Singaporean dinner in Nepal

Clockwise from left: Edwin, Maria, Jaws, Baohua, Koh Shiuan, Me, Deepak,
Linda, Jennifer, Ham

Deepak and I hosted dinner for 8 Singaporean friends who were in town (Kathmandu). Edwin and Maria had jsut moved to Kathmandu and managed to settle in nicely in a studio apartment -like accommodation right in the heart of the city. Linda, Koh Shiuan, Jaws and Baohua returned from an enjoyable Langtang Trek. Ham and Jennifer deserved a good meal after an ardous Island Peak Expedition with Deepak. We reckoned everyone missed Singaporean food and decided to have the welcome-farewell party at our place instead. The spread of the evening were :

1. Chicken mushroom soup with Bak Kut Teh spice sachet

2. Prawn tempura

3. Cabbage with heh bee hiam (dried shrimp mixture)

4. Cauliflower with oyster mushroom

5. Fried toufu with Heinz bean meat suace

6. Chinese style curry chicken

7. Canned peaches and honeydew for dessert

It was really satisfying to be able to lay the table full of goodies in Kathmandu (although slightly more challenging in the kitchen and getting the ingredients, some 'direct imports' from Singapore! Haa!). However, we got worried when everyone did not arrive by 6:30pm. The vehicle was supposed to pick everyone from the hotel at 5:30pm. Due to bad traffic condition, our guests arrived at only about 8:30pm, mostly famished! The good thing that came out of this traffic drama was that they finished most of the food!

Personally I was looking forward most to my curry chicken and mom's recipe of the fried toufu. We all ate, exchanged trek stories and Maria was filling us with snippets of funny encounters in the period of settling in the city.

It was really nice having friends over at home with lots of laughter in the house. Next we'll be thinking about what to serve when our Hong Kong friends come over to Divine Homestay in December....