Let’s hear it for the boy!

Yesterday Kaloy and I helped a dear friend organize and host his birthday party. I like Derrick, the celebrant; he reminds me of one of my oldest friends in Manila, Emit. They have similar dispositions, behaviours, and the same tendency to have highlights in their hair. I just realized, they were both born in May (Emit is on the 22nd, Derrick yesterday). Derrick is about 3 years older than Emit.

Derrick is a doctor who works for an international NGO; he is based in Koh Kong, a province about a few hundred kilometers outside Phnom Penh. He is married to another doctor, Michelle, who also works for another international NGO. However, Michelle's work takes her as far as Bandah Aceh in Indonesia. Alone on his birthday, Derrick phoned me last Friday from Koh Kong asking for help on what to do on his day. I told him we can discuss it when he's back in Phnom Penh.

Saturday night he came to my house. For a no-fuss party, my idea was to grill food and serve drinks, alcoholic preferrably. But he wanted more: some karaoke singing and being Filipino, a noodle dish to accompany the grilled food. I listed the things he ought to buy the next morning and promised him that Kaloy and I would prepare the noodle dish of 'Pancit Canton'.

Kaloy woke up at around 10AM on Sunday, and he immediately set out to cooking. First on his list was spring rolls, which he had been obsessing to make the whole week. He took a long time doing this, probably not realizing the complexity of doing such dish for someone who lacks the regular practice of wrapping those rolls. We had a late lunch as a result but I did not dare complain. After all, I didn't do anything to assist him in cooking. 

At around 3PM I went to the supermarket to shop for the ingredients of the noodle dish. Kaloy wanted to take a nap but I was back less than thirty minutes later, rousing him from impending sleep and sending him back to the chopping board. This time I helped in preparing the ingredients. I would have helped more but when we found out we had differing methods of preparing the meaty ingredients, I stayed away to let him do it his way.

At 5PM Dave & Romyr came by, along with a heavy downpour of rain. Soon the dish was cooked; Kaloy took a shower while I transferred the steaming-hot dish unto a container. Derrick's house is not far from my house. We were soon off after I took my own shower. No sign of the rain on the pavement. We arrived at half-past 6 at Derrick's house. The table was set; I chopped whatever needed chopping while Dave finished grilling the rest of the food. Romyr put the portable karaoke machine to the test. Wowie soon arrived, followed by Daden and Neil, then by Derrick's Khmer colleague. We had dinner. Maros arrived after a late invitation, in time for the karaoke.

Everybody had fun during karaoke: singing off and on-key, an impromptu fashion show, poking fun at Derrick's lack of a proper ice bucket, Kaloy's disdain for boyband music, and Derrick's macho dancing. I sang one  of my signature songs (the theme song from the movie Carrie, not the 'Gift of Love' by Bette Midler). And most importantly, we got happily drunk.

Derrick's SMS this morning (the italics are mine): "…thanks kagabi (last night). That was a blast." 

Let's hear it for the boy!