Is Birthday Cake on the Desert Menu?

Looking back over my last 3 years, I realize the 18th of October I always seem to find myself a bit far afield in some fabulous location for my birthday celebration. My 21st was spent at the Chupaterias of Salamanca, and the next I celebrated my "duece-duece" at a Notre Dame football game. And now my 23rd has its own story.

A birthday lunch on the beach to end all birthday lunches. 5 close friends of mine and I were prepared a seafood feast right before our eyes there on the South China surf of Nha Trang. As we sat sunbathing, a woman walked by with two baskets balanced across her shoulders like a scale. A common sight, but this one had something special to offer. In one basket she revealed a bucket of live prawns and lobsters, and on the other basket was a make-shift grill. It doesn't take Julia Childs to imagine up this menu. Fire and shellfish, when you get down to it, I'm now convinced that's really all you need in life.

She cooked the fresh (as in still moving) seafood right there on the sand. We watched as the grey and blue shells spit and whistled and turned succulently pink and smokey, charred in just the right proportions. She servied it right off the flames, with the most deliciou lemon pepper sauce ever to pass my palatte. It was a gastronomic wonder that trumps even a seafood dinner on the plaza. The ambience couldn't be beat, and the price- about $3.25 a person. As for hygenic concerns- well, I can't say she carried FDA approval papers with her but that was about 5 days ago and I'm still alive (...and my mouth still waters to think of it)

Beach Buffet