Marathon birthday effort

Special guest at last night’s birthday party was Jumbo the Chihuahua.

I had a picture of the little dog here, but lost it when I accidentally destroyed my blog pics, which Google keeps in its album archive.

Boyfriend Maiyuu spent the day cooking, while I relaxed, fitting in two visits to the pool, and an hour-long sleep.

‘Thank you for making it such a special day,’ I told Maiyuu as he served up dessert.

‘That’s okay...it’s not a duty,’ he said, meaning he did it out of love.

First, Maiyuu served up spaghetti with a meat sauce. Then he presided manfully over a Thai-style bar-b-que.

He cooked the beef on a hotplate, placed on top of a gas cooker. Juice gathered around the sides, which we spooned on to our plates.

The cooker sat on the dining room table. We sat around the table, helping ourselves to the beef, and the accompanying side dishes, including crab sticks, roast pork nibbles, and tuna.

Maiyuu invited two friends, sisters Golf and Som.

They brought with them the family pet, Jumbo.

As the name suggests, he is huge, just like me. Okay, I jest.

‘Is he mixed breed?’ I asked.

‘He is pure Chihuahua, but has only one testicle, which has made him fat,’ said Golf, without explaining.

Jumbo is expert at fitting humans around his needs.

‘Jumbo knows Mum wakes at 6am, to make breakfast for the family. He migrates from my bed to hers about 5am, as he knows I get up later.

‘An hour later, he gets up when Mum does, and they go downstairs together. This ensures he gets fed as soon as Mum is up; otherwise he would have to wait.

‘Mum likes to sleep in the middle of the day. About midday, Jumbo will park himself at the bottom of the stairs and howl until Mum joins him. They go upstairs together to take an hour’s rest.

‘I spoil him, giving him food whenever he wants it. Som scolds him when he gets demanding, so they are not that close.

‘When he sleeps, he likes to nestle into armpits, especially if they belong to men,’ said Golf.

Never have I met such a lucky dog.

‘In my next life, I want to come back as a small, cute dog,’ I said.

When seated at the table likes to perch himself on the arm rest, so he can keep an eye on what's going on.

After the bar-b-que, Maiyuu brought out chocolate toffee mousse and served it in glasses.

Maiyuu's chocolate mousse

By special request, he also made an instant pudding.

Golf, who hires Maiyuu to make desserts occasionally, brought along a packet of instant pudding powder. Maiyuu whipped it up, and put it in the fridge.

After that, he brought out a chocolate and strawberry birthday cake, which he made in my honour that afternoon as I slept.



That's the cake below right. He wrote a message in icing on top: Happy birthday to my love. Joop, Joop!'

Joop is the Thai word for kiss.

I was banished to my bedroom while Maiyuu and the girls inserted candles in the cake and lit them.

‘Okay...you can come out now!’ said Som.

I’m running out of puff; it took three blows before I could put all the candles out.

‘We’ll be eating your saliva instead,’ said Maiyuu.

Our guests were worried they would not be able to find a taxi home.

Maiyuu took them downstairs, and asked them to wait while he pedalled off on his bike to the main road. He flagged down a taxi, and asked it to come back to the condo to pick up our guests.

While he was away, I swept the floor, and put on the air con in the living room, where Maiyuu sleeps, to cool it down before we went to bed.

‘Thank you again for a great day,’ I said.

‘You’re now a year older,’ said Maiyuu.

‘Happy birthday!’