Dad's 70th Birthday
 

I thought long and hard about this thread and how much detail it might reveal. But in the end I reverted to my usual carefree attitude of information sharing. I maintain that if someone cared enough to put all the shards of information I've posted together, they would have enough time and money to have tracked me/ my family another way.

Okay; disclaimer over. Let's have a 70th birthday party!

My pressies for Dads.
The poster is his favourite singer. Born the same year as him, 4 months younger. My bro was born the day before Cliff's birthday. Dad was gutted.

It's not a real signed poster. You'd probably have to be British (and drawing a pension) to realise how huge and rich Sir Cliff is. It's not like Mum's 60th, where I could write and request an autograph from her favourite actor (Edward Petherbridge you are a kind and generous man.) But Cliff's given his writing samples to Universal Posters, and they can produce a facsimile of his writing and signature on a high quality print. I spent about 30 mins writing filthy messages to myself in JB's writing I admit :blush:

Anyway, Dads really didn't seem to take it in and although I didn't lie to him I think he still assumes that I somehow got Cliff to sign it.

Also, personalised whisky. MUCH more than I would spend in an off licence, but it is an 8 year old bottle, even if it is blended. And they did a damned good job with the label.

You can't see it properly in the photo, but I got him a silver sixpence minted in 1940.
He seemed to like this the best (!) Fathers, who can figure them?

And Dads with his big balloons. Mum's taking a pic at the same time, which is why he's not looking at me. But it was more natural than the other one.

A little introduction:
This was supposed to be a family meal.
It wasn't somewhere super-posh, but in a nice pub we've been to before, which is owned and run by an Italian family and offers good food, made on the premises and for a reasonable price.

As well as us siblings and my sister's children however, Mum had invited the two Johns Dad hung out with in his teens and twenties (and their partners) and also two of her own friends that Dad has now known since before I was born.

So, nice surprises all round.

First pic is the two Johns as a bookend to two other friends on holiday in Herne Bay in 1960.

Second picture jumps us to the end of the meal - I will backtrack - in order to introduce them to you.
John, Peter, John - admiring Dad's cake. They both have a son called Peter. For Dad. Bless.
Oh, is that me in the mirror? Goodness, I hadn't noticed.

The same John on the far right in the black and white photo is on the right in the recent photo as is the John on the far left. Dads is behind the camera.

The pub we went to.
Very nice. Only one issue which I will address later.

My starter; whitebait.
I love it.
Note the portion size though! (This is not the "issue")
I asked for a doggie bag and got a foil carton. Very much appreciated. Both Mum and I feasted on the leftovers for lunch. Well, my sister offered up the remains of her cheese platter too. It would be rude not to.

I did comment on the smell of my cheesy, fishy box....
But the people a my end of the table all know me :)

Ste's starter - sardines in chilli oil.
They were nom nom nom.
I was dipping my whitebait into the oil.
It was a bit hot for his taste, but once I started eating the chillies he was fine :mad2:

The next pic is my only grrrrr with the place.
Firstly please excuse me for forgetting to take a picture until I was half past dinner.
Note. I ordered a Caesar Salad.
Yes, the Specials Board specificed anchovies or no anchovies. Personally I like them, but I know they are not a Caesar Salad staple. Sadly, only two ingredients I was served up were Caesar Salad.

I first have to say I enjoyed it.
And I certainly wasn't going to have a diva strop on my Dad's 70th. In fact I've never had a strop re the ingredients in my CS simply because if someone is willing to tamper with a CS, they are so not going to be interested in hearing what a customer has to say anyway.

The lettuce was wrong.
There were no croutons.
There was tomato and cucumber in it.
There was bacon in it.

Ste and I agreed it passed muster as a Caesar-style salad. And it was good. But it was still wrong.

My SIL ate the komkommer. I left the tomato. I cleared the rest of the plate.

My immediate dining neighbour (Maureen, I've mentioned her before) had Bailey's cheesecake for dessert.
Ste, E and me (grammatically incorrect but nevertheless pleasing) decided we were already stuffed.

Maureen left about a 1/3 and we polished it off like vultures.

More like a mousse on a biscuit (cookie) base than a proper cheesecake, but yummy all the same.

