Steamboated!

Hi boys and girls. It's been an interesting, eventful weekend for good ol' boring moi. Firstly, in conjunction with the Chinese New Year 15th Day (ummm, which is apparently some sort of auspicious occasion, although I unabashedly admit that I don't have any idea why... well, okay, I'm slightly abashed about it, but... y'know... um.... whatever...) my housemates and I decided to throw a Steamboat Dinner. Yes. A steamboat dinner. (For some reason, the first time I typed that, it warranted CAPITAL LETTERS, as if a steamboat dinner were a Proper Noun.) Y'know. A pot of boiling hot soup and heaps of raw food and vege thrown into it until it's cooked, and then we eat eat eat and eat until we pop, which is very nearly what happened. Kinda like an East meets West thing, with my housemates Carol & Jo and myself introducing the concept to our Aussie friends, only to find out that our Aussie friends know heaps more about steamboats and the fifteenth night of Chinese New Year (or Chap Goh Meh, as it's known Asiawide) more than we do. Or at least, more than I do. Anyway. Cough. Moving on.

There were eight of us in all, although there was so much food that it seemed as if there was enough for twice the number of us. And all those poor starving people in other parts of the world. *bows head in shame*

Fishballs, meatballs, chicken, fish, pork, vegetables and all sorts of crap, thrown into one pot and left to boil into a soggy yummy mass/mess. It's lurrrvely stuff. Okay, it might not sound it, or even look it, but... it is. Trust me. Yum yum.

A somewhat incongruous desert of vanilla mousse sponge layer cake with a lurrrvely white chocolate topping. Yummy? You betcha. We were already at bursting point by this point, but there's always room for incongruous dessert, yes there is, you take my word for it baby.

The partygoers (or six of 'em, at least), drunk on too much hot-pot stock and generic brand cola that can be bought in bulk for a very very cheap price. Incidentally, they're pointing at a poster of Winnie & Eeoh ... or, as it proudly proclaims our dining room to be, the Pooh Corner.

One of the highlights of the evening was when our dear friend Josie (second right, in red) started laughing when Brett (right, foreground) teased her. The thing about Josie is, when she laughs, she can't stop; and when she can't stop, she starts to cry. So she laughs, and begins to cry, while the rest of us are laughing too... and then Judi (second left) laughs so hard that she starts to cry, which prompts us to laugh so much harder until Jo (far left) begins to overflow from the eyes as well, which in turn causes Carol (in black) to wipe her eyes free from tears of hilarity. Naturally, the more people cried, the more people laughed, and the more people laughed, the more people cried... so as you can imagine, we burnt off the calories in a solid work out comprising twenty minutes of hysterical, side-grabbing, face-streaking, eye-blurring peals of uproarious hilarity. It was a sight (and a sound) to behold, I kid you not. I guess you had to be there. :P

I was going to post more on what we did this weekend, but I now think I shall write on it separately to give it more prominence, since it will appear above this post. Let me conclude this one by saying it was a great night had by all, and, even though yours truly has no idea of the significance of the occasion, it truly was one for the books. ;)