’s driver took Emi, Misa and me home whilst Aruna, Rajeev and Steve walked to R-Bar, our nickname for after dinner drinks at Rajeev’s home!

What a wonderful time and one that none of us will forget.  A nice break from all the concerns about what’s going on and what will follow.

Rennie