Another thing which flourished was the revelry alongside the Kamo River in Kyoto [perhaps the most famous river in all of Japan] on the 24th [Phill's Birthday]. Phill went to a Yuka for the first time with some friends of his. It was a pricey affair (a little over $80 U.S. after the drinks were added on), but the food was yummy and eating out in the open under the river was splendiferous.

Phill was forced to follow the ancient Japanese tradition of drinking 3 different alcoholic beverages at a time throughout his birthday [Note to reader: Sometimes Phill lies. Is he lying about the 3 drinks thing? Yes. Yes he is.]

Drinking drinky drinks is all well and fine, but ever true connoisseur knows that you gotta make the drink yourself to truly enjoy it. So Phill sweated his fingers to the bone to make sure he got every last drop of satisfaction from the grapefruit which he added into his sour at the 2nd birthday restaurant on the 24th. Squeeze squeeze yum yum.

What doesn't need to be made by the consumer to taste good though is cake. And Phill consumed 2 different homemade cakes for his birthday this year, neither of which he made. The more unusual of the two was the Green Tea and Cookied Ice Cream Cake [right] and it was every bit as delicious as it was bizarre.

Phill also had the pleasure of eating some homemade cheesecake [left] and was a better man for it.

Did you want to see what kind of food the served at the Yuka I mentioned above? Of course you did. Well your in luck because the picture to the right is just that.

Wow! You're really on a roll! Here's ANOTHER picture of some of the yummy Yuka food. It's too bad you can't simply lick your computer screen where this picture is and taste what the dishes were like. Stupid technology, never seems to suffice.

Colin came to celebrate my birthday on both the 23rd and 24th and we appreciate him for that. In return I supported our time honored tradition of drinking Pink Drinks. Support. Honor. Tradition. Pink Drinks. These are the things that keep friendships bonded like the answer to the question "Who recently broke Babe Ruth's homerun record?"

Does the last line of the above paragraph confuse you even though you watch MLB? If so try reading it out loud. If you still don't get the joke, don't worry about it. It isn't very funny.

What IS funny though is seeing people through the eye of a fish. So check this page in a few days to see photos from Phill's new [birthday present] Fish Eye Camera! Then get ready to reel in the chuckles.