Tomorrow…

It’s Christmas Eve today…so tomorrow, it will be Christmas Day.

The decorations have been up since last month…

…and Christmas carols and songs fill the air in every shop and mall in town (though some have seen it fit to play those Chinese New Year songs instead).

So it was at my favourite cafe in town…

…all geared up for the festive season…

…when we went there for dinner last week with my friend, Jimmy…

…who was in town at the time.

We had most of the favourites that we ordered when we were last there with Melissa’s friend but this time around, instead of the papaya salad, we opted for the Payung rojak…

…which I would prefer, given a choice between the two. Hmmm…they added buah kedondong (umbra) leaves to it and we all loved that – the leaves were very nice and fragrant.

We also had the chicken masala…

…that we did not have on our previous visit and like most of everything else that they serve there, it was very nice too.

We also had their tempuyak (fermented durian), fried with ikan bilis (dried anchovies), chili and whatever else…

…and it was simply out of this world. My missus remarked that she could just eat that alone with rice, nothing else…and would end up having seconds. What a pleasant surprise it was when the boss came and gave me a tub of that so-very-yummy stuff to take home! Thank you so much, Peter – that’s so very nice of you!

For dessert, I ordered their banana cake and ice cream…

…as I wanted the cake expert to give it a try and give his critical appreciation of the much-loved delight. I did not take a photo of what we had as it was served while I was all over the place chatting with the people around and by the time I got back to the table, they were already halfway through. So what did the critic think about it? Well, he said it was not exactly a cake in the true sense of the word especially with its unique texture and the very nice chunks of fresh bananas in it – he felt it was more like a cross between a cake and a Malay kuih (cake) but he felt it was really good and he liked it a lot.

After dinner, we went to the town square where they had all the lovely Christmas trees…

…the festive decorations and the twinkling colourful lights…

…to spread the joy of the auspicious season to all and sundry…

…that thronged the place by the droves – people from all walks of life, all races and religions to bask in the spirit of the festive season.

Blessed with absolutely perfect weather that night, we also grabbed the opportunity to check out the street food fair right across the road…

…where they were selling all kinds of tantalising  delights…

…but we were simply too full from our scrumptious dinner to have a bite of anything so after walking around, mingling with the happy crowd and basking in the festive cheer, we called it a day and headed on home.