Another year older.....

I'm not afraid to admit that today, I am happily 35 years old. I think after 30, women tend not to like to reveal their age. I, on the other hand, have embraced the fact that I'm older, but yet still feel young. So I'm not embarrassed to reveal my age. I think its because I'm content with my life and I'm enjoying it. What's not to enjoy, when I have a wonderful husband, a beautiful daughter, a supportive family and awesome friends to share in my life.

I heard somewhere that 30 (or was it 31?) was the new 21. That would make me 26 (or 27?), the prime of adulthood. I think you are the age you feel. I feel like I'm 26 and I feel great :) My body, on the other hand, might tell me something different.

A few weeks ago, my co-worker was looking for recommendations for a nice sushi place and I had suggested Yamashiro Restaurant. Its a nice Japanese restaurant that sits on top of the Hollywood Hills, overlooking Hollywood and the greater Los Angeles area. While my co-worker was looking over their menu online, it gave me the idea to go there, too, for my birthday. We like to go Yamashiro, especially for special occasions. We haven't been there in a while, so I asked hubby if we could have dinner there to celebrate. And off he went to plan for my night, joined by our daughter, my parents and my 2 siblings.

Yamashiro's menu changes slightly through the years. And so I was surprised to see something on the menu called the Darth Vader roll. Hubby is a huge Star Wars fan, so I had to order it as one of our starters. Its a spicy tuna roll topped with caviar. Dee-lish!

We always order Calamari whenever its on the menu. This evening was no exception. I decided to order the Calamari Tempura as another starter. However, the calamari was very tough. Almost like I was chewing on a rubber band. Not so delish.

For our main course, hubby ordered the American Wagyu steak with a side of salsa and fried onions. I should've ordered that too.

Yamashiro doesn't really have a kid's menu, so I thought I would order something "safe" for my daughter to eat. I ordered her their vegetarian pasta, which turned out to be a little spicy that she couldn't really eat it. I guess it wasn't so "safe." We ended up feeding her some of my sister's food, which was a shrimp with orzo pasta dish. Thankfully, my daughter had something to eat.

Our waiter recommended a few dishes, including the Asian pork ribs, which I decided to order. He stated that the meat falls off the bone. Which it did. The flavor, however, fell short.

Aside from the Darth Vader roll, the best part of my meal was the S'mores Brownie, served with a side of their house-made cookie dough ice cream. Yum!

Of all the times that we've eaten at Yamashiro's, I remember that I wasn't ever fully excited about any of the dishes I order. But I always seem to want to go back. Maybe its because of this view:

Who wouldn't love a view like that? What a great way to celebrate a birthday :)