Desiree Koh: How else to start off the celebrations a day early than with durians?
Desiree Koh: Dad and his most favorite thing in the world.
Desiree Koh: The dark chocolate/caramel/brownie ice cream cake.
Desiree Koh: Dad's birthday wish was to wish all of us everything we ever wanted. Who gives his birthday wish away to others??
Desiree Koh: Dad's birthday.
Desiree Koh: Dad's birthday.
Desiree Koh: Dad's actual birthday started off with this vegetarian meal at YES Natural in Geylang. Geylang - home of filthy riff-raff AND organic cooking! Here is a pita salad - excellent, except for the non-dairy mayo. I hate mayo.
Desiree Koh: Then this rice noodle salad in almond sauce, topped off with delicious fresh greens. Very Californian in taste.
Desiree Koh: This tofu dish with diced mushrooms and carrots - I found it a little bland. It tasted better when I added some sauce from...
Desiree Koh: This tom yum concoction of okra, mushrooms and pineapple. Very tasty.
Desiree Koh: Dessert was this faux-bird's nest clear sweet soup.
Desiree Koh: You may have noticed that we've been vegetarian for Dad's birthday (as I was for mine).
Desiree Koh: It had a really nice aroma after being ground.
Desiree Koh: We started with this salad with Nippon dressing. So tasty - light and refreshing.
Desiree Koh: Mom tossed the salad. The great thing about Naive is that all ingredients are organic and cooked without preservatives or taste enhancements.
Desiree Koh: Tofu fried to a crisp on the outside, topped with golden oatmeal. Again, fantastic.
Desiree Koh: "Tofu cake" - really, dried beancurd pan-fried to a crisp and topped with a mango salad. Mmmmmm!
Desiree Koh: More noodles, for Dad's longevity. I think I ate every scrap of this.
Desiree Koh: Broccoli in sambal (spicy, Malay-style chili) sauce - again, unbelievably good.
Desiree Koh: "Mother Earth" - monkeyhead mushroom, a signature ingredient of the restaurant, with kai lan.
Desiree Koh: "Oliver Twist" - so not only did the olive rice win my heart over with its Dickensian significance, the brilliant addition of kaffir lime was exactly that - brilliant.
Desiree Koh: Curry with more monkeyhead mushroom and potatoes. Very close to Mom's curry. That's how good it was.
Desiree Koh: We shared this warm pumpkin puree with sago for dessert.