When (Ex-)Singaporeans Get Together

Over the weekend, we were privileged to be invited to Steve & Yvonne's for dinner. They meet up with a few other S'porean families regularly and this was the first time we were meeting the rest.

S&Y have been in Melbourne far longer than we, and their son Triston is Beth's classmate at Heathdale and at Sat Chinese class. Our friendship started - where else - in the corridor outside Prep H, where we gather daily to drop off and pick up our kids.

Yvonne is one of those fabulous women who can pick up a recipe and produce something that not only looks like the real thing, but also tastes like it.

Obviously, we're in different leagues. In our household, I'm the Survival Cook and CA is the Gourmet Chef. I cook because the kids need to eat. He cooks for pleasure and passion.

We were the last family to arrive for dinner because true to his high standards, CA had to make sure everything was perfect. Grilled chicken satay was lovingly marinated with peanut sauce (store bought, alas) and freshly minced lemongrass. We took a shortcut with the chicken parmi and chicken Kiev though. Bought from Lennard's at the Plaza, then baked them as per instructions.

Nothing beats getting together with a bunch of Singaporeans in a foreign land to swop migration tales.

Add beer, Singlish and an unlimited supply of fresh oysters and prawns, and you have all the ingredients of a great dinner party.

In 5 minutes, we were on familiar terms with S&Y's pals Ming, Eugene, Deborah & Daniel.

It helped that there were three 6 y.o.'s at the party and three under-3's. Perfect mix and match.

J made friends with Jamie, who is her age and really sweet natured. Unfortunately, J got very territorial over her magnetic sketch board and stuck out her elbows and yelled at Jamie every time he got too close. She's a terror, this one.

Beth and the 2 boys got on so well they were singing footy club songs together as they surfed the home pages of the clubs. At one point, the boys started playing footy in the lounge and Beth offered to keep score. I reckon she did that so she could continue reading her book!

We had a fantastic time and by the time we left at 10 pm, we were yawning in that satisfied way you get when you've really packed it in at the weekend.

NB. I added the "ex-" to the title of this post because I just realized that everyone else at the party is no longer S'porean!