Ahhh, a great day. And all about food at friends' places.

I guess it's one of those rare days. A day when an old customer pops up and gives us a big order. We were up against $3600, and I handled $2500 of it! Then we popped up all the way to $8200. AMAZING! I sure hope Fred comes back again. Of course, he does make me tired, and I usually have to sacrifice my breaks to ensure he goes away smiling.

And then dinner at Rachel's place... authentic mainland Chinese food... OMG I have not had such amazing food for ages!!! And her dad's definitely a good chef - the chicken wings were amazing. I'm definitely gonna respect intellectual property rights and NOT try to figure out the dish. Probably won't be able to anyways. I wonder if Charles' parents are just as good. Wouldn't mind having real HK food at his place. And Josephine -- MALAYSIAN FOOD MAN! Too bad I haven't gone yet. And of course, can never forget Si Rim (Dr. Bass) and his mom - man, his mom makes AMAZING Korean dishes. (insert some moans of satisfaction here) Geez, I'm such a glutton.

But then again, I must be allowed to contribute somehow, otherwise I'd feel pretty useless. For example, at Charles' dinner, at least he knew about my cleaning habits and allowed me to wash up all the dishes, even though the typical host wouldn't want that for their guest. Then again, if his parents were around, they'd probably not allow it. But at Rachel's place, absolutely nothing: no washing, no helping to prepare food... it's like the guest is king. I felt like "aiya...", I was relegated to just setting the table and compiling the dirty dishes after dinner, and that's it. I guess it was the first time I wasn't allowed to do dishes. lolz. Aside from that, though, they're a nice family, had a great chat, gave me that homely feeling, so all in all, it was a really great trip down to Surrey. Two thumbs up for the food especially. After all, that's what the focus of this post is.

And so Josephine came by one afternoon, and she had fried rice which used kecap manis as the sauce, as well as BBQ pork, and a whole host of other things. The best part is, she finally refrained from using BALLS in the food. So I tried some, and it's amazing. A pity Charles wasn't around, I'm sure he'd love her cooking. 1.5 thumbs though, for there wasn't enough quantity - FRY MORE FOR ME NEXT TIME!!! (Actually, you're already assured of 2/2 thumbs Joey. =D)

And, 饺子 at Zhiming's place last Tuesday was really good too. And those 饺子 were authentic and tasty as well, hand-made by his wife, Haiying. They know my cleanliness habits too, so I guess they, in mock-despair, allow me to wash up. I had a chance to help out that day too; I washed the dishes while Zhiming made the appetizers, so it helped that I could contribute, even though I didn't bring a dish like Luo Pan and Jingchan. Nonetheless, two thumbs up for the food.