Tonight we had Baby Lima Bean Pulao with boondi raita, onion salad, and 3 kinds of papad.
The onion salad came out a bit spicier than I had intended, but everyone enjoyed the perk-up 
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Last night we had a combined birthday celebration for my visiting friend’s wife and me, because she’s finally in town (I delayed my return for her).
It was completely OTT because that’s how my friend likes to do these things 
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We started at my house, so they could visit with my mom over tea and snacks.
Then on to a nostalgic childhood splurge (and iconic Bombay institution) for cocktails. I ordered a glass of bubbly and the manager gifted me the bottle, which was more than nice of him.
Then onto another nostalgic spot for dinner (in the same place) with many small and big memories for all of us, and not as much food as I had originally feared — bec we forgot to order 4 or 5 things in the cocktail-enhanced blur of the 3rd location .
All in all it was an extended evening with three rounds of drinks and dessert, lots of laughter, reminiscing, and some bittersweet moments as we remembered the lost parents who gave us their love of food and indulged us so generously long before we knew what indulgence was.
Snacks were all classic Bombay — khandvi, dhokla, chilli cheese toast, sev puri.
Dinner was Chinese — dim sum to start (lobster dumplings, har gao, chicken and spring onion potstickers, lamb jiaozi, golden fried shrimp), 3 flavor noodles and egg fried rice for accompaniments, and mains of 5-spice pork spare ribs, chicken in oyster sauce, and jumbo crab (shelled) in garlic sauce.
Dessert was 3 chocolate birthday cakes, toffee banana fritters, date pancakes, and 2 kinds of ice cream, plus a couple of rounds of cognac, baileys, and cointreau.
