Where’s the party?

Where’s the party? - Madonna

As what happens to most of best-laid plans, I didn’t have a quiet Christmas eve. I went to have dinner with a couple of friends as planned, but we ended up at our favorite gay-friendly bar after dinner. I stayed until 11PM and went back home but instead of going back to work, I ended up in front of the television, wrapping the remaining presents I needed to give out. I slept at around 3 in the morning. I woke up early the next day to deliver said presents to my god children and friends. I went to R’s building last, and had lunch there. I hung around the house till about 3PM before I brought them to another friend’s house before heading back home and back to work.

Last night I attended a somewhat intimate dinner hosted by H, a new friend I met through E. H, a Singaporean, manages one of the most upscale restaurants here in Phnom Penh. He invited me a couple of weeks ago and I learned that he only invited around 15 people so I was very flattered to have been made part of this group. T and I went together. I momentarily lost my cool when the driver couldn’t find the darn street where the restaurant is. Good thing T was there to subdue me.

When we got to the place, I saw that it was really a wonderful colonial building. Too bad the construction going on around it was really an eyesore. A staff directed us to the rooftop, where the drinks were set up; on the way up we met a Filipino family who just arrived here and were ‘temporarily’ billeted at the Colonial Mansion - the building that housed the restaurant. Why was their temporary digs so posh? Well, because the guy works for the US State Department, imagine that!

The rooftop view was amazing. H was already there, with a couple of people I know. H immediately handed me a fluted champagne glass, the first of many I was to have that night. We were also offered marvelous canapes. H assigned one of his waiters to take photos so within an hour we have posed for enough photos to fill an album in Facebook. One by one people started coming. I was getting steadily mellow from the champagne (4) and the martinis (2) E and I took to drinking.

When the group became almost complete, we went back to the ground floor - to the poolside, to be exact, where a long table was waiting for us. T and I were assigned to sit together, which was absolutely fine by me. R, coming from an office function, was running late.

For starters, I had goat cheese salad. T had the foie gras wrapped in veal. We traded a few pieces to have a taste of both salads. I liked T’s more than mine, and vise versa. R finally arrived as the main course was served. I had roast turkey with blueberry sauce. T had rib-eye steak with bernaise sauce and R had pan-fried salmon with buerre blanc sause. Unfortunately, by this time I was quite full from the wine and the canapes so I wasn’t able to finish my food. This, however, didn’t stop me from imbibing 3 glasses of white wine.

After having dessert of warm apple pie a la mode, the group went to H2O lounge for some dancing. The lounge was nice: air-conditioned, okay music, nice, plush seating all around, clean toilets. If only the DJ didn’t talk/ scream over the microphone so much. I ordered a house specialty cocktail but I think I was served a Long Island Iced Tea. Well, it was either they made a mistake or the cocktail - called H2O Blue was really that all along. A shot of Tequilla gave me enough buzz to stop drinking and head on home. Heck, I was acting as if I didn’t have deadlines. I had my best sleep in weeks.

Today’s Facebook status: Mike got happily drunk last night (but no one noticed).

Tonight I attended my first Chanukah (or Hanukkah) dinner at D’s house. Chanukah, also known as the Jewish festival of lights, falls around Christmas day. The little that I know about it that it’s sort of the Jewish equivalent of Christmas. As it turned out, it is NOT. M (D’s wife) explained that Chanukah celebrates religious freedom. It commemorates the victory of a Jewish rebellion against the Greeks who tried to impose their religion upon them and the rededication of the temple. It also commemorates the miracle of the oil that burned for 8 days when the oil was just enough for a day.

The ten guests at this more intimate dinner were treated to M’s cooking. This was a new experience for me so I was trying to remember every bit of it. For dinner we had latkes (potato pancakes) with yoghurt and apple sauce, feta cheese salad, crabstick & celery salad, and matzah (unleavened bread) balls in chicken soup. I had seen latkes being prepared while watching The Lifestyle Channel in Manila but it was my first time to actually eat them. It was yummy! Too bad I didn’t take photos.

After dinner, M’s friend (and her daughter) lit the menorah (a special candelabra) and sang a Hebrew and English song about Chanukah. The 8 candles in the menorah symbolize the number of days that the oil burned in the temple. Then the kids were given gifts. I guess this is where the similarity with Christmas comes. Only, I learned that kids receive a total of 8 gifts during Chanukah. I momentarily wished I was a Jewish kid.

For dessert, M served a mango cobbler - or as D calls it: the cake that cannot be sliced - with vanilla ice cream. The table was littered with gold chocolate coins, which M calls gelt. There were also a couple of 4-sided tops with Hebrew (I assume here) letters on each side. M explained the game that involved the dreidel and the gelt.

After some wonderful post-prandial chat I headed back home, with some to-go food: latkes, the salads, and the matzah balls in soup! Holidays are really bad for the diet.