Birthday Bash At the Boardwalk

Normally turning 34 isn't that big a deal, like say turning 30 or 35, but this year, when I became a year older, I have to say my birthday was a pretty darn good one.

All throughout that morning of February 11th, listeners were sending me birthday wishes via SMS and calling up the studio and I've lost count of how many people have sent in their messages through Facebook. It was emotionally overwhelming for me. I was very, very touched, especially when two of them actually came to the office to personally pass me cakes and presents. That was so unexpected and a wonderful surprise to me. Even my own colleagues surprised me when they presented me with a birthday package at the end of our morning meeting. They managed to find out what I liked when they checked out my blog. How resourceful of them, haha! :)

And the celebrations didn't end there. The generous folk at Hilton KL had actually offered to organise a birthday party for me at The Boardwalk! And why would I want to pass up on such an opportunity? ;)

So later that night, I turned up at the hotel and was greeted by the two wonderful people responsible for putting together this party - Bel (Assistant Marketing Communications Manager) and Jean (Marketing Communications Executive).

(From L-R : Jean and Bel)

They walked me to the Boardwalk (located outside of Iketeru restaurant, next to the poolside and gym) and showed me the area where they had set things up so nicely.

There, under the canopy, I saw a long table with carefully folded napkins atop a shimmery white tablecloth.. tealights dotted the surface and the cutlery were already neatly placed across the tables.

At one end of it all, I saw musical instruments, mics and music stands set up to which Bel explained that there was where the live band would be performing from. Lovely!

Turns out the Boardwalk is a lovely little outdoor nook that overlooks the city where you can organise parties of your own. According to Bel and Jean, there have been a lot of kids' birthday parties held there. So I guess I'm just a big kid, then!

Turns out my first guest, Hazim, was the first to arrive even before me!

The others came soon after...

 

Richard and Terry

  

Mary

  

 JD

 

 Aly and Jeremy

So let's get straight to the food! Here's the menu :

We started off with the bread...

Followed by their soup of the day... roasted garlic soup. Everyone agreed that it was amazing and gave it their seal of approval.

Next came the caesar salad...

Then the mains..

 

 

And finally the fruit platter...

We could all barely get up off our seats - we were all so FULL after that!

But, as Bel told me, what's a birthday without a birthday cake? Check out the delicious birthday cake she arranged to get for me!

In between dinner, the singer of the live band invited us to sing with her so my guests all encouraged me to go up there. Now, it's been a looooong time since I've sang in front of anyone and I was sooooooo nervous! But I obliged anyway and sang a very shaky rendition of Mariah Carey's "Hero" (only coz it was the only song I spotted in her song book that I recognised!).

I tell you, I can sing comfortably in front of a bunch of strangers but in front of my friends, I'm like jello! Despite my performance (one that wouldn't even get me through an American Idol audition), everyone was very sporting... Hazim even gave me half a strawberry on a skewer since there weren't any flowers on hand ;)

 

 

All in all, it was a very pleasant evening spent with my closest colleagues (Nisha couldn't be there coz her car broke down. Kah-Wai and Yin! Missed you there!) to celebrate my aging and sprouting more grey hairs. Hey, as long as I don't look and feel my age I'm happy.

 

So if you're interested to have a romantic dinner for two, or you want to hang out with the girls or hold a fun lil gathering or party of your own (max 100 pax), you ought to consider The Boardwalk where they can provide you all these things and more! It's a great place to chill out if you want a relaxing time by the pool with a drink in hand, enjoying the "urban sunset" as they call it. Then in the evenings, partake of their delicious grilled meats, seafood, salads and soups from their BBQ menu out in the open air while you enjoy the music from their 3-piece band.

It's a glorious place... so close to the city yet could be your own private little getaway. I like it :)

 

Thanks again ladies and Hilton KL for having made this possible!