Wednesday 26 August 2015

Special: My 21st Birthday! (korean BBQ, pusheen cake, dim sum)

Happy birthday to me! My birthday was earlier this month on the 3rd of August and it was monday! I did my primary 'celebrations' by spending time with the family the day before my actual birthday on Sunday which was also the day I picked up my much awaited custom cake! I really would have loved having a party or get together with friends but besides being generally harder to get friends together as we get older, it's even harder for me as 99% of my friends from school are all over the world as I didn't study and live in Singapore growing up. 

Being a TCK or Third Culture Kid makes having many long term friendships or reunions rare although it doesn't hurt at all when people come and go. We're so used to short term friends and moving around! Having moved back to Singapore in 2010 I have awesome friends from school and colleagues from work but a party wasn't on my planner this year due to so many things going on.

Continue below to see my simple birthday!
My 21st birthday celebrations with family!
We started the day before my birthday with family time and a walk at Punggol park!
It was really nice and quiet despite being a sunday, however only 10 minutes into our walk I realized I wanted to visit the waterway park and not just the regular one! We got back into the car and dad drove us over!
On arrival at Punggol waterway park, I spotted and decided to pose with my future car!!! Isn't it gorgeous!?
This was my first time visiting the park! It was such a pretty sight!
The park is still very new and hasn't had its official opening yet! This is part of Singapore's man made waterway in the north east area!
A part of the waterway with large sprinklers!
My first attempt at taking a family shot! So fail as I cut everyone's heads off!
Our best shot! Almost everyone made it in!
There are features like this throughout the large park! I plan to revisit in the future and rent kayaks to paddle through the large waterway system!
It was no surprise when we spotted this gorgeous yellow bellied bird! Throughout Singapore it's common to spot very interesting tropical birds!
A shot of new flats being built for the future town that will be around the waterways!
We headed to this small korean BBQ joint called Goki Day!
Although a Sunday, we were their only customers! Apparently their two shop space restaurant had been reduced to one as well as their buffet spread in the back being cut back according to my brother who had visited multiple times before!
The only food shot I took as we were all too hungry and just go straight into cooking beef ribs, pork belly slices, spicy chicken, onions and enjoying the side dishes like kimchi, pancakes and kimbab!
After a gut busting delicious lunch we headed to pick up my custom birthday cake from Bloomsbury Bakery!
Their small bakery is located near Boon Keng mrt station and is famous for their niche items and classic ones like Orh Nee (chinese yam paste dessert) cake, chendol cheese cake (a local coconut milk and shaved ice dessert), speculoos cheesecake and lemon meringue tart!
My pusheen cake!! I went back and forth with multiple e-mails to get this cake! It wasn't cheap but it was done very well! Although I did forget to add hands for pusheen in the sketch which I approved!
Close up of my custom pusheen cake! I got the idea of this design from gifs and facebook stickers of pusheen!
For dinner we had a delicious at home cold dish which was mostly made of premade items like smoked duck, smoked salmon, japanese baby octopus, japanese scallop, smoked mussels and fried dumplings. We added boiled prawns and I made a fruit salad with dragon fruit, apples and mangos!
A delicious broccoli stir fry with sea cucumber and mushrooms!
Also  delicious dish of fried yellow noodles with lots of vegetables, slice pork belly and prawns!
My custom pusheen birthday cake by Bloomsbury Bakery all jazzed up with my own star candles and happy birthday sign! Isn't it the cutest thing you've seen?
Birthday cake posing with the parents!
A fun shot because why not right?
I was just full of joy every moment I looked at the cake! It was just tooo cute! I ended up keeping the fondant pieces on top in a box and they're still all in good condition now! Also since I was home these photos are 100% make up free!
A shot with my brother before we light my pusheen cake up!
My cake all lighted up! I loved how I had pusheen and stormy celebrating with us too!! I'm a big fan, can you tell?
And OF COURSE I posted my cake to my instagram @blackmentosbeautybox and then tagged pusheen...and then I woke up to this! HAHA!
The next day on my actual birthday on a monday, we went out for a dim sum lunch! Round one! Har gao, chicken feet, prawn wantons, taro dumplings, mango prawn dumplings, raddish cake and vinegar wantons!
We then added on delicious baked char sui stuffed pastry and egg tarts!
Deep fried prawns wrapped with bean curd skins! This was absolutely delicious!
Also a favorite of my brother and me, cheong fan, one stuffed with prawns, the other with char sui!
My dad was at work but my grandmother managed to join us! Can you believe she's in her early 80s? Also, I started feeling ill that day, the next day I went to the doctor and then for a week I was sick with fever and flu symptoms! BOO.

