A night to celebrate and share

Today is kind of a special day for me because....it`s my birthday!
For my birthday this year, we had an almost spontaneous celebratory dinner at Higashiyama BBQ （ひがしやま焼肉) and we really enjoyed our whole evening there!

We ordered this Korean namul or vegetable dish that consisted of gosari (bracken fern stem), bean sprout, spinach, and julienned daikon.

And of course, the Star of the night: the beef.

The beef was incredibly tender, but the beef tongue, which appeared on the picture above as small chunks, were a big hit too!

It`s amazing to see how health-conscious my husband is becoming now as he only ordered the small portion of rice (same like me!) and had a small amount of beef. By small I mean like 3 thin pieces of beef and 5 small chunks of tongue. We were in a BBQ restaurant and that`s all the meat we had!

Other than the health-concerned reason, though, we actually reserved some space for the next treat: Korean seafood and garlic chives (nira) pancake or usually called as chijimi in Japan. There were like 9 pieces of it and we started getting full before finishing the last 2 pieces.

Now, for the birthday girl me, the restaurant provided this dessert for free! Judging from the picture on the menu, the regular size of the dessert is probably 2 or 3 times bigger than this. Since it was only two of us, I specifically asked them to make it smaller and I was glad that I did because this was the right amount for us! What`s inside? Roll cakes, ice cream-filled cream puff, marshmallows, frozen fruits, whipped cream, and strawberry syrup. Saying those words makes me feel guilty, but under the name of annual celebration, we enjoyed them a lot. 

Other than being free, it came with sparklers too!! I think both of us were so excited to see the sparklers on the dessert that we shamelessly kept saying "COOL!" when it was served on our table. It turned out that we got to get photographed with this dessert+sparklers by the waiter as a birthday present from the restaurant. Free dessert and a photograph. Double cool, right?!

So this is the birthday present to bring home! A birthday card with a postcard-sized photograph of us and the dessert. Thank you!!

Just a little introduction for those who are not familiar with Japanese calendar, in Japan, in addition to the regular calendar system, another year-naming system based on the year number of a Japanese imperial reign or era is commonly used in daily life. Currently, we are in the 24th year of Heisei era. So, as shown above, my birthday this year is written as:

平成２４年(Heisei era-year 24, meaning year 2012) 

６月(month 6, meaning June) 

２２日(day 22)

Finally we left the restaurant feeling very full and happy! Next, before heading home, we strolled around a bit near the Sendai station to play with the night shots. The weather was good, the wind was almost absent, and the sky...oh...just look at the sky!

 

Here is a picture taken by my husband. No matter how many times I came here (and I`ve been living in this city for 7 years!), I`m always amazed with this fantastic view of taxis lining super-neatly! If you come visit Sendai Station, you really have to see this spot yourself, although it`s probably hard to miss as the location is pretty much right in front of the station. 

What a wonderful night we had! Now I`m a year older and happier. And hopefully healthier.