Why celebrate one birthday when you can celebrate two? We teamed up to combine the July birthdays of Kazuhiko Tada & Michael Dougan and threw a party.
The tradition of commemorating the 60th birthday as a special one is new to me. In the Chinese zodiac it means completing a cycle. In Japan it’s called Kanreki,「還暦」”Kan” means cycle, “Reki” means calendar. It’s a kind of rebirth, where you can begin to live life how you were meant to live it. [See the full set of party PHOTOS here]
Kazuhiko and I discovered that we were both born the same year, 1958! So we invited a gang of hungry, thirsty friends to Michael’s Cafe American last Sunday night, with lots of food and beverages, including delicious local beer (courtesy of Kazuhiko!) ice-cold margaritas and frosty mojitos, with fresh lime and locally-grown mint (thanks Saori!) and spicy corn tacos with seasoned chicken and home-made red chili sauce.
On the side we had black-eyed peas served with sliced red onion, just like my grandmother in Texas used to make it.
And pasta with pesto sauce, with a gift of fresh local basil (thanks Tomo!). And to top it off, Chizuko made the biggest hamburger you ever saw.
It was a fun party! Thanks to everyone who came! Check out the rest of the photos.
Black Ship Coffee 