The After After Parties

No party is complete without a shot like this. Especially of single malts.
(Photo courtesy of S)

The best part about coming home after a long trip, the post-Christmas-parties are in full swing. Also the after-parties of New Year festivities. What's up with after-parties this season? It's like the de rigeur thing for all hip homes. Except for ours. We're too stretched to host. However, we could easily cook food as gifts or contribute to whichever potluck session. The dishwasher, stove and oven are in overdrive. Not complaining at all. We ees happy as a lark.

The dear friends opened up their homes and hearts. Dunno how they rustled up so much energy to cook, host and keep everyone in a food coma, and insist people grab boxes of more-than-generous leftovers to take home to sort out the next week's meals when everyone's busy settling into a new year, and for many, new hectic routines to get used to.

The food was nothing short of splendid. Truly the best of home cooking in a superb mix of classic Christmas dishes and everyday-local favorites, including coconut dhal and devil's curry, and desserts of kueh lapis, sugee cake, red bean agar-agar, apple crumble, apple pie, and a surprisingly popular durian tiramisu. We shamelessly turned up at the friends' beautiful homes, ate and drank our fill. Many thanks, people. What a fantastic start to the year.