The entrance of Cookai which is a Japanese
restaurant.

The wooden paneling acts as a divider and
decoration.

The restaurant is packed as a lot of people are taking their dinner.

The wooden paneling added privacy to this
corner table.

The mirror made the room looks much bigger.

My son had the chicken cutlet bento.

I opted for the cheese salmon bento. The
salmon was very crispy and the cheese
brought the flavor of the salmon.

Yesterday I turned 61 years old. My daughter treated me to a Japanese dinner on Sunday night. My wife had to work over the weekend, and so for the first time, she was unable to celebrate my birthday. So I went for dinner with only my son and daughter.

Unlike other years, I celebrated my 61st birthday with rather mixed emotions. It is not that I don't embrace aging. The main reason is that I am still adjusting to retirement. I had retired at the peak of my career as Resident of Sibu. It is not easy to adjust from a working life where I am so busy and with much authority to a more free and unstructured life. Perhaps it could be I just missed working. I know that whatever that I can achieve during my retirement would not top my accomplishment during my working life. Being used to fast-paced life while I was working, I need to adjust to a slower pace of life.

Whatever ambivalent feelings that I had for my birthday, I am very grateful that I am able to celebrate my 61st birthday. We cannot take our time here for granted and there is no guarantee that we will be around tomorrow. During this pandemic, a number of my friends, relatives, and classmates have passed away. Every day that I am alive is a bonus for me and for that I am grateful. I am still in the process of figuring out what exactly I want to accomplish for the rest of my retired life. But whatever it is I will take life one day at a time. And now that I am freer, I have the opportunity to do more of the things that I love.

For our family, we normally have simple birthday celebrations. When our children were younger, we would throw them birthday parties and give them presents. Once our children became older, the celebrations became simpler with just birthday dinners and no presents were given. Perhaps it may be time to change these traditions.

I liked to thank my daughter Victoria for treating me to a Japanese dinner for my birthday. The restaurant Cookai is located at Saradise which is quite near to our house. It is a popular Japanese restaurant and when we arrived most of the tables were full. I loved the simple but cozy ambiance of the place. The creative use of wooden paneling gives the restaurant a unique and calming look.

This restaurant serves a wide range of Japanese cuisine. My daughter tried the beef don. The beef was thinly sliced and was very tasty. I opted for cheese salmon bento. The cheese brought out the flavor of the salmon. My son had the chicken cutlet bento. The chicken was tender and crunchy. My only complaint was that the portion of beef and salmon was too little.

Although the restaurant was crowded, the service was fast and good. The waiters and servers were dressed in black and I find that a bit gloomy. I hope that my wife Roselind will be able to join us for my next birthday celebration.

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