Week(end) in Recap: Hubby's Post Birthday Party

Hello, Friends!

 

Last week went like a storm, I didn't even have proper pictures of what my week was like, but I do have lots and lots of pictures from previous weekend, because it was the day dedicated for my husband's post birthday party!

 

If you read my previous Week in Recap post, you would have known that Hubby's birthday was also the day his Aunt was being cremated, so it was not a day to be festive for our family. Also, in respect of tradition, none of us could attend his cousin's wedding because we are still in mourning, so instead, he invited his parents, younger brother and sister, and his sister's boyfriend, for a simple dinner party at our home on Saturday evening. He also invited two of his aunts, but they could not come since they were out of town visiting Aunt Marie who is having chemoteraphy treatment to fight cancer.

 

 

Let's say that the day was very busy and very fun. We started early in the morning to Hubby's friend's son open house, to celebrate his son's circumcision. I didn't take pictures, but it was a festive event. The host family set up tents with chairs and tables full of  delicious food on the front yard. People were coming and going, congratulating the boy as well as the parents. We came a little bit early, so we had plenty of time to chat with the host. More and more people came then, so Hubby helped the host erected another tent, then we decided to leave. As part of tradition and respect to the hostess, we have to carry some food home with us. It shows that we enjoy the food very much that we just have to eat some more at home. Of course you are not to do that if the hostess does not offer, but in this case the host and hostess insisted, so we gladly took home some of the yummy food that the kind hostess wrapped for us.

 

 

Then we made a stop at Angke, a Chinese restaurant famous for its family-style food, to order some food for tonight's party. The weather was scortchingly hot so that we decided to stop at the coffee shop nearby, called Coffee Tree, to have some sweet treats. Hubby had some iced lychee and coffee and his favorite tiramisu cake. I am not a coffee drinker, so iced chocolate it was for me!

 

 

Coffee Tree is a family establishment, and it was apparent on the weekends, since we could see that all family members helped out at the shop. They sell numerous kinds of coffeebeans, as well. If you want some, you just pick your choice of beans, then they will grind the coffee for you and package the ground product into an aluminium bag. It's an interesting process to see all of these steps. As you might know, I appreciate everything that has ceremonial feeling or patina of time and ritual to it.

 

 

These are the machines that they use at the shop.

 

 

 

 

Hubby picked the flying fox kind from Papua. Indonesia has a lot of areas producing coffee, and every area procude different kind of coffee bean, with different aroma and different taste. 

 

 

On the bag, it was explained that the coffee was finely ground. You can ask for coarse and medium, too.

 

 

Hubby didn't have birthday cake nor candle, so I stuck a spoon right in the middle of the tiramisu cake and we pretend that it was a candle. Make a wish! ^__^

 

 

This is what Michael wore for the evening. It was another Kompeni Batik from Cirebon area, my Mom handsewn the shirt for him. The material was leftover from the shirt that Mom made for Hubby. Michael has a little shirt similar to Mommy's batik, and another shirt similar to Daddy's!

 

These pictures are a little bit blurry, but they are my favorite pictures of the evening!

See? Father and son dressed alike. ^__^

 

These were what we ordered for the dinner party. We also ordered fried chicken, but it had not arrived yet when the picture was taken. We had birthday fried noodles with pigeon eggs that symbolize birth and longevity, tofu, squid, pork, crab dish, and the fried chicken dish. We also served home made beans cooked with garlic. Delicious!

 

 

My husband's family love to to drink wine, so I assembled this wine, snack and coffee station using a little cart that was a parcel cart I received last year. After the party, Michael used it as his toy pushing cart! The basket was also a parcel container. I almost don't buy containers of any kinds, because I know that I can get all these pretty ones for free from office parcels that we received at the office and the girls usually share at work.

 

 

Michael and young Grandma!! Hubby is the eldest child and he is younger than me, while I'm the youngest child, so my Mom is much older than his Mom. ^__^

 

 

Michael with aunt and uncle! These are Hubby's younger siblings.

 

 

My mother in law brought a huge cardboard box, filled to the brim with fruit! She said that her neighborhood grocery store had a sale on fresh produce and she bought so much that she wanted to give us some for our daily fruit and veggie smoothies, as well as for Michael. Look how full the fridge was from all those fruits, and these were only some of them! Thanks, Mama!

 

We also had ice cream. Now, a tip. If you want to throw a casual dinner party, and you want to serve ice cream, just buy them in individual cups like these. They came with spoons already, and the guests can just practically throw everything to the trash can after eating. No washing required! No extra ice cream spoons to prepare!

 

Thank you for coming, Mama, Papa, little brother and sister! Also for Dito, whom we already consider as family. ^__^

 

 

Last week's to do list:

• Read and contemplate on Philippians 4 about "Live in Concord" and "Joy and Peace".
• Read Chapter 9-12 of Beverly Lewis' The Sacrifice, a story of an Amish family. Sad to say that I have lost interest in reading this book. Perhaps I will continue sometime in the future.
• Read Chapter 8 of Kitami Masao's "The Swordless Samurai: Friends and Family", a historical story of how a Japanese "warrior" who could not fight rose into power and unified all of Japan with his power of mind, interpersonal skills, and shrewdness.
• Start reading Elizabeth Berg's "Open House", a book about how a woman copes after her husband walked away from her. It's a Book Oprah's Club's choice and I cannot wait to start! Finished the book. Regret to say that what started as a promising good story turned downhill by the end of the pages. I will not recommend this book.
• Renovation project week 9: putting up ceiling and inner windowsills. The local authority had finally pulished our permit last week. Hooray!!
• Updating iTunes on my laptop, so I can upload files from my iPhone.

• Fix the plumbing of my wash bashin in the dining room.
• Fix the plumbing of main bedroom's bathroom.
• Write one fashion blog post. And then I lost it. Duh. But I have rewritten it, ready to be published next Monday.
• Pay utility bills.
• Organize family and project budget.
• Scan 2013 tax files.
• Taking up yoga again.

Next week's to do list:

• Start to read and contemplate on Hebrews part of the Bible.
• Start to read one new book.
• Read Chapter 8 of Kitami Masao's "The Swordless Samurai: Friends and Family", a historical story of how a Japanese "warrior" who could not fight rose into power and unified all of Japan with his power of mind, interpersonal skills, and shrewdness.

• Renovation project week 10: putting concrete for the 2,5th floor, putting in plumbing system and door frames.
• Updating iTunes on my laptop, so I can upload files from my iPhone.

• Fix the broken dining chair and Michael's nursery window latch.
• Laundry old dolls.
• Grocery shopping.
• Organize the main bedroom fridge and top of the fridge.
• Organize the coffee station corner.
• Organize my personal facebook pictures.
• DIY: decoupage two book cases from used A4 paper cardboard boxes.
• Saskia's wedding.
• Visit next neighborhood park with Michael and Hubby on Saturday.