Weekend Gathering

The weekend gathering took place in one of the apartments on the third floor in the block.

Some five, six years ago, a group of us from 1986 Food and Beverage class managed to reconnect again through social media. Since then, we have tried to meet up once a month, sometimes twice a month, if there was a special occasion.

Last Saturday, Ernest opened his house to us again for our gathering. Ernest is an artist, a great cook, and he loves to entertain, which is just great for us. The fact that he lives alone makes things a lot easier. Unfortunately, not everyone in the group was able to join us yesterday. There were only seven of us including Ernest. Still, we had an absolutely lovely time, like always.

The advantage of gathering in a home, rather than at a restaurant, which was what we did initially, was that we can stay as long as we want. There won’t be service staff hanging around hinting, sometimes not too subtly, that you have eaten what you paid for, and it’s time to leave, or that it’s closing time and they want to go home. We can also be as boisterous as we were, like in 1986. We agreed that none of us has changed very much. And when we meet up, it’s like reliving life all those years ago.

There is something to be said about reconnecting with your friends/buddies from days gone by. Although we are now grown, yet, we are still that same person we knew from years ago. Of course, not everyone progresses in life similarly. I suppose those who were present on Saturday are the ones who still cherish the friendship that was made all those years ago. (Of course, there were a few who couldn’t make it because of prior commitments.) We cherish the times, the days when we were just starting out in society, wet behind the ears and not knowing any better. Now, one of them is a grandfather.

We all had a jolly good Saturday – like always, reminiscing the shenanigans we got up to in our younger days. We talked about parenthood and growing pains. Not all of us have children. So, when the parents talk about their children, ever so proudly, those without children will roll theirs at each other. But, we do let them know we are genuinely happy for them. We talked about old age, and current affairs. Seven adults, adding up to over 380 years of living, sure, there was plenty to talk about.

Anyway, these were Ernest’s creations on Saturday. He started preparing the food in the morning, so that it takes him only about 45 minutes to prepare dinner. Some of us helped to set the table, and some helped in the kitchen with the little things, and at the same time, trying to pick up a tip or two on cooking.

This is a salad dish - pasta with vegetables, and mixed with homemade peanut sauce. It turned out better than I expected.

Cucumber salad.

Cheese platter. Three types of cheese - garlic and herb cheese, Truffle cheese and Dutch smoked cheese, with almond nuts, dates and grapes.

Smoked duck with gherkins

Creamy Tuscan Salmon

Baked chicken stuffed with French onion and cheese

Bread rolls and baguette. The rolls were under the baguette

As usual, all the dishes were very tasty, very nice. A scrumptious meal - as good as you get, in fact, better than in most restaurants. We managed to finished everything except for the cheese.

To show our appreciation, and to make sure that we are welcome again, we take turns to wash up after dinner. So, all of us chip in for the cost, Ernest cooks, and we wash the dishes. So far, it has all worked out pretty well. We have come to know the kitchen quite well.

A bottle of Pinot Noir.

Mangoes for dessert. There were pineapples and jackfruits too.

We started the gathering at 3.30 pm with tea, cakes and snacks. The cakes, and snacks were so appealing I forgot to take pictures before they were devoured.

All too soon, the day came to an end. Some called it a night at 9.30pm, while some stayed till 10.30pm. I always have the feeling that the day passed too quickly. It’s as if someone moved the time a couple hours forward while we were having fun.

We all looked forward to the next meet.

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