Sugar Sugar

Over the last couple of weeks, I've eaten huge amounts of cake, mainly because of the number of people I know who've had their birthdays then. It's made me think of all the birthday parties I've been to, especially the ones that really stood out. Most have been reasonably good.

A couple of them were plain confusing.

One was remarkably terrible.

Then suddenly, last month I went to one of the best birthday parties I've ever been to. Everything about it was great: wonderful people, beautiful place, delicious food, and surprisingly cute and lovable kids.

The birthday girl

 Well, she didn't exactly look like this, and she was way cuter. I think I got the bow on the hairband right, though.

Here are the things that made the party seriously awesome:

Yes, the cake really was that green. Normally I'd think, "Green cake? Eww!" but this one was pretty, and absolutely delicious. Again, my picture doesn't resemble the actual thing that well, but I had to try. The rest of the food was great too, but a good cake makes a good birthday party even better.

Helium balloons! I'd been looking for those for a long time, and I actually took a couple of them home. Whee!

And I think this is what made it perfect for me:

I was probably the only person above the age of 7 standing in line for candy floss (or cotton candy, if that's what you must call it) but standing there, and then eating with bits of pink sugar sticking to my hair, glasses, and clothes, I felt truly happy, like I was right where I belonged.

I guess some of us never grow up.

Five Lies

Sometimes people try and make you believe the most bizarre things ever. You know that stuff isn’t true, but they make you think you’re stupid for not believing. And by “they”, I don’t mean advertisements or politicians, but people in general, maybe even ones we go to for good advice.

·         Water has no taste
Something we all learnt in school, right? We did in my school, and in many other places too, I’m sure. Wonder who came up with the idea, and how he/she managed to convince a whole lot of people. All I can say is, they didn’t have very sophisticated palates.
(By the way, “sophisticated palate” has become one of my favourite phrases after I discovered my affinity for mildly flavoured food.)

·         Ab crunches don’t help flatten your stomach
Two out of three times that you look at the fitness section of a magazine or newspaper, you’re sure to see some lines on why ab crunches are completely pointless. Hmph! They’re probably doing it wrong. 

      
Okay, maybe it’s true for some people, but not for everyone. I know I may not seem like a trustworthy source now, but I had great ab muscles way back when I used to do crunches. Also, that was around the time I pretty much lived on ice cream.

·         Coffee is bad for you
Now that’s just a terrible thing to say! People who believe this are usually green tea drinkers who most likely can’t imagine coffee without milk, cream, and sugar. So yeah, I sort of see their point and can’t help feeling sorry for them, because they don’t know what they’re missing.

Also, coffee speeds up metabolism (unless of course you’re dunking cream and sugar into it) and is a good source of antioxidants. Coffee drinkers are apparently less likely to have certain cancers, heart rhythm problems, strokes, type 2 diabetes, Parkinson's disease, and dementia, and a whole lot of other conditions you do not want to have. I certainly don’t need to describe that euphoric feeling it gives you.
So if you’ve never had coffee the way it’s supposed to be drunk, start now.

I don't like Nescafe, but I really like this ad.

By the way, George Washington invented instant coffee. Don’t believe me? Look it up *snigger* No, seriously.

·         Kids are SO cute 
Kids are manipulative, wailing things, and these days, most of them are super spoilt and helpless without TV, laptops, cellphones, and all that jazz. Being small doesn’t necessarily make you delightful.

All right, I must admit I’m biased here. I’ll also admit that I’ve seen some wonderful kids who’ve rather surprised me (by making me love them so much) but I don’t love kids as a rule.

·         Cockroaches are harmless 
Oh, no, no, no, no, no! You couldn't be more wrong. They're creepy, some of them fly and stink, and I've even been bitten by one. Most scary thing of all: they're practically invincible. Something like this:

They don't care. They know they'll survive.

Bottomline: coffee - gorgeous, cockroaches - gross, and kids - well, who knows?