To recap simply, my 21st birthday was no large bash or grand celebration like I know many people to have but it wasn't right this year for that kind of thing. I look forward to when I'm older and away and I totally will love to plan a sparkly, big, birthday dinner with lots of friends! The biggest things I take away as each year passes is that there is more responsibility, more appreciation and I really do consider and think about things in a much more practical and holistic way. 


What did you do for your 21st birthday?
Are you a fan of my Pusheen cake?
Let me know!

Feel free to comment!
Thank you!

15 comments:

  1. HAPPY BELATED!!
    Looks like you had all the good noms :)

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  2. HAPPY B-LATE BIRTHDAY ♥♥♥♥♥
    OMG your cake looks so cute, it's so special and one of a kind! & Of course, your food photos always makes me drools! 21 and still young and flawless x

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  3. Happy belated birthday Sharlynn! looks like you guys had so much fun!
    The pusheen cake is so cute! is it fondant? The details are very neat ^^

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  4. Happy belated birthday!! I'm glad you had such a beautiful day, that park totally doesn't look like Singapore! And I went crazy over that pusheen cake. I showed my sister and have requested it for my birthday and she is going to try and make it for me! It will probably be a very lopsided pusheen haha.

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  5. Happy Belated!
    On my 21st birthday, I went to the beach with some friends and had a bonfire. I can't remember what my cake looked like, but it obviously wasn't as awesome as the Pusheen cake you got!

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  6. omg Pusheen is on your birthday cake, so cute! and happy belated birthday!!

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  7. Happy belated birthday, Sharlynn! <3
    Glad to hear you had a great one with your family. Love the pictures with you and your parents!

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  8. THAT CAKE IS TOO CUTE TO NOT RE-GRAM, TBH ;) (And out of curiosity, where did you go to school/where did you study abroad??)
    That hot pink car matches your shorts, BTW. And YOUR GRANDMA DOES NOT LOOK LIKE SHE'S IN HER 80'S D:

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  9. Happy belated birthday! It looks like you had a wonderful day with yummy food and you and your parents are so cute :) The cake is super cute!

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  10. Your cake is so adorable! It makes me want to make a mock up of it! And everything about your birthday looks so lovely! I'm so happy for you!

    Happy birthday!

    xoxo,
    Abby
    www.thefrugalblogger.net

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  11. Happy belated birthday!!!

    Also, you're so adorable! I love that you got that cake and I'm glad that you had a nice birthday. I'm super boring on my birthday and just sit around and maybe get a store bought cupcake hahaha

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  12. Ahh happy belated birthday Sharlynn! Your cake is SUPER ADORBS, I don't think I could bring myself to eat it haha. Sometimes, a simple birthday can be really nice too! And wow your family looks really good for their age!!

    Sheri | Behind The Frames

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  13. Hey Sharlynn, So fun to read about your birthday. Yes I remember that Pusheen cake and how Pusheen tagged you! That's sooooooooo cool. You know these sugared fondant last really long in the fridge. But once out in the open, they start to "sweat". I really believe them to last forever in the fridge.

    You look like you totally owned the pink Suz. It looks just like YOUR car. And oh... you look just as sweet and beautiful with or without make up. I'm glad you enjoyed your simple birthday with the family. They are so cute to pose with you that funny shot. I cycled at Punggol Park and or waterway the same one as you went here and I think the place is really buzzing with activities.

    You know I told you I'm about a decade older than you? Now I know for certain!

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  14. Happy belated birthday!! I LOVE that cake!!!!

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  15. A very belated happy birthday wishes to you Sharlynn, your cake is awesome I love Pusheen.

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