Birthday homecoming

I can’t remember the last time I spent time in Los Angeles in the month of October. Actually, I take that back. It must have been October of 1998. That’s the October before I graduated from high school and the October before I moved to Berkeley and never moved back. That October birthday was probably also the last birthday I celebrated with my parents.

I went back to LA again this weekend. I had originally planned the trip to see Olivia, who is newly pregnant. And, as it happened, my birthday fell just a few days before I was to land at LAX. My mom would undoubtedly, at the very least, want to have a birthday cake along with the obligatory posed photos. And, Eleanor, who flew down to LA too, would have to endure this and my family for the weekend.

Here’s a brief rundown of the weekend:

Thursday
-Yet another meal at Oakland International Airport: a fried chicken strip sandwich with French fries.
-Vietnamese rice noodles with eggrolls, shrimp skewers, and grilled pork with a lemon fish sauce in a restaurant full of students (probably from UCLA) a few blocks away from Jeanne’s apartment in West LA.

Friday
-Breakfast at The Corner Bakery: a soggy Panini filled with scrambled egg and ham.
-Afternoon tea at the Huntington Library Tea Room: raspberry tea, finger sandwiches, scones, cucumber salad, fruit, and desserts.
-Dinner with the family, Asian dinner banquet style in Monterey Park: cold meat appetizer plate; scallops with asparagus; lobster; fried shrimp covered in preserved egg; golden shark fin soup; fried rice; abalone and sea cucumber with sautéed mustard greens; Peking duck; beef and butternut squash; mango pudding.
-Birthday cake with obligatory photos.
-Drinks and karaoke at the Silver Mug: two vodka tonics with extra lime, “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” “We Belong,” “Rebel Rebel”

Saturday
-Breakfast at the parent’s house: pork and preserved duck egg rice porridge.
-Afternoon at the Santa Anita Race Track: two Heinekens, an overly cheesy sausage pizza, $20 lost on the ponies.
-Pre-dinner snack: two fish tacos from Wahoo’s.
-Dinner at the parent’s house, minus the parents: fish stomach soup; boiled chicken; mushrooms and sea cucumber; fried noodles; fried fish; bok choy; stir-fried green beans; shrimp with walnuts and mayonnaise-y sauce.

Sunday
-Dim sum at Happy Harbor Restaurant: the usual dim sum delicacies, plus exploding steam buns with sweet yellow filling.
-Afternoon snack / lunch: warm bubble milk tea and spicy popcorn chicken.
-Dinner in Koreatown: Seafood tofu soup.
-Drinks and karaoke at The Smog Cutter: Two vodka tonics with extra lime, “I Want You to Want Me,” “We Belong,” “A Little Prayer,” “Dancing Queen.”