Nothing beats celebrating a milestone than having your loved ones celebrate with you (and bake a special cake just for me!). I say this because I've spent many birthdays on my own on the airplane or traversing the world.  

For my third birthday dinner, the fam bam and I went to one of my favorite izakayas, Izakaya Roku, in San Francisco. Although the food I ordered the first time I was here was more impressive, I did enjoy the grilled squid and the famous Japanese chicken nanban. Because I had the Blackboard Eats discount this time around, we got 5 Japanese tapas plus mochi for under $35- such a good bargain!

Soft, succulent squid with black sauce. The pieces of stick gave it a smokey flavor.

Hmmm the chicken skin looked different from the crispy, chicken skin I tried before.

Chicken nanban - not the healthiest on the menu but definitely a must order at Roku.