[He would still hold out hope that Conan would change his mind, but he knew better than to force birthday celebrations on anyone.]

Just don't tell Flora. She'd want to cook for you. She always means well, but her cooking is really--I mean, it's not very nice to just tell people--but her cooking is really awful.

Not the awful where it tastes bad, the awful where you get sick. That would not be a very nice birthday present, even if she meant well.