Had an early Thanksgiving dinner out with the friends. We separately had minor house sprucing and renovations/repair works done, and we were cleaning all week. Nobody was in the mood to cook and clean some more. Headed out to Black Pearl Steakhouse for steaks, highballs and salads.
We wanted a casual dinner place so that we didn't have to dress up. We could just do berms and slippers and just flop around. Nobody at this table is a soccer fan or watches football (or play mahjong), so the World Cup matches don't matter, and we needn't pick a restaurant that's showing these matches. Yayyyy!
Of course we sat outdoors right under the fan. It was a hot and humid night. Without a fan circulating at outdoor patios of restaurants, sitting comfortably at an outdoor table is impossible. The friends were okay with sitting outdoors because they asked the Smol Girl to come along too. Awwwwwww.
The food at Black Pearl is decent. It's not mind-blowing, but it's properly done. It's the next best thing to us sweating it out in the kitchen and might not even be able to produce a similar quality of food. The toasted slices of bread came with dukkah, olive oil and balsamic. Nice. One small slice for each diner. Nothing was wasted. We would have asked for more bread if we wanted to.
Crab bisque and mushroom soup arrived as starters. The anchovies in the Waldorf salad were a lovely touch. We weren't so ambitious as to do a tomahawk. We went for easy slabs of grass-fed rib-eye from New Zealand and Argentinia; 500g each done medium to share among the four of us. Skipped dessert in favour of continuing with a third round of highballs. Didn't even ask what whisky they used. It tasted okay. Highballs are the friendliest drinks in the world.
Each time Thanksgiving comes around, I steadfastly ignore the requisite turkey. The bird has no meaning here in the tropics. It isn't even symbolic. I do Thanksgiving as it is, a harvest festival, to give thanks for the blessings I have received from God and life in general. Sure, it's an American holiday. But at some point, after the Aunts made me gather at their tables for the holiday, I adopted it too. This year, without the Aunts around, I still marked it. I had them on FaceTime at our dinner. Hahahaha.
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