Well there are many great things in life that are 57 apart from myself of course. You can also have a 57 Chevrolet, Heinz 57 or even a 5.7 Litre V8. Fifty-seven is the sixteenth discrete semi prime and the sixth in the (3.q) family also just in case you didn’t know and of course in Binary it is 111001₂

I even think that 57 sounds a lot better than 56, I think 56 sounded so awkward but now I feel a whole lot more comfortable being 57, but of course I don’t look a day over 35. What’s the secret to my good looks well I think it must be all the oil that the Chinese use in their cooking, I’m slowly becoming preserved as I eat my dumplings and other foods. It’s not such a bad thing I guess if you look this good.

I went out with friends on Saturday night to the French Paradox Restaurant in Suzhou, I haven’t been to a French Restaurant for many years and to be honest I haven’t missed it one bit. I actually went for my 40th with my then girlfriend. But on Saturday Nicky and Karl invited me out with friends and it turned out to be a surprise Birthday bash which was just bloody marvelous.

it was a lovely we place although the prices were enough to give you palpitations. I was encouraged to have Beef Tartare which for the uninitiated is raw beef, but hey I just had some raw Salmon too.

It was an interesting dish but not one I’ll be running back to that’s for sure, I like my meat cooked just a little and to be honest it was more about the texture which was just not enjoyable. The platter on the other hand had real cheese and ham which was marvelous but the Foie gras you can keep. Those crazy French have some weird tastes. Give me Black Pudding any day.

WE had cake to finish and the owner was kind enough to give us all a glass of bubbly to wash it down. It was a night I’ll remember for a long time.

You will notice that there are no candles because they could not find a cake big enough to fit them all on.