Weekend Pleasures

I had another lovely Saturday at my friend Ernest's house. Once a month, a group of us, friends from 1986 will gather at Ernest's place to catch up. If there is a birthday boy/girl on this month, we will celebrate them. Otherwise, it is a day to catch up with what has been going on in our lives. Since most of them are still working, they have plenty of anecdotes to tell. Apart from religion and politics, I think we talked about almost everything else. From reminiscing about our younger days, to talking about children, about keeping healthy, old age problems, complains about work...

There is always plenty to eat on this day. We will be continuously munching on something while we chat. Nobody cares about diet on this day. Sometimes the day started with lunch. Sometimes, it started with tea. Ernest is a very good cook. When he is not teaching, he will cook lunch, and the 'party' will start from lunch. Otherwise, the 'party' will start with afternoon tea.

I cherish weekends like these. It is great to hang out with people whom you have known from way back. The fact that we are still gathered together showed there is friendship and comradeship. We might not like someone immensely, but he/she is still accepted as part of the 'group'. Just like an annoying brother or sister. They might be annoying at times but they are still your brother or sister. I find this acceptance in the group endearing.

Anyway, let me show you what gluttons we were. Here are some of what we had on Saturday.

We started with tea/coffee and pastries - salted caramel and chocolate cake

I was told this is 'Oneh oneh' cake. Whatever it is, it was very nice.

A short break and we had durians - the 'King of fruits'.

This is the 'red prawn' variety.

The name of this cultivar eludes me. The seeds are tiny and there is plenty of flesh, or aril, by right.

After we have demolished the 'king of fruits', we attacked the 'queen of fruits' - Mangosteen.

I don't know what these are called. I should have taken a picture of the insides as well. Guess I was too busy eating.

After the fruits, we had munches - chips, nuts, sneakers...

Dinner time. Ernest cooked some rice and fried a dish of Vietnamese chicken.

We ordered some take-aways to complement the dinner.

Boneless pork chop

Stir fried Nai Bai with garlic. A variety of Bok Choy or Milk Cabbage in other languages.

Stir fried Kang Kong with blachan chilli

Hot plate tofu. This doesn't look very interesting but it was quite edible.

The above four dishes pale in comparison to Ernest's Vietnamese chicken dish.

There were more fruits after dinner - kiwi, strawberries, jackfruit....

The group dispersed at about nine o'clock, after having fixed a date and time for our next meet.

Without a doubt, this is one of my favourite past times. The simple pleasures of hanging out with friends, eating, drinking, chatting, free to be who you are. Lovely!

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