Eat and Be Merry

This year's Christmas week has been a pretty gastronomic Christmas for me.

Three days before Christmas I went to eat dinner at Cubes Pizza with Kai, Wilson, KW, Chia, Victor and Wee. They served us a three feet long pizza of two different flavours. I discovered the place via Groupon and the service there was really good. The pizza was great too! It was loaded with cheese and the toppings were generous. Definitely will go back. After dinner we wanted to grab a round two because Kai got lost and was late for the dinner. After going the wrong direction and going round and round Sunway, we found that A Pie Thing was closed, so we settled for Rock Cafe and ate satay and chicken wings while we just chatted and joked around.

Two days before Christmas, I did go back. This time it was lunch with Rachael, Debbie, Ryan Ryan, Hannah and Leonard. First we met up at Centerpoint to carpool. I then took Rachael's car and we headed to Cubes Pizza. We played a round of Saboteur before our food came and after lunch, Rachael, Debbie, Leonard and I went to Uptown DU to try out Softsrve. Their ice cream was so-so, it was just more of a wow factor with their dry ice presentation and the taste was just on an average. After dessert, we went back to Centerpoint and we went our own way home.

On Christmas Eve, I went to attend a Christmas party at Mae's house. I didn't quite know what to expect, and also I didn't know if I should have brought something because I don't celebrate Christmas and Mae's party was my third time attending a Christmas party in my life. When I got there, Mae was busy preparing dinner and Tecky was there. I didn't know anyone else there but I recognised Mae's parents and siblings. Her uncles, aunts and cousins were there also and they were all very friendly. But of course, I'm an awkward potato so I just sat around awkwardly and bashfully helped myself to the finger food when they offered. Mae first served us this amazing cheese loaf. It was a loaf of bread with melted cheese put into cuts topped with bacon. Shortly after Melvin arrived, dinner was served. For dinner there were spare ribs, spicy pasta, fried chicken (from KyoChon), potato wedges and some kind of salad. Mae's dad had us glasses of beer and we all sat together at the dinner table to eat. Mae's friend, Shen Yen and her sister came later and also helped themselves to dinner. I joined a small conversation with Kenny, Melvin and Tecky, and shortly after Kenny brought out his bottle of absinthe and we each had a shot. After that Tecky pointed out that the label on the bottle said we were not supposed to take it neat but we already did. Obviously I turned red really quickly but I didn't get very tipsy or high. After everyone was done with dinner, we sat down on the floor and played Saboteur. After three rounds, Shen Yen came out the winner and it was late so everyone slowly went home. Marcus was supposed to come so I waited for him to arrive after his family's dinner. While we waited for Marcus, William and I talked for a bit. Marcus came after everyone but me left. Mae, Marcus and I sat down to talk while Marcus and I helped ourselves to the remaining food. We didn't want to stay for too long so we went home after we were done.

On Christmas day, I went to meet up with Kai, Wilson and KW and we had dinner at Sushi Mentai in Sri Petaling. The sushi on the conveyor belt were really cheap and I helped myself to 15 plates of sushi and two cups of chawanmushi. After dinner we sat down at Wilson's place for a short while before we went home.

On Boxing Day, I went jogging with Marcus and Yati like usual, only I woke up really late because I was playing Team Fortress 2 until late and so I only walked one round and then we went for breakfast. After picking Kuui up from his house, we headed to Kaffe Cafe to have breakfast. When breakfast was done, we headed to play badminton with Melvin, Beng and Luke at Sports Planet in Kota Damansara. We played a couple of doubles for an hour or so before going our own way. Yati, Kuui and I went to Yati's house to rest for a bit before heading to 1Utama so I can do my last minute gift shopping for Ethel's Christmas party in the evening. I picked out a teeth shaped ice mould, went to buy drinks and snacks, and then we headed to Marcus' house to play games. Tecky was there and we played Naruto Shippden 2 on Marcus' PlayStation2. Tecky left before we played before we started playing Digimon Rumble Arena 2. After taking a bath and a change of clothes, we then grabbed the drinks I bought and we headed to Ethel's house.

Some people were there already when we got there. Most are same people I've met at last year's Christmas party. Surprisingly Hee Ching approached me, we are only acquaintances in high school, she asked me about my job which, Melvin had already told her about before I arrived and we both agreed that Melvin is a blabbermouth. Marcus, Melvin and Kuui started to help out in the kitchen and it was crowded so I sat out in the living room with the others who I barely know (Yati didn't want to mingle so he squeezed himself in the kitchen). I reintroduced myself to Jovian and vice-versa when he saw me sitting alone, we just chatted a bit and then Jason came over to talk with the guys. Luke and his girlfriend, Carolyn came and they joined in the conversation. I just sat there listening to the others and Yati came out to join me because there was nothing for him to do in the kitchen. Andrea soon came and she was the next person outside my close circle of friends at the party to joyfully greet me. Soon Chelsea came out and served everyone garlic bread with sauteed mushrooms, there was a name for it but I don't remember those fancy names. Shortly Ethel announced that dinner was served and Jason came out with the baked chicken while everyone gathered around the table to help themselves to the food. There was pasta, sushi (bought from somewhere, maybe AEON), quiche, the baked chicken and potato salad. Hou Yi came just before dinner started and Abby next as we started to stop eating. Ethel then got everyone to sit in a huge circle and we did an ice breaker by stating our names and a random info about ourselves; I noticed that I was wearing the same shirt last year. Right after everyone introduced themselves, we got into groups of four and we played charades. I was put together with Beng, Josh, Vikram and Woan. Our team was doing great, we were leading everyone by two points until the bonus round where shit hit the ceiling because Jason decided to make the game harder by not having a specific category for his words. Our team was spot on for the answers a couple of times but we were too wary to lose points so we failed to answer them as the other team got them right. In the end, Luke's team won. Shaun and his girlfriend came the last round before the bonus round started. Right after charades, we did the gift exchange. Jason got my gift and I got Hou Yi's, which was a colour changing mug. A few people went home but the rest of us were totally up for games. We split into two groups, one played Cards Against Humanity and the other played Mafia. Yati, Andrea, Abby, Derek, Kuui, Jerrica, Luke, Shaun, Keith and I played Cards Against Humanity, it was great fun but my cards were crap so I only managed to win one black card whereas Kuui was racking in black cards with the epic cards he got. When we finished it was already midnight and people started going home. Abby was not feeling well and I had to pick my sister up, so I thanked Ethel for the party, bid everyone farewell and wished a happy new year, and I chatted with Abby until I dropped her home. I has been a long time since I last actually chat with Abby.

So that was the end of this year's Christmas and 2016 is just around the corner. I must say that this Christmas has been by far the most eventful Christmas I've ever had. I not only attended Christmas parties, I also ate a lot of good food and met new friends and caught up with old friends. Unfortunately it seems to me that this Christmas is also the time when I lose my friendship with good friend, she decides to push me away and not open up her mind, it is something she's brought upon herself so I shouldn't interfere with her decisions because I've already used up my chances already anyway. But hey, it's life, nothing I should be bothered too much about. Merry Christmas everybody.