Happy Birthday, Papa!

Yesterday was a gooOOood day. I am putting emphasis on the good (it's read with a wave-y tone, by the way) because it really was a good day.

It was my dad's birthday. It was also the day I had my first and final exam for the semester, setting me free for 3 weeks before I go back to school. Going back, my parents, my uncle, and I had a simple dinner at the River Rock Casino. The buffet at the River Rock is nothing spectacular. I have been there thrice, I think, and I honestly have never been wow-ed by the food, but it's just always good eating out with people I love who are very much extreme foodies too. Who else would I think after?

What I do love about the buffet is that if it's your birthday, you get a special dessert. You also get a free "happy birthday" song from your very attentive waiter who (last night) happened to pull/force another staff to sing with him, forgetting to remove her gloves. Very funny. Very nice of them.

Our dinner was filled with laughter and hearty talks about the simple things in life. Little stories about how our days went, and funny accidents filled our glasses intoxicating us with happiness. It was an extremely good dinner. My dad was happy, my uncle, who is celebrating his birthday on Monday, was too. And of course, my mom and I who planned it all to skip out on cooking for at least one night on a weekday felt very satisfied.

A little tip from me to you, when you're at the River Rock, get a casino card. If it's your first time getting it, you get a $5 voucher. You can either use it on the slot machines or cash it out. If you get it on your birthday month, you get double the voucher, totalling to $10. With the casino card, you also get a 10% discount whenever you eat at the buffet. Not bad.

I just found out last night that they have a daily breakfast buffet for only $15. Instead of going to yourlocal IHOP, why not just go to a buffet? (I am a sucker for /good/ buffets nom)

P.S. Let me just throw a little tantrum here. Hey River Rock, why does my dad get a fancy dessert for his birthday? I had dinner there on my birthday in 2010 and I got this. It's not as fancy aesthetic-wise, but it was good nonetheless; I'll give you that.