As some of my readers may already know, I turned 16! In celebration of that, my friends and I spent some time together and went out for dinner.
My first birthday dinner was at Moonwok with two friends the day after my birthday. It was a way to relax from AP Exams while kicking off the weekend to a good start.
Moonwok is basically an asian restaurant. They have a really cool buffet-like option where they give you a bowl and tongs and you basically pick and choose what you want from the buffet area. There were so many options to choose from: water chestnut, snow peas, green beans, green bell pepper, red bell pepper, fat noodles, skinny noodles, white rice, brown rice, baby corn, celery, carrots, bamboo shoots, peanuts, pineapples, ginger, peas, mushrooms, and so much more! I pretty much put a little bit of everything in my bowl since I love a variety of veggies.
At the side they have a station in which you can add your sauces- I mixed those too (Korean BBQ, BBQ, Teriyaki, and Szechuan).
My friends and I had such a good time and even later we found other friends walking in the area. I realized that the two friends I went with are really the closest friends I have in my school. I never have to think twice about what I’m going to say or plan it out. I feel like that’s definitely big when it comes to friends - not having to plan out what you want to say 5 minutes ahead of time and rather just conversing to the flow.
One of the girls out of these two is moving in the summer. I don’t know how I’ll survive Junior year without her. Who will replace my sarcastic, teasing, smart, awesome buddy? No one.
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Anyways, later on I went to Moonwok again a week later with another friend. She treated me this time, which was super sweet. I also had Imran come and he finally got to understand the awesomeness of that restaurant that he constantly trashed.
While getting my food, silly me dropped the huge rice cooker lid on my thumb to create a huge gash on my finger. Luckily, it's been healing. Afterwards, we stopped by at Red Mango to pick up some delicious yogurt.
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The day after, last Saturday, I was supposed to go to a friend's birthday party and had a chance to go to the beach or Six Flags. Instead? My grandma made plans to go out to eat for my birthday. I kind of got tired of eating and all at this point. We went to Usmania Chinese. It's an Indian/Pakistani owned Chinese restaurant with a Chinese chef. It sounds weird, but it was probably tailored to those people who can only eat Zabiha halal meat (if those of you who don't know what that is, it's similar to Kosher meat).
Coming back home from this little celebration at the restaurant, my relatives decided to give me some gifts. My grandma gave me money and my cousin gave me clothes. Now, I know this is a bit weird and all, but my aunt knows I love pasta so she got me this thing called the “Pasta Boat.”
I admit, I was genuinely excited to use the thing. Hahah. The other day I was feeling a bit hungry and decided to try it out. I put some pasta in it along with some water to the mark they tell you and put it in the microwave. After around 18 minutes, I took it out, attached the straining lid, and strained it. At first I was concerned about using it because its plastic, but it worked wonderfully. Plus, in the instructions, it shows you how to make other things- not just pasta. Rice, steamed veggies, mashed potatoes, so much!
If this lasts, I’m definitely keeping it for college when I have a dorm. It may take twice as long to cook something, but it’d be so much better than eating sandwiches everyday.
Overall, these kind of things just remind me how fortunate I am to have all these people love for me and care for me. Thanks everyone - for an awesome, memorable sixteenth birthday. xx
