Adventures of a Clay Pot: Birthday Week o' Fun

My birthday was a few weeks ago, and partly through design and partly through happenstance, I had a very fun week.

The final of four sets of desserts

It started two days before my birthday with a last minute invite to the Artistic Sweets Collection 2013, for which our Trade Office had received a couple tickets. Hhhhmmm, let me think... Okay! So one of my Japanese colleagues and I went to Midtown and got to drink a glass of champagne and eat four (4!) courses of fancy desserts.

Meanwhile, 5 chefs put together beautiful creations for presenting these desserts on the theme of various international cities - Tokyo, New York, Vienna, Barcelona, and Paris - with commentary by a French chef. It was in French and Japanese, and the website is in Japanese, so I'm afraid I can't explain all of the details/roles of the chefs. But it was very fun!

The designs reflected in the window, with the Tokyo skyline

On my birthday - Friday - some friends took me out for a drink after work in honor of my birthday. Then three of us went to Outback Steakhouse for dinner (I had a craving for a bloomin' onion), where half the restaurant sang "Happy Birthday" to me. This was followed by my first karaoke experience, which was tons of fun! I decided I like singing the songs that have the "vocal guide", so you're basically singing along - as opposed to having to know the song well enough to find the right key all on your own. The cherry on top of the night - we left the karaoke place in an elevator full of drunk Japanese singing "We are the world" at the top of their lungs. Again, so much FUN.

Saturday was the wonderful promotion ceremony of an Air Force friend, followed by a pool party at their place, where I got to catch up with a number of friends and make some new ones. I also discovered that one of the people at the pool party had been sitting at the table right next to me at Outback the night before. Even in a huge city like Tokyo, it's a small world!

Sunday was afternoon tea at the Ritz with another group of friends. I love the afternoon tea there. I love that it's on the 45th floor, so you have a great view of the city, and I love that they bring a box full of loose tea so that you can choose which tea you want. The food was excellent - including a cold asparagus soup that was just lovely. And of course the company was the best!

In the process of arranging the tea, I also discovered that there are a number of ladies at the Embassy who enjoy afternoon tea, so we are considering putting together a tea group and trying different tea places around town.

The following Thursday was July 4 and the Independence Day celebration at the Ambassador's residence. This was a work event - the one for contacts of the Embassy - but it was great. I was a roaming photographer, which is a ton of fun in Japan where people like photography.

The theme of the party was "America, the Beautiful." There were tons of food vendors to serve the 2,500ish guests, plus four featured chefs. There were special foods and drinks for the American NE, the South, the Heartland and the West. You could have your picture taken with a cardboard cutout of President Obama in front of a green screen or go to another room and have your picture taken with Mickey and Minnie - live and in person!