A Little Birthday Yak

I had a birthday this week. I was very glad when I awoke to a cat-free apartment. I am certain that at some point, with my advancing spinsterhood, cats are going to spontaneously materialize in my house. I won’t invite them in; they will just arrive, meowing incessantly, reminding me that they are my destiny. But not this year. I was relieved.
When I arrived at work I found a sign above my door that stated, “Come hug the birthday girl.” Brilliant. I’m leaving that up all year. I also found gifts stashed around the office and in my box in the teacher lounge. Much Coke Zero was involved. Apparently I have a reputation for drinking the stuff (OK, maybe I did send out an angry e-mail at the beginning of the year when someone took one out of the refrigerator that I have yet to live down, but that no reason to label me an addict…) I digress. Middle school is definitely the place to celebrate a birthday, as birthday wishes followed me around the whole day.
I decided, in case the cats had appeared while I was at work, that it would be best to go out for dinner with friends. I made a reservation at a local Yunnan place. Yunnan is a region of China close to Tibet, famed for its food and (awkward, when forced to participate in a theme restaurant) regional dancing. I visited this restaurant early in the year when the new staff arrived and I remembered warm feelings of camaraderie and lots of delicious food. Or perhaps the warm memories stem from the lack of air conditioning at the time. In any case, there were warm, fond memories that induced a desire to return. And, I must admit, I was very excited about the prospect of yak on the menu.
I had never eaten yak before. I was uncertain as to what Yak meat would taste like. Chicken? I thought not. There were numerous yak options on the menu. Braised yak, boiled yak, stir-fried yak with cashews. It was a yak-a-pallooza. I settled on ordering the dried yak with chili peppers, kind of a spicy yak-jerky. I must admit I was a little leery about consuming yak, but when it arrived on the table and I picked it up with my hesitant chop sticks, I discovered that yak is delicious. And as the yak was passed around the table, it quickly disappeared. Everyone liked the yak. Success! Three more plates of yak were consumed and gobbled up as festivities lingered into the evening.
It was a successful birthday. No new gray hairs appeared. The cats stayed away. Yak was served. Friends were present. A good time was had by all, especially the birthday girl