rivka

The first part of my birthday was, shall we say, satisfying only to that part of me that craves challenge, last-minute panic, drenching rain, and toddlers eager to discuss the fact that they don't like any of their former favorite foods.

The second part of my birthday was awesome.

Michael - Michael! Misha!

curiousangel! Of all people! - baked me a birthday cake. A real one, spice cake (from a mix) with homemade vanilla icing and a votive candle on top. It was delicious! And this is a man whose pre-existing culinary repertoire consisted of spaghetti with meat sauce, scrambled eggs, and grilled sandwiches. He stepped waaayy far out of his comfort zone to make me feel special and taken care of on my birthday.

And! In my birthday card! Two tickets... to Avenue Q! I've been wanting to see this one since it came out on Broadway, so I am absolutely thrilled. I had no idea that he was planning this.

We decided to have takeout sushi from a new place for my birthday dinner. I put together a large order - the menu prices were a little on the low side, and I was afraid that meant the pieces would be small. I wound up with 30 pieces of nigiri and two rolls. After I read the long list to the restaurant guy, he read it back to me and said in a worried voice, "This is going to be very expensive. The menu you have is old-" (apparently he knew this because the number I called wasn't their main number anymore) "-we raised the price a little. It would be cheaper for you to get the sushi combo. Your order is about $70. The combo has 30 pieces of sushi and four rolls, and it's $55."

I hesitated a moment, because we like to pick out our own pieces. Then I decided, what the hell. "Okay, we'll take the combo."

"You can choose two more rolls." That surprised me a little, because I thought the whole point of a combo was that the chef picked the selection. But I chose two more rolls.

Michael came back from the restaurant with our order. I scanned it, trying to figure out whether there were enough things that Michael and Alex liked. (I am not picky about sushi, so I wasn't worried about myself.) Then I realized: the 30 pieces in the "sushi combo?" Were the 30 pieces I had ordered a la carte. They'd put together the exact selection I had initially requested, plus two extra rolls, for $15 less than the a la carte price. (And, contrary to our initial fears, the pieces weren't small.)

Yaaaay, sushi restaurant! Yaaaay, birthday dinner!