A minor calamity

Well the past three days I have been san family at home because the rest of the brood had gone on church camp. So there I was on Friday evening with virtually nothing to do. I had planned on watching a movie which I had downloaded via torrernets. But sadly it was not to be because the sound was messed up. It seemed like it was going to be a boring poya evening. When I got a call from my friend YP. He wanted to drop some stuff off and when he heard I was alone at all (except for the maid of course) he said well then let me drop in. I was delighted. YP and his wife SP are great company and what seemed to be a boring evening was now transforming in to a delightful one with great conversation and good company. So delightfully I requested them to cover over for a drink.

I rushed to the liquor cabinet to keep the bottles out and some glasses. When I realized that the key was missing. DAMN IT! It was then it dawned on me that my wife generally locks the cabinet because our domestics specially if they from the estate sector like to take a more than occassional sip off my booze regardless if they are male or female. Suddenly I realized not only did I not have access to booze but I also did not even have propper glasses or an ice bucket to serve my guests.

Well it was a sheepish CJ who had to call YP once more and say hey Machang you will have to bring your own booze and shandy and ice. Which he gladly agreed to? He he darn what a terrible host I am.

In the next few minutes I got a brain wave why not go out? Have dinner and take the bottle with us so we could enjoy a few pre-dinner drinks. Well the thing is it was not going to be an easy task. Being the overly puritan country we are not only liquor is not allowed to be sold on Poya days but it is also not allowed to be consumed in the premises of these places. Damn it once more. Well I thought I should try my charm. The first restaurant of choice was Loon Tao mmmmm chinese by the beach with the wind blowing through my hair and watching the waves on a moonlit night sounded absolutely heavenly. Sadly that was not to be because when i phoned the guys flaty refused with a firm NO NO!

Well Ok I scratch my head where else can we go to. Bayleaf??? Maybe but I dont like the food too much over there I wanted some thing ricey and spicey not westernish. Okkk the next location of choice would be siam house. Well I thought instead of asking the first person who answers the phone I will ask the manager in my posh official voice. To my delight the manager was a gentle soul I knew. And he agreed to allow us to sneak in a bottle and sip off it discreetly while we had our dinner. Ohh Wow what a relief.

YP and his wife SP picked me up and we arrived at Siam house. We had to smuggle the bottle in SPs hand bag. Thank goodness it was quite a large one. Well we settled down on the terrace. And it was warm and humid but anyway we tried to have our drinks without being noticed too much by keeping the bottle under the table. Well the manager was still nervous and was lamenting to us to please be more discreet because if he got caught or if the owner found out he would loose his job. How much more discreet can you be other than leave the bottle under the table. So we said in that case give us a room which he was relieved to do and we were escorted to the room. Ahhh darn sometimes the decor of these restaurants are sooo cheesy. The room had an ultra violetish line and bluish wall with glitter on it ugggggh! Fortunately the purple light could be switched off but still I think I seeing everything with a purplish glow.

Though the decor of the room was not that great wooow the food was amazing. We had cashew nut salad and hot butter cuttle fish for starters or bites. Guess the term which people often use which says "The bite became the diet" was quite true in this situation we tucked down the two dishes in minutes. And ultimately could not finish more than quarter of a bottle. YP was laughing and telling me how he was worried that one bottle would not be enough for us for the night. Well the starters were followed by a heavenly tom yang soup and then the main meal was chicken red curry pork in basil leaf fried pomfret kankung and of course the siam house special sea food fried rice. Damn it the food was delicious over half was left and I am looking forward to eating the left overs when I wake up for lunch on Saturday. Because by that time the spices have really taken hold and the flavour is out of this world. Well we talked and ate and then talked through desert and then talked some more till we realized that it was getting kind of late and therefore we headed home. And I went to sleep dreaming of waking up to pork in basil lead and red curry once more.