The Day Angel Turned 18

A quick introduction

The last day of October was fun and wonderful! It was the day when a good buddy of mine named Angel turned 18, and we celebrate it with a small feast and a trip to a haunted house. By "we", I meant me, Icha, Sally, Febby, Ratri, Anty, Evan, Chandra, Riva, Adrian, and Raja. There were a dozen of us, and we spread joy in Jakarta Convention Center and Senayan City as we told the world, "Hey, World, Angel is now 18 years old!"

It was in the middle of the day when I arrived at Fx: Lifestyle Center. Me, Icha, Sally, and Angel decided to meet up at this mall before we go to JCC, or Jakarta Convention Center, to go for a ride in a haunted house. I was the first one to arrive at Fx, and I got nothing to do, so I settled down at a restaurant named Kenny Rogers and ordered myself some appetizer. I didn't feel like eating a whole zebra, so I ordered myself a plate of Coleslaw and a refillable Iced Lemon Tea. 

A plate of Coleslaw costed me Rp18.000,00, while the Iced Lemon Tea costed me Rp20.000,00. Kenny Rogers' version of Coleslaw is a bowl of cut cabbage, carrots, spring onion, lettuce seeds, and purple cabbage, smothered in mayonnaise. I'm a fan of Coleslaw and I really enjoyed the dish because I think the it tasted refreshing and juicy. But, they put too much mayo in the shredded vegetables, and I don't think spring onion is very suitable to be included in the Coleslaw. The whole meal costed me less than Rp50.000,00, thanks to the pricey 10% tax. 

An hour passed, and Icha, Sally, nor Angel hadn't arrived yet. So, I moved to another restaurant, which was Ichiban Sushi, and ordered myself a plate of Tamago Sushi. The sushi palter only consisted of two pieces of Tamago Sushi and it costed me Rp12.500,00. The whole sushi was very sweet and light, and enjoyable, but I tasted better Tamago Sushi before. 

Light meals to start the day

Not long after my sushi plater arrived, Icha and Sally arrived at Fx and joined me for a quick lunch. Sally ordered herself a glass of hot Ocha, while Icha had a plate of Salmon Sushi. We finished our lunch and strolled around the mall until Angel arrives. The birthday girl finished her class at 3PM, and since her college is just a 5-minute-drive to Fx, it didn't take long until she arrived at the lifestyle center. Icha, Sally, and I had prepared a Box of Happiness as a birthday present for Angel, which consisted of things that would definitely make her super happy. One of the things inside the Box of Happiness was a handmade comic of mine, and I was very pleased when I know that Angel was very much entertained with my awesome and epic comic. 

We hopped in to Angel's car and drove to Jakarta Convention Center. She offered us a selection of petite cakes that she got from her college friends. It was Pepenero's cakes and I was very attracted to the cake with blue candle on it. It was a small Tiramisu with coffee-flavored icing sugar as decoration. I took a bite of that creamy cake and it immediately made me feel happy. Yes, cake can make you happy, people, especially if its' a good and delicious cake! The cake was creamy and soft, and it was deliciously filling my stomach. Icha ate the one that has no candle on it and, judging by her cheer, the cake was also delicious.

A box of petite cakes from Angel's college buddies

It didn't take long for us to get to Jakarta Convention Center. There was, and still is, an exhibition at JCC and the place was crowded with swarms of people. Icha, Sally, Angel and I went to JCC for one thing and one thing only, JAKK Incorporated's Dungeon of Demons. Dungeon of Demons, you see, is a haunted house made my JAKK Inc. I got five free tickets from a friend of mine whom I met at Gudang Rottie, Kak Aruga, and I was very excited, yet also terrified, to experience the horror. 

At first, I was going to go inside the haunted house with Icha, followed by Angel and Sally, but Sally and Icha were terrified and decided not to, so, I went in with Angel. The pretend ghosts and ghouls had nice costumes and makeups, which made them look promising. Angel and I were being shouted and shocked by the ghosts inside the Dungeon of Demons. But, it didn't take us five minutes to get out of the terrifying maze, so we decided to go inside one more time.

This time, I paired myself with Icha, while Angel paired herself with Sally. For some reason, during my second visit to the Dungeon of Demons, the ghosts increased from four to seven, and they made me shriek in horror. Icha, on the other hand, covered both of her ears and her arms and accidently sprinted towards a pretend ghost, making me flailed to grab her in terror. But, we survived. "I was scared, yet I was excited because they were playing one of Jigoku Shoujo's soundtrack during our turn, and I saw Kuchisake Onna," said Icha after she got out of the dark labyrinth. 

Hellgate passes to the Dungeon of Demons

The four of us had early dinner at a Thailand restaurant named Jittlada, located in Senayan City. Angel and Sally were the ones who picked the dishes for dinner. We ordered lots of food, such as Pineapple Fried Rice, Spring Rolls, Morning Glory, Pad Thai, Pandan Chicken, Thai Tea, Lime Juice, and Jittlada Surprise. Our table was filled with plates and dinning utensils.