The John to Dad's right took a look at the menu, and at the Specials Board and asked the waitress if he could have a Banana Split instead. She should have told him to bugger off, but instead they came back with the best they could manage. Excellent service. Mum always said he was a tricky bugger though :)

Is this all about food?
No of course not!

A picture for the girls.
My bro looking normal, but apparently this is nice.

And Ste & me having a staring competition. Hey, we ARE siblings....

Dads wearing his joke present from my sister and family.
There's an in-joke there via Johnny Vegas in Benidorm. Not worth explaining, the pic is pretty amusing anyway imho.

And the next is his real present - the shirt is the MK Dons Strip (our nearest League placed football team; my sister and family have season tickets and have taken Dad before) personalised. He was made up.

I stupidly left my camera in my bro & SIL's car, he brought it back today (thanks chick!) but I took a couple with Dad's camera late last night because I didn't hve mine.
I'll wait for Dad to upload them, and if any are any good I'll post them here. I know I wanted one of the two of us together to print and frame. They may not be any good though. We'd all had a few sherbets after all.

I'll leave you with a side view of John's Banana Spilt, so you can see Ste & E's present for Dad. Twelve year old Japanese whisky (they're just back from Tokyo).

Single Malt.

Which kinda pisses all over my 8 year old blend.
But I'm not in competition with my bro for my Dad's affection, so all's right with the world. I just thank god it wasn't from my sister ;)

Thanks for the pics SG, although I coulda done without the fish. It looks like a fun time, you seem like such a dedicated daughter. Your brother looks properly English, I'm not entirely sure what that means, I think it has to do with his chin...
Anyway, he's a good lookin fellow and the blonde hair looks very good on you. Now that I look again, I think your dad, brother and you all have the same type of chin!

Thanks for sharing your Dad's birthday I thoroughly enjoyed it! :)

That is one bizarre caesar SG, they got a lotta nerve calling it that. Props for not bitching.
I've never seen whitebait... they are in tempura or something? And you eat them whole? Dipped in things?
I've never seen sardines served like that either, only the tiny ones in cans and the one I caught off a pier in CA.

Looks a great time, thanks!

I didn't realize your brother had dyed his hair dark.

Are those smelts? That's what they look like to me. I've never heard them called whitefish, then again I've never been to England either.

Looks like everyone had a good time. Oh, and happy birfday to your dad.

your dad did the talking stain commercial?



is he the same guy as in the geico ads too?

Hmmmm. Given that the English nobility are considered "chinless wonders" due to years of in-breeding, I'm not quite sure how to take that! (Please note - mock-offense only)
But I will be taking a much closer look at family chins from now on. Mum and I have our own personal collection after all.
I thought I was a good girl and proper grown up for only pointing it out to my dining neighbours (and the whole internet) too. I don't mind "fusion". Or a new twist on an old theme - I love Heston Blumenthal for example. But I do choose my dinner expecting that the few ingredients I don't like will not be added willy-nilly. I still haven't got over the fennel-in-Bolognaise-Sauce debacle.
This is pretty much the way they are served on the continent. In England they were always tinned and usually mashed onto toast. Then we learned to cross the Channel and lo and behold those pesky furriners had a much nicer way of serving them. Any time I have tapas I have sardines. Usually in garlic and/or chilli. They serve them with frites most often as a main (entree).
They might well be called smelt elsewhere. I wasn't able to find a definitive answer, not knowing them as anything other than whitebait. Mum confessed to me yesterday that she had never ordered whitebait in a restaurant because she didn't know how to eat them. Ditto asparagus. I know I moan about her on here, but that just reminded me of the scared girl inside her, forever afraid of doing something to show herself up. No wonder she worries about me. I'm just glad I managed to overcome that particular aspect of my upbringing. If I don't know I ASK.

So, we had a whitebait eating tutorial. It goes like this - pick up whitebait in fingers. Dip - or not according to taste. Eat.

Yes, I suppose it could be seen as tempura. We just say they're battered. There will be seasoning added, the kind depends on where you eat it. It's a really popular dish along the Thames, where it will pretty much have a little salt and pepper and nothing else.

I will pass this slur onto him!
Ste is the only member of my immediate family who has shunned the dye bottle. Dad had improbably dark hair for years. My bro is going the salt-and-pepper route with pride.
Wow - Dad has a secret life (and accent!) He used to look like Edward Woodward. But I don't make the comparison so much since EW's death...