Another year has passed, how amazing is that. Where did the time go??
We girls just had our Christmas dinner last Saturday. This has been an annual tradition since... 3 years ago? I remember our first one was at Carluccio's at St. Christopher's Place where I ordered a wrong dish (in my view) because the risotto looked scarily yellow and totally not risotto looking. I didn't know I could ask them to take it back and so I ate a few spoonfuls and pretended to look very full haha. When our meal ended, the waitress asked if there was something wrong and I gave her my feedback did she agree to take it off the bill. Whew- thank God!
The next year we had it home - at Frigate House when I was flat-sharing with Marketa. I remember her making a roast lamb dinner for us and I was due to fly home to Singapore the next day. Whilst M was the cook, I was the "Christmas DJ" playing all the wonderful Christmas songs in the background while we ate. It was a cosy night, 5 of us squeezed into the small kitchen.
This year, Sarah suggested L'entrecote here in CW where I work and live...! So I told the girls that it is a bit uneasy celebrating my fav holiday within 100m of my workplace, but I guess with the 50% discount and seeing how much the other girls love this place, my suggestion to bring our celebration outside CW was overruled. Hmph. I joked with them saying I had to pray about it before agreeing to this place. And Sarah joked back saying "it's fine Bel, once you step inside you will feel like you are in PARIS..."
When we met at 6pm we realised it doesn't open till 6.30pm so with 30min to spare, and we couldn't stand around in the cold, we went to the pub next door where Marketa very kindly bought a bottle of champagne for us to start our celebratory dinner. We were chatting happily "grilling" Kine of her love story.. you can tell she was in bliss.
And guess what, by the time we left the pub to adjourn to the restaurant, there was a long queue outside L'entrecote! We were shocked for this has never happened before. Turned out we queued up for almost an hour waiting for a table for 5..! grr.. we all huddled 30min in the cold before adjourning into the restaurant for another 30min. When the food came, you can tell nobody was talking at the table. All were busy wolfing down our salad and steak and fries. No time for photos too, sorry.
It was only when dessert time came when I realised we hadn't taken any photos so here are three, that were hastily taken before we tucked into the chocolate laden desserts.
After we had polished up everything on the dessert plates, Gabby started the conversation rolling about what was our highlight of 2012. Wow, a really good question and we all started to think about it. Some of us shared about our new found love, about losing weight and gaining back so much confidence (yes, it's true), about new jobs which we enjoy and are in a much better place than before, about friendships within this group that has lasted for so long, and of course, when it came to my turn, everyone started laughing because they knew my highlight of the year would be.. 2012 is the year Bel got engaged!! :))
We girls just had our Christmas dinner last Saturday. This has been an annual tradition since... 3 years ago? I remember our first one was at Carluccio's at St. Christopher's Place where I ordered a wrong dish (in my view) because the risotto looked scarily yellow and totally not risotto looking. I didn't know I could ask them to take it back and so I ate a few spoonfuls and pretended to look very full haha. When our meal ended, the waitress asked if there was something wrong and I gave her my feedback did she agree to take it off the bill. Whew- thank God!
The next year we had it home - at Frigate House when I was flat-sharing with Marketa. I remember her making a roast lamb dinner for us and I was due to fly home to Singapore the next day. Whilst M was the cook, I was the "Christmas DJ" playing all the wonderful Christmas songs in the background while we ate. It was a cosy night, 5 of us squeezed into the small kitchen.
Then last year we had it at Thomas Cubitt, a really lovely restaurant between Sloane Square and Victoria. We had the best seats in the house - next to the fireplace. It felt like our own fireplace putting our Christmas gifts around it, and we were all grinning from ear to ear.
This year, Sarah suggested L'entrecote here in CW where I work and live...! So I told the girls that it is a bit uneasy celebrating my fav holiday within 100m of my workplace, but I guess with the 50% discount and seeing how much the other girls love this place, my suggestion to bring our celebration outside CW was overruled. Hmph. I joked with them saying I had to pray about it before agreeing to this place. And Sarah joked back saying "it's fine Bel, once you step inside you will feel like you are in PARIS..."
When we met at 6pm we realised it doesn't open till 6.30pm so with 30min to spare, and we couldn't stand around in the cold, we went to the pub next door where Marketa very kindly bought a bottle of champagne for us to start our celebratory dinner. We were chatting happily "grilling" Kine of her love story.. you can tell she was in bliss.
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| Happy Kine sharing her love story |
And guess what, by the time we left the pub to adjourn to the restaurant, there was a long queue outside L'entrecote! We were shocked for this has never happened before. Turned out we queued up for almost an hour waiting for a table for 5..! grr.. we all huddled 30min in the cold before adjourning into the restaurant for another 30min. When the food came, you can tell nobody was talking at the table. All were busy wolfing down our salad and steak and fries. No time for photos too, sorry.
It was only when dessert time came when I realised we hadn't taken any photos so here are three, that were hastily taken before we tucked into the chocolate laden desserts.
After we had polished up everything on the dessert plates, Gabby started the conversation rolling about what was our highlight of 2012. Wow, a really good question and we all started to think about it. Some of us shared about our new found love, about losing weight and gaining back so much confidence (yes, it's true), about new jobs which we enjoy and are in a much better place than before, about friendships within this group that has lasted for so long, and of course, when it came to my turn, everyone started laughing because they knew my highlight of the year would be.. 2012 is the year Bel got engaged!! :))
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