I started #birthdayeatingmonth for fun. If celebrating isn’t all about enjoying good food and good company then I don’t know what is. Here’s a few snapshots from the excitement in the lead up to my 23rd birthday.
I started the month off with Greek on Cav [already blogged here] and The Burrow [and also here].
I had a quick lunch date at Kofoo, a small Korean eatery in the CBD with a satisfying and cheap seafood ramen.
I finally went to check out South Side Diner, an American-style 1950s diner, in South Bank. Fun, but I was a little disappointed. Maybe with all the hype, I just expected something much more. Good thing I had good company.
Living in Coorparoo, we’re close to quite a few food joints. On a Saturday, we decided to have a little stroll around Coorparoo junction, we visited Oishii Sushi Express for lunch and Vintage Kitchen and Vintage Closet for an iced beverage! Oishii Sushi is my new favourite takeaway joint – it’s run by a Japanese family and they have all the traditional favourites including takoyaki and okonomiyaki which I have to try next time. The mango smoothie was sweetened with honey and is actually one of the best smoothies I’ve ever had.
For my birthday dinner date, Nic booked us in for Esq, the casual side of Esquire, Queensland’s only 3-hatted restaurant. I’ve eaten at Esquire before but I’d been meaning to visit Esq for a long time! This was really exciting. I love that I never know what to expect when I order a dish here. We had a bottle of a wonderful Italian pinot grigio (which Nic, a red wine fan, actually enjoyed) and ate ourselves stupid. This was definitely one of the food highlights of this whole #birthdayeatingmonth.
I was invited along to Nic’s work’s Christmas party at Papa Jack’s, a new Creole/Southern American restaurant and bar. It was really busy, especially for a Thursday night. The food was really different to what I’ve eaten before. Nic’s bosses have visited New Orleans in the past so it was interesting to learn a bit about the food and drink culture from them whilst enjoying it! The pulled pork tostadas were my favourite dish – well-flavoured pork with refreshing with coriander and diced tomato. Yum! They have a breakfast menu which I’m equally curious to try. Maybe after the holiday period.
On the final Saturday before my birthday and Christmas, I had a giant group birthday dinner at O’lea Food and Bar in East Brisbane (next to Foxy Bean and Crust Pizza, opposite the Australian National/Aussie Nash hotel). We had a delicious bo ssam banquet with roast pork buns with cucumber and hoi sin sauce for starters. The main was a 6-hour slow roasted pork shoulder rubbed in brown sugar served with buttered rice, salads and 4 different kinds of dipping sauce! We followed this up with apple and cinnamon fritters/donuts with vanilla ice cream. We washed all this down with peach vodka iced tea and beer. Amazing meal with amazing people. I had so much fun sharing food with friends and my sister!
Finally approaching Christmas.. My birthday was on the 23rd. I met up with a few friends after work for drinks at the Bavarian Bier Cafe. I came home to cheesy chilli fries and chocolate cake made by my boyfriend. Simple but I really appreciated it. The cake was really light which worked in my favour. I’m not a fan of rich, dense chocolate cakes in general.
On Christmas Eve, I worked a half day so had time to make up some pork and mushroom dumplings. I pan-fried these and was a delicious but light meal to prepare for the impending Christmas feasting!
The Christmas spread! This year I spent half my Christmas with Nic’s family at their place for breakfast waffles and Christmas lunch and Christmas dinner at mine. This year was also the first time I ever made any sort of Christmas meal. It was a small event with my parents, younger sister and Nic. Small event doesn’t mean small offerings though. We had ham, roast Chicken, prawns, roast vegetables, salad, bread and a carrot cake made by my mother.
In recent days, it’s been lots of eating leftovers. On Boxing Day, I had a small picnic in South Bank with Christmas leftovers in an attempt to clear out my fridge at home. There’s also been lots of eating at home. Partly because nothing is open but mostly because my stomach hasn’t felt hunger in a week.
Thanks to everyone who joined me during #birthdayeatingmonth. Turning 23 and celebrating this year has been lots of fun but now onto #losingbirthdayweightmonth.
Hope everyone has a safe and happy new year.
Eating my way through life. 
This post has made me indescribably hungry.
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