32

So what's the perfect antidote to that huge-ass, meat-stuffed brunch I had on Sunday?

I don't know, but surely it can't be all the lemak I had for dinner that same day! Still, what the heck, I just had a craving for it and strangely enough it's one of those things that's not so commonly found in KL, and when you do find it, half the time it's just not done right. Surprising, since it's not all that hard to make.

So I perah-ed the kelapa (by which I mean I opened a can of coconut extract), chopped the carrots and long beans, shredded the cabbage, ground the dried shrimp, and threw everything into a pot to boil. A dash of turmeric powder and a scattering of salt, and there you have it... Sayur Lodeh, mixed vegetables cooked in coconut milk, which forms the basis of any lontong.

I opted for the lontong darat style, which basically is a dry-ish version of lontong. It's less messy, and more importantly, I don't have a pot big enough to cook sufficient gravy for the regular lontong. Hehe.


Just to make sure my guests got a bit more of variety, I got sambal sotong, satay and tea eggs to complement it. PLUS, meat floss to top it all off.

[ Hostess's Hint: Meat floss adds flavour, texture and fun to an otherwise bland dish. Try it with steamed rice, porridge, instant noodles, or like me, when making lontong for the first time and you want to have something to conveniently cover up any inadequacies ]

This year's birthday dinner turned out to be a much quieter affair compared to the previous two years. Everyone's so busy these days (or maybe my friends just don't love me anymore). In any case, it was kind of a relief because I always hate having to deal with the logistics of a dinner party for a dozen or so people. Sorting out what to seat people on, what to entertain them with, preparing enough food and diningware... I'm just not a party-planning person.

So in a way it was just nice that there were only six of us that night. We could sit comfortably around the dining table, and I could serve my guests using real plates and bowl and forks and spoons and glasses. And my pots and serving bowls are just big enough to cater a group this size.

Well, my thanks to C&J for ditching C's final company dinner in favor of my little do. Perhaps I should have organised a lucky draw to compensate your missing out on that one!

Thanks to the monkey and his McCutie for bringing the satay, the nasi impit (couldn't have had lontong without that!) and most of all, for doing the washing up. And yeah, thanks for the book as well... think I'll love it *Hugs*

And, of course, thanks to WiFi, for having the foresight to bring a cake, despite my telling everyone they needn't bring anything. Like, how was I to know I'd fail at making a cake, even if said cake was prepared from a store-bought premix per instructions on the box?

Actually, the cake turned out fine but fell apart when I tried to take it out of the pan. Seemed that I missed out on the instruction that said "line the pan with baking paper". Sigh. So while we could technically still eat the Chocolate Banana Peanut Butter Chocolate Crumble (formerly to be known as Chocolate Banana Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake), it would have been a little bit difficult figuring out where to stick a candle on that mess of cake pieces, sliced bananas and melting ice-cream.

Incidentally, WiFi bought a "Crystal Orange" cake. I wondered if it was by coincidence that the baker had come up with batches of this, so soon after Chinese New Year.


All in all, I had I nice weekend before my birthday, what with the brunch I had and then the dinner. My birthday itself was spent quietly with no fanfare whatsoever in the office, followed by a relaxing spot of BodyBalance at the gym.

It turned out that there was a teensy bit of fanfare, after all. Joining yw[2k] and the other gym kaki for dinner, I was surprised by Wingedman popping up with a cake (with a cake, I said, not out of a cake). Eeeks! Just what I need, more cake... but at least it wasn't some space cake from Amsterdam!


Thanks, everyone, for making this a nice, cheery, drama-free 32nd birthday! I can only wish the rest of the year would be as pleasant as the last few days have been :-)