Friends

Variety is the spice of life. Same goes with foodie friends. There's not one person that I can hang out with that enjoys everything that I like. Or maybe there is but with time and distance constraints and such, it's kinda hard to have one foodie buddy accompany me in all my foodie exploits.

But it's not hard to find kakis (buddies) for separate foodie outings. These are the people whose ears perk up and hands go flying up whenever I mention the following words:

• Mushrooms


• Coffee


• Pork


• Wine and dine


• Japanese


• Seafood


• Steamboat


• Italiano


• Sinful desserts


• Western


• Budget makan


• Indian


• Strange-never-tried-before stuff

To all my foodies buddies, you know who you are. Thank you for enriching my life and it's true - food tastes better when you are in good company who enjoys every morsel like you do.

It wasn't that great a day. Discovered some things I didn't like. Was pissed at everything.

And then I met my buddies. We greeted each other like we haven't met in a hundred years. Even the waiter thought we were having a long-lost reunion. We all got equal chance to rant about our day and the latest banes in our lives.

Then we thought of a dear friend whom we loved but realized that we know next to nothing about. We hang out a lot with him. We feel absolutely comfortable with him. We could trust him with our deepest and juiciest secrets. But we know zit about him.

"So strange!" we exclaimed.

Then we thought again and felt that as strange as it seems, it is entirely possible to be really close to someone without knowing who they are. Especially if that person is a good listener and who doesn't mind patiently listening and remembering all your exciting exploits.

We felt a little bad at this realization. It just proves that we are limelight hoggers who love regaling our tales to our quieter friends.

But if it makes everyone happy, why not? We can only hope that they enjoy listening to them as much as we love narrating them with relish and sauce.

Just got this today hot from the oven. Check out the video of my joint bday celebration with Hath (6 months after her birthdate but still, we need to celebrate, kan?) and some pics!

Thanks for making the time to share our joy in growing more mature and beeyootifool. Denise for the prettiest cake a friend has ever baked me. Paulos for the video. Twinnie for availing your cosy place for me to bunk in and for the lovely dim sum feast the next day. Hath for the swanky Coolcat gift - so happy to share a birthday celeb with ya! Azmi, Evie for being there. Tim for your Ipoh road trip pre-taste gift and that magnet. Emily for your sweet presence and hand made gift - loved it! Sistahs (that includes you, Annie!) for the awesome Pictionary gift! Wei, wasn't easy to feign surprise, ok? Especially when I was involved in the planning committee of 'What To Get For Ariel's Birthday'. I so deserve an award for that as what Sistah Paulos said.

Guys, thank you so much for making our birthdays so special!

Wah lau eh.

So many bookings for today.

Who do I say yes to???

Times like these I wish I could clone myself. That way, I can meet all my dear ones in one day. But I guess having just one me means stretching the bday celebs all the way to next month. Which isn't a bad deal at all.

I'm much blessed and loved.

Birthday Honor Roll

• First person to wish me happy birthday: Pr. Moy How


• First person to give me a birthday huggy: Mommy


• First person to give me a prezzie: Tie between Hannah (received) and Bezzie (still on it's way after many messengers and over the post!)


• First people to have a birthday meal with me: My beloved Aussie-fied lunch partners


• First photog to take a glam pic of me: J. Pics will be up soon...

Hee!




Lunch pics fresh from the oven

In spite of the crazy busyness that has assailed me at work and at play, I have never been more happy and at peace. My birthday is looming round the corner and already people are planning how to celebrate it - a sweet soul even offered to bake me a butter birthday cake.

As wonderful and sweet as my friends are, they are but just the icing on top of the cake. Over the recent months, I've counted the blessings of having good friends and toxic friends. Good friends are good - for obvious reasons. You feel safe with them. Affirmed. Loved. Accepted.

Toxic friends on the surface are bad for health. They can erode your self-esteem. Make you feel bad about yourself and things around you. They cause you to be emotionally bankcrupt and because of this bankcruptcy, you find yourself subconciously seeking for affirmation from people that you are not supposed to. And when you do that, you realised that it's never enough - two parched souls do not make a wholesome friendship. They will only suck the life out of each other.

In retrospect, toxic friends are good in the sense that they make you realise that you do not need their acceptance nor affirmation. You don't even need to expect them from others, even from good friends. Such expectations will only cause frustrations and accute emptiness in your heart - because friends are never meant to be that cake in your life. They are just the nice icing on the top.

Through such friendships, I've learned to set boundaries and leaning upon the assurance of God that He knew just what He was doing when He made me. And that was what gave me strength, meaning and purpose. The freedom to be who I'm meant to be and the peace that follows is just indescribable.

The good news is that toxic friends can transform to being good friends. It just takes time and effort on both parties to work out the differences and reconcile when they are ready.

So, thank God for friends - both good and toxic. It all does work out for good in the end.

Photo Credits: J