2/17/13 - Sunday Family Dinner (Penang Style)

Busy season has officially arrived which means a lot more Malaysia time and a lot less Singapore time.  It also means a lot more work and less time for adventures (or random life events worth commenting on) to occur.  This week was no exception as I managed to hit the office on a daily basis.  I did find the time for a good old fashioned Sunday dinner with my 'work family' at the end of the week.  It really wasn't that much different than busy season back in the states when our 'work family' would set the pencils, calculators and green eyeshades down for dinner every night.  Back home we had a solid rotation of Greek food, Mexican food and BBQ, so much so that Mondays turned into 'Greek Mondays' and Thursdays became 'Famous Thursdays' - after Famous Dave's of course.  In Penang, Sunday's might turn into 'Campbell House Sundays' because at the end of a long week, which really is just rolling into a new one, you need some Italian comfort food.

First, I had to get out and go for a run Sunday evening.  Too much sitting in a climate controlled air-con environment was having the same effect on me as sitting in a climate controlled heated environment.  The run had the added benefit of horribly dehydrating me and doubling my appetite at the same time.  I think I drank 2 liters of water before we even got to dinner.  Luckily on the weekends the taxi to Georgetown only seems to take 20-25 minutes vs. 45-60 minutes.  Considering its only about 10 miles away, this is a win.  We even scored a larger win in getting a taxi with leg room in the back seat.  When I say leg room, think Toyota Corolla vs. a golf cart that happens to have a back seat.  Although with how narrow the streets are in the historic part of Georgetown a golf cart might be better.

Due to the rather large appetites we tend to show up, we've started a new tradition, pizza appetizer. If you're going to do a Sunday family dinner, you might as well do it right with cheese, garlic and mushrooms.  After some antipasti, pizza and pasta we were starting to slow down a bit, but then the rain came.  Not just a little storm, but a good tropical soaker.  So much so that the street started to flood..... and flood and flood.  It looked like we wouldn't be going anywhere for awhile, so we ordered another bottle of wine and toasted to our Venetian restaurant and the 'canal' that we now happened to be dining beside.  Eventually the rain subsided and after an after dinner limoncello from our gracious hosts we jumped in a taxi and headed back to the hotel.  A boat may have served better as some of the streets were still flooded and you felt like you were fording a creek in the Outback at times.

I was just starting to drift to sleep when the rumblings started.  Thinking the rain was back I didn't pay it much attention, but then it just kept going on and on and on.  I poked my head through the curtains and in every direction I looked, fireworks were exploding.  I had forgotten that we were still in Chinese New Year celebration territory and it was apparently time to celebrate.... at midnight.  Wishing we had ordered another bottle of wine at this point I pulled the covers up high and likely fell asleep with a grin on my face as I was lulled (forced) to sleep with the 'boom, boom, boom' of another celebration of the year of the snake.