Early dinner feast

Left to right: Iced Thai Tea, Lime Juice, Hot Thai Tea

Icha's Jittlada Surprise

It was a very luxurious dinner, I made sure I scooped every single dishes on the table. There were five different dishes on my plate and all of them tasted deliciously savory. The Pineapple Fried Rice were not sticky, they were savory and a bit oily, and you could taste a hint of shrimp oil in it. The pineapple made the dish rich in flavor because they tasted sweet and sour. Raisins and small shrimps could also be found in the fried rice, and they blended well with the other ingredients. Both Pad Thai, or Thailand Noodle, and Stir-fried Morning Glory was very spicy for my taste, my mouth was on fire, but they were very enjoyable and delectable. 

Pandan Chicken was one of the dish that I ate. It was a deep-fried chicken covered in Pandan Leaf. I didn't know whether or not the leaf could be eaten, so I took a small bite just to make sure. It turned out, the leaf was very crispy and savory, it went well with a spoonful of Pineapple Fried Rice. Angel and Sally were speechless seeing me munching on leafs like a soon-to-be-cocooned caterpillar. "You're not supposed to eat the lead," said Sally. "But it tasted good," I replied, still munching on the crispy edges. 

What I had for dinner

A plate of spicy Pad Thai

A plate of super spicy Stir-fried Morning Glory with Garlic

Three pieces of Pandan Chicken

The savory and sour Pineapple Fried Rice

A plate of Spring Rolls

After we finished our main courses, the waitress came to our table with a tray of dessert. Two plates of Mango Sticky Rice decorated the table and we dig in. I enjoyed the mango with a spoonful of sticky rice coated in coconut milk, the whole traditional dessert was very sweet and flavorful, but I prefer the fruit alone.

Mango Sticky Rice for dessert

Sally, Icha, and I had been planning on a birthday surprise, along with Febby, Anty, Ratri and the other guys. We were going to popped out with a cake at around 7PM, but our friend named Evan was a bit late and we ended up postponing the surprise. It was 8PM and there was still no sign from Evan, so the four of us left Jittlada and strolled around the mall aimlessly. 

I bought some times for the others to prepare the surprise by stopping at every cafe and restaurant on the basement floor. I stopped at some cookie shop, Japanese restaurant, cake shop, ice cream parlor, and didn't bought a single thing. But then I spotted Cold Stones. I got jumpy and excited, and dragged Icha to the ice cream shop and bought myself a cup of ice cream. "Tiramisu Ice Cream with Brownies and Almonds, please," I said to the ice cream man who decorate his face with fake blood because it was Halloween. I paid attention as he mixed the ingredients on an icy table. 

Cold Stone's Ice Cream for second dessert

Scoop them up!

My ice cream tasted sweet and delightful, it would turn a man's frown into a smile! Yes, I was fully aware by the fact that it was actually fattening gelato instead of ice cream.. but, hey, can anybody say "No!" to a second dessert?

A bowl of Tiramisu Ice Cream, with Brownies and Almonds

After getting myself a cup of ice cream, the four of us proceed to a new bakery that originated from Korea named Tous le Jours. "Come on let's go to that new bakery, I want to buy something for my Mom," I said. True, I was planning on buying something for my Mom, but Febby and the others were ready for the surprise and they told us to meet at the new bakery. So, we rode the escalators thrice and pretended to be looking for something inside the bakery. Sally bought herself a glass of Hot Tea, while I bought a slice of Classic Cheese Cake for my Mom. We sat inside the bakery-restaurant, chatting normally as if something was not going to happen. Then, came Febby, Anty, Ratri, Evan, Chandra, Adrian and Raja with a big Blueberry Cheese Cake, and the next thing I know, we were all singing "Happy Birthday" to Angel.

Sally's Hot Tea

SURPRISE!

"Happy 18th Birthday, Angelia"

The surprise was a success! Angel didn't expect that there would be a wolf pack surrounding her and demanding her to blow lit candles on a cake. There were supposed to be two cakes, one is the big Blueberry Cheesecake and the other is a cupcake from Anty. But, Anty accidently dropped her cupcake box and spoiled the Winnie the Pooh cupcake.

Don't forget to make a wish

Anty's spoiled cupcake

The happy girl

Even though we already had dinner, Angel decided to treat us with two buckets of fried chicken, ten glasses of cokes, and a couple of puddings. It was a fun night and I'm thrilled to be able to meet my best buddies again! I ate lots of dishes and beverages and I was certainly full!

A second feast 

Less than a dozen Pepsi and some puddings

A bucket of KFC's Fried Chicken

Kenny Rogers Roasters

Ground Floor

Fx Lifestyle Center

Jl. Sudirman, Jakarta

Ichiban Sushi

Ground Floor

Fx Lifestyle Center

Jl. Sudirman, Jakarta

Jakarta Convention Center

Jalan Stadion Senayan 

10270, Jakarta - Indonesia

Jittlada

Ground Floor, Senayan City

Jalan Asia Afrika, No. 19

Jakarta

Cold Stone
Ground Floor, Senayan City

Jalan Asia Afrika, No. 19

Jakarta

Tous le Jours
Fifth Floor, Senayan City

Jalan Asia Afrika, No. 19

Jakarta

Food Court

Fifth Floor, Senayan City

Jalan Asia Afrika, No. 19

Jakarta