#180309#
It was a Friday. I had specially taken a leave from work. I was prepared to spend the whole day with Taenggu on her 30th birthday that day. As opposed to a weekend staycation like last year’s (TAENGGU’S 29TH BIRTHDAY SPECIAL: THE STAYCATION), I decided to go cafe-hopping with her instead. I already had a few cafes to visit in my list but I hadn’t actually decided the sequence of which cafes to go first. It was only until that morning itself after I woke up that I asked Taenggu to give me some time to plan our day a little first.
Snoopy seemed to have become our favourite hot topic and character these days, as previously explained in the post FOR GINGER: A GIFT FROM SNOOPY. So I was delighted to know that there are actually Charlie Brown cafes here in Singapore! Without a doubt, it was the first cafe that I had chosen to bring Taenggu to visit for the day.
We first had a quick breakfast at the coffeeshop downstairs my house before taking a 40-minute train ride to Somerset and a short walk to Cathay Cineleisure. The Charlie Brown cafe is located on the 4th floor. It was noon when I reached. It was just opened about an hour ago and there were only a few diners inside.
Most of the food items in the menu are western such as pastas, chicken chop, steak, pizza etc and are not related to the Peanut characters themselves. The more fanciful ones that have the Snoopy character on them are the desserts only. Thinking that we will be visiting a couple more other cafes later that day, I decided to go with something light for my tummy. So I ordered a plate of chicken drumlets and a Snoopy chocolate lava cake to be served later.
The chicken drumlets were surprisingly delicious. I guess it’s quite rare for a character-themed cafe like this one to have such quality good food too. While eating, I watched the Peanuts cartoon that was playing on the tv. It was an episode about baseball. But I remembered telling Taenggu that I didn’t understand what was going on in the cartoon at all because there was no sound from the tv. The cafe was instead playing some rather nostalgic old songs like “Bad Day” and “Accidentally In Love” which brought back good old memories of my secondary school days. 😌🎶
Some selfies 📸
After finishing the satisfying plate of drumlets, I asked for my chocolate lava cake to be served. At the same time, I took out a packet of candles and a lighter I had specially prepared from my bag. My plan was this: at each cafe we would visit, I would order a cake, light up a candle and sing a little birthday song for her each time and then snap a photo of the cake for memory.
My chocolate lava cake took quite awhile to arrive. I was excited when it finally came to my table. The Snoopy on my cake was so cute! 😍
I quickly lighted a candle and snapped a few more pictures of my little “birthday cake” for Taenggu.
I guess the staff at the restaurant had noticed me lighting up a candle and probably thought I was celebrating my own birthday. As I was taking a video to say my little message for Taenggu and blow out the candle, the birthday song started playing over their sound system at the cafe. I was totally caught off guard.
The timing at which the song started playing was perfectly just right. It was so unexpected but thoughtful of the staff to do this for me. I couldn’t help but felt once again that everything had already been carefully staged by the universe. But I have to admit, being a shy person that I am, I was actually kinda embarrassed to have everyone in the cafe turn their heads to look at me in surprise when the birthday song started playing suddenly. Hehe 😅😆
Then, I took a video of myself cutting open the chocolate lava cake like how I always see my friends would do on instagram. Ideally, it should have been a boomerang video but nah, haha. I expected the chocolate lava inside to flow out quickly like water but it didn’t. Hahaha. 😂
As I left the Charlie Brown cafe, I still couldn’t get over what had happened during my mini birthday celebration for Taenggu just now. Then, something dawned upon me at the fact of how much my attitude has changed over the years. I used to share this in MEMORIES OF TAENGGU’S 28TH BIRTHDAY SPECIAL + A RANDOM LUNCH DATE: THE LA MARELLE CAFE before. Back then, I used to think that it would be awkward if I were to celebrate her birthday outside and blow out a candle at a cafe alone so I chose not to do any of those things for her. But now, it was suddenly no longer an issue to me anymore and I even wanted to do the same thing at each and every cafe we would be visiting that day. I was amazed at myself too.
