Table For Five

It was another delightful day at our friend, Ernest’s, last Saturday. Four of us arrived between 3.00 to 3.30 pm. There was a birthday girl. So, we started the gathering with cake for tea.

A Pistachio cake for a birthday cake – for tea. It was light and lovely.

We had a special guest on this occasion. He arrived at half past four. He is a lawyer friend of one of the diners. He came to give us the low-down on Wills. We had spoken about Wills and writing wills in our previous gathering. One of the diners said he has a lawyer friend who can tell us what is involved in writing a will, and we can ask him any questions we may have. The said lawyer was very kind to spare time on a Saturday to enlighten us on the topic of Wills. It was very much appreciated.

After the guest left, Ernest started cooking dinner, while the rest of us helped to set the table and whatever help is needed in the kitchen. Most of the preparation work were already done. So, it was a matter of heating up, or cooking the dishes. It didn't take too much time.

Because there was a birthday girl, Ernest insisted on doing an extra dish. He cooked six dishes including a dish of noodles. It was another scrumptious meal.

Udon Noodles with abalone and green vegetables. Udon noodles are thick noodle​s​ made from wheat flour and used ​in ​Japanese Cuisine. Ernest used this to replace the longevity noodles that are usually eaten on birthdays and celebratory occasions.

Cold Drunken Chicken. The chicken was steamed. Wine and a bit of chicken broth was added to the chicken. The dish is served chilled.

Steamed fish. I think that was a white pomfret, if I were not mistaken.

Chinese Spinach stir fry with three types of mushrooms.

Pan fried prawn and fish paste. Prawns finely chopped and mixed with fish paste, herbs and spices before pan-frying them.

Pan-fried pork ribs with garlic. The spare ribs were marinated for 24 hours, before they are pan-fried with garlic.

As usual, there was too much food. So, the birthday girl gets to take them away.

After dinner, there were fruits. I forgot to take a picture of that. We also went over what we learned about Wills. And, there was the usual friendly banter, while we caught up on the current affairs.

Eventually, we called it a night at about 10.00 pm, wondering where the day had gone.

It was another very pleasant day spent with old friends, good company, and good food -what people would call the 'little pleasures' of life.