Teachers’ Day came and went and other than a handful of people who wished me on Facebook or here in my blog plus a couple of sms’es, I guess as far as the rest were concerned, it just slipped their minds. Sobssss!!!! But I certainly was delighted when I received an invitation from the tuition centre where I was teaching before – obviously, they did remember my contribution over the years and saw it fitting to invite me to join their Teachers’ Day dinner on Sunday at this restaurant in town.
For starters, we had their pickled jellyfish…
…which was all right but I thought that the one we had at Ruby was nicer. For one thing, I wished they had cut the jellyfish into strips a whole lot thinner. I love century eggs though…so I had the lion’s share of those. LOL!!!
Then we had the sio pua (hot plate), our more-than-4 Seasons…
…which had a lot of treasures in it including scallops, fish maw, prawns and slices of abalone and very sweet and fresh pek chio/ikan bawal putih (white/silver pomfret) which costs a bomb at the market these days – given the choice, it definitely isn’t something that I would buy, I’m afraid…not at the current price.
Then we had the duck stuffed with glutinous rice. I have not had that for quite a while and I was delighted that they had done it really well that night. I enjoyed that very much but unfortunately, the photograph that I took of it came out blur as the waitress was in a helluva hurry to cut it all up. Thus, all that I have to show of the dish is this…
I had a lot more than just a few helpings, you can bet on that.
The steamed fish looked very good…
…but I had a bit and did not bother to have more. Looks can be deceiving, that we all know, don’t we? I thought it was quite bland and tasteless, probably having been frozen for quite a while but the rest at my table seemed to enjoy it a lot and finished it all off, leaving only the head and the bones.
The Thai-style midin (wild jungle fern)…
…was pretty ok – not bad and very spicy like they had cili padi in it…but I do feel that the ones here or here would be very much nicer.
The highlight of the dinner was the crabs…
They were small – not as big as the ones here but they tasted more or less the same and at least, they were not so over-generous with the msg here – everybody enjoyed eating that.
Lastly, we had the fruit platter…
– I had the pomelo but skipped the pineapples and I would not eat those jambu air without any asamboi (sour plums)…or my soy sauce with belacan, sugar and chili dip.
All in all, it was a sumptuous meal, much to my satisfaction, and considering the fact that the tuition centre is a money-making entity and once you’re no longer in their employment, they would not have any more use for you, I must say that it made it a lot more meaningful and I honestly felt so very flattered that they were gracious enough to ask me to join them on this very auspicious annual event unlike others that seem to have chosen to conveniently forget to remember. Sigh!!!
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 