Dinners with Friends

The title of this blog does not have a typo. Last week was a banner week for eating. May Lene arrived Sunday in Hong Kong from her trip to GR and we decided to go Malaysian her first night in since she had been eating Western food while in the US. The following day she & Ken went with a group to Dungguan. That night I ate at home. Little did I know it was in preparation for a feasting orgie for the remainder of the week.

The group arrived back in Hong Kong Tuesday evening and we were joined by Rommel for dinner. We decided to do American "dim sum" at one of out favorite places, Bourbon Street. In the U.S. we call it grazing, here it becomes dim sum. We had ribs, onion rings, a nacho and a twist on the traditional corn dog - shrimp corn dogs. And of course there were fries, beer and cider. It was a thoroughly unhealthy but yummy meal shared by friends - the best kind.

After that meal I was thinking of perhaps a nice salad the following night. Ken left for Shanghai and things would be pretty quiet. Not so fast on those plans. On Wednesday evening I was invited to join a Rommel, May Lene and a group from Dungguan who were in for meetings in Hong Kong. I apologize for not remembering all of their names, but two were new fathers (one has six month old twin boys and the other a four month old girl and a six year old son). The other two were young mothers so some of the conversation revolved around parenthood. It is the same everywhere when you have a baby. A fun conversation.

We went to the Regal Hotel for their dinner buffet and it was fabulous. I especially like the Alaskan king crab legs and the desserts. The choice were too numerous to mention and everything was delicious. We had a long leisurely meal with lively conversation. Between the food and the company it was an exceptional experience.

So you might think my week of great dining had wound down. Not so, Grasshopper! The following night brought new visitors, Raj & Sya Rifah from Kuala Lumpur and Sim from Shanghai. Once again I was invited to join in. This time we went to a Chinese restaurant that featured several hard to find delicacies. With Rommel and Barbara choosing the menu, I just grabbed my chopsticks and enjoyed.

Barbara has been telling Ken how impressed she was with my willingness to try anything and everything. Among the new treats that night were jellyfish (an appetizer) and bird's nest soup. Rom didn't tell me how the birds nest is incorporated until after I ate it. Suffice it to say it is considered vegetarian and very good for your lungs. You don't want to know the rest. We also had warm almond milk with egg white for dessert. The milk has a delicate flavor and along with the mango and pomelo custard made for a great finish to the meal. Raj and Sya Rifah are vegetarians so their menu differed from ours but looked tasty none the less.

Following dinner we decided to wander for a bit and found ourselves in the toy department of Sogo (a large Japanese department store in Causeway Bay). They had a demo set up for the X-box Kinect and Rom decided to give it a try. It looks like loads of fun.

As we went our separate ways to home/hotel for the night, Rom, May Lene and I found ourselves in a Haagen Dazs shop. Wonder how that happened? After a "nightcap" of sorts we headed home full and happy. I am grateful to all of our Steelcase friends who are so gracious and include me even when I am "single" for the night. It has been fun and interesting and I love the time I spend getting to know everyone.

(I also think my night doorman is raising his eyebrows. Arriving home by myself at 11 P.M. and midnight two nights in a row with Ken out of town is not my usual M.O. Let him wonder!)