On a fine Sunday morning, I received a phone call from a good friend. It was Budi. He had just managed to convinced my best buddy, Ron, to come over to his house later that evening for a home made dinner. Little did Ron know, it was also for his early birthday celebration that falls the next day.
But the birthday dinner wasn’t only for Ron. My wife’s birthday falls on the 26th of the same month, while another friend of ours had his birthday on 31st Aug. It took a while for Budi and I to include all of them for this dinner.
The birthday cake can include all three names, as suggested by Budi. I don’t have any problem with that so we went on with it. Budi will be doing all the preparing and cooking. I don’t know what kind of dishes he will be cooking but when he said it will include a lamb dish, I have no further comments. I only told him to make it good.
My wife was at work that Sunday. She works part-time at a pet hotel and grooming shop for cats. She love animals, especially cats. It’s the kind of work that she doesn’t consider as work. It is true what people say. It’s not work when you love what you’re doing. Plus, she had many years experience working at a pet store. So she knows how to handle animals.
I told her about the dinner party. “Ok” was her only quick reply. She knew this would be in plan because she and Budi had a talk about it the night before. But since there were no solid confirmation, we assumed the plan was on hold. So then I told her that I will pick her up at 6pm in the evening. Right after her working hours.
By the time I picked her up, it was already quarter past six. Driving towards Kg Melayu Subang from USJ doesn’t take that long on a Sunday evening. Traffic was kind to us. All of us were feeling a little hungry and my son Daniel, won’t sit still. He had a haircut earlier that evening. My wife was not amused because the haircut was done by me without her knowledge. That was a big fail for me. I shall never again cut my son’s hair under any circumstances.
As we arrived at Budi’s house, we can see our other friends have arrived. The aroma from the kitchen was so good. I can tell that was the lamb. Budi was cooking up a Mongolian lamb stew along with a few other Chinese inspired dishes. I only managed to take a quick glimpse at what’s going on in the kitchen before I was thrown out. Large prawns, scallops, clams and few other sea critters were ready to be cooked.
In order to kill some time, I sat at the massaging chair while watching Alive, a Korean movie depicting a zombie apocalypse. Ron arrived soon after. Another birthday boy, Ahzam has already arrived earlier with this wife Wawa. The plan was to celebrate Ron, Ahzam and my wife’s birthday that day.
An announcement from Budi at the dining table means food is ready and dinner is about to be served. It was a rather large portion for a company of 8. But knowing that Ron was there, there will be no leftovers.
So the menu of the day was:
- Mongolian lamb stew
- Kamheong prawns
- Chili kamheong styled lala
- Stir fried broccoli with scallops
- Served with basmathi rice
Good food are meant to be shared. That is our belief. I love eating, I love cooking. That is exactly what we were doing too. Budi’s intention to have a birthday party and to cook some great home cooked meals earns him respect and lots of extra love from all of us. His wife Fara has always been supportive and that is a bonus for him.
Dinner was very filling. I can’t remember when was the last time I ate that much. I can only sit at the couch after the hearty meal and stare at nothingness. With nothing much to do, we went to war. We play PUBG Mobile like it is the only game that’s available. Day in and day out, we play the same game. But half an hour later, Budi called me to the kitchen.
I saw Budi placing candles on a piece of chocolate indulgence cake. Then I knew he wanted to gather the birthday boys and girl at the table to hear everyone singing an out-of-tune birthday song. My 2 yo join in the fun, sitting at the table with my wife with the cake right up his face.
The song was sang and the candle was blown. The cake was cut and the tummy filled up, again. The cake was not bad, not that good either. One can expect the quality with it being cheap. But it’s the thought that counts – as what they say. And it was shared among best friends.
Best thing about good friends, is the moment you share together. Moments like these are to be cherish for as long as you live. What is better than good food, good company and lots of laughter? If you have friends like mine, appreciate them, take care of them and in return, they will do the same for you.
