Tequilas, originally uploaded by Incurable Optimist.

It is such a wonderful feeling to walk into a fine dining restaurant with the boys, knowing that they will know how to enjoy the experience and not worry about their behavior. These are truly treasured moments where we talk and laugh and have fun as a family.

To celebrate Daredevil’s birthday, we went to Tequilas, one of my favorite Philadelphia restaurants. Please note that I was asked to omit Mr. from the name, on the request of Daredevil himself, who thought it was too starchy and not appropriate for someone under 18. Who am I not to respect those wishes?

Tequilas is a very welcoming Mexican restaurant with a warm atmosphere; flowers and copper tea lights at every table, large pewter mirrors hanging on the walls together with other interesting Mexican decorations.

Shortly after we were seated, we were addressed in rapidly spoken Spanish by one of the busboys. I am certain that my son’s Argentine Polo shirt I bought in Buenos Aires earlier this year contributed to this. I asked the birthday boy to deal with that one, as he is studying Spanish at school.

The waitress was very knowledgeable, friendly and helpful in describing the dishes and making suggestions to the boys making their choices easier.

Chef Carlos Molina prepares fragrant, colorful, beautifully presented dishes reminiscent of the restaurants I have eaten in San Angel suburb of Mexico City. The food was, as always, very authentic and thoroughly delicious. Langustines I indulged in were as good as in the best Portuguese restaurants in South Africa. Daredevil still raves about his chicken served in a beautiful cast iron pot.

We did have some fun when Mr. Responsible decided to test the heat of a chili pepper. One of those natural teenage boy passages, I guess. I have a sequence of photos showing his face from the moment when the idea occurred to him until he is glugging down the water in an attempt to drown the heat.

The most touching to me was how thankful the boys were for the experience, as they are all painfully aware of how drastically our circumstances have changed.

At home, we presented the birthday boy with a funky green cake in the shape of a frog I bought in Wholefoods, with 13 candles like hedgehog’s spikes protruding from it. After “Happy Birthday” song, making a wish and blowing the candles, at 9:36 p.m. London time, where he was born, Daredevil became a teenager.

Now I need to prepare for the big party on Sunday.