But I paused to think for a moment. Was my plan a little too impractical though? If I were to visit 3 different cafes that day, was I really going to eat 3 slices of cakes all by myself? Would it be too sweet for my body intake? I began to hesitate and couldn’t decide if I should continue with my original plan. After some time, I managed to brush away my doubtful thoughts and told myself “arghhh, just do it” coz YOLO.
At times like this, when even Heaven thought my plan was probably too irrational, it seemed to intervene and began making more practical decisions for me. First, I told Taenggu that I would bring her to a Korean cafe called Dal.Komm Coffee located at The Centrepoint just across the road next. The reason was, I had just been to that cafe about 2-3 weeks ago and saw they had this really pretty rainbow cheesecake which I thought I would bring Taenggu back there again to try on her birthday so I did.
I went over to Dal.Komm to take a look and alas, they didn’t serve that rainbow cheesecake that I wanted that day! Nevermind, I thought and told Taenggu that I would bring her to the next cafe called Oh My Tian instead. It was located in Boon Keng, just about 25 minutes train ride away. When I reached there, I walked to and fro and wondered why I didn’t see the cafe at all. That was when I realised the cafe was already shut down for good. Its original store space was now occupied by another restaurant. I was dismayed. Otteoke otteoke… what should I do now? Where should I go now? I began to worry in exasperation.
By then, I was a little tired already. I thought I would just go to a random cafe I could find at Plaza Singapura in Dhoby Ghaut which is just a few stops away. Along the way, I googled online and found there is a dessert shop located at the 6th floor (forgot the name). So I went there to take a look but realised it is just a over-the-counter kind of cake shop, no chairs and dining tables for you to sit down, chill and eat their cakes. But their cakes are really cute and fanciful! But kinda expensive though.
Finally, I decided to give up on my cake plan and just go to a Japanese cafe called Hoshino Coffee and get a drink. As I made my way down to level 3, I passed by a shop selling really nice framed pictures and paintings. I thought the Super Star one suit Taenggu a lot. Keke.
There at Hoshino Coffee, I got myself an iced matcha latte and read a book titled “Big Magic” by Elizabeth Gilbert (also the author of “Eat Pray Love”) for the next 1-2 hours.
Also spent some time uploading videos I took from my solo cycling trip at East Coast Park the day before.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BgGIaemFfb-/?taken-by=invariantceleste
About half hour before 5pm, I went to buy some sports attire from Uniqlo and a sunscreen spray from Watsons for my 108km bike rally event the next day. By 5pm, I was ready to take the train back home.
I knew Taenggu’s birthday party at SMTOWN theatre was due to start at 7pm (singapore time). I told Taenggu that I wished I could be there with her too and said I would keep her in my mind. While I was at home and her party was going on, I simply rested and packed my things for bike rally. Every now and then, I would check instagram for any new updates of her party. Usually for events like this where photography and videography are strictly not allowed, some fans who attended would share some bits and pieces of what went on at the event on twitter in the form of writing. And then, other fans would in turn repost these tweets on instagram. That’s usually how I would get my information from. 😄
It seemed that Taenggu had some fun interactions with the fans at her party. And she even brought her new puppy Zero with her on stage too. It was comforting to know she had spent her birthday enjoyably well that day.
A few days later, I managed to see rare clips of her birthday party situation taken by a fan. I liked how casual the setup of her party stage was. It was as if she was also in a cafe having a date with someone (with me? keke) sipping away coffee and having a nice chat. 😍
It didn’t matter if I had enjoyed the day or not. What mattered most was how she felt because it was her day, a day that belonged to her. It was 309, Taeyeon Day, as fans call it. Hope she was happy and not feel lonely to know that I, and fans from all over the world, were all celebrating this special day with her.
It was also comforting to know that both her sister and brother were also there to celebrate her birthday with her at midnight this year.
You are not alone, Taenggu-ya. Once again, HAPPY 30TH BIRTHDAY TO YOU! Hope you liked all these silly little things I had done for you. I love you! 🎉🎂🎁🎊💜
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