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Hao-e's look for the evening...

Tis the season to be jolly and attend D&Ds. (My sis alone has clocked 3 D&Ds so far. Hats off to you!!) Last saturday, we attended the D&D organised by hao-e's company at lido restaurant, not to be confused with the cinema back home. this is the first time in years i'd attended a private sector D&D. many many differences. let's see...

• no fees - used to have to pay a "token sum" to get a seat at the D&D. i of course being quite anti usually avoided such occasions, but there's always some bugger i know and love in the organising committee, who will persuade/beg/coerce/blackmail me into coughing up the sum. this time, i went as a partner and still didn't have to pay a single cent.. woohoo!
  
• fantastic food and free flow of alcohol - take your pick of the starter, soup, main course and dessert. and have i mentioned the alcohol? me have graduated from being the designated driver now that hao-e has his license, so it was great. chardonnay for my tiger prawns coated with coconut shavings, warm filling pumpkin soup and lobster tail, and merlot for my beef tenderloin steak medium rare. ah.... wished i had taken some photos of the food, but we were seated with the chairman, so cannot appear suaku... the camera remained sitting at the bottom of my bag. the food back home ain't bad too, just that there's no alcohol, so i'm definitely complaining.
  
• randomised seating - as mentioned we sat at table 1 with the chairman and his wife (funny, i used to have to sit with my ex-ceo too, odd luck!), another young couple from south africa and 2 other singles. we weren't allowed to choose our seats at the table so i sat between a south african and a bermudian, both males, both young and both very funny. i digress. but the 8 of us were pretty much laughing and enjoying ourselves as dinner got served.
  
• amusing wait staff - we had a funny, quite good-looking waiter called luigi. he amused himself and me with trying to pronounce my long and weird looking name (no idea why my full name was included in the table card, but i guess they couldn't guess which was my first and last names.... haha). the servers all served on the right of each person - that is my definition of good service. they're always helpful and attentive. again, this is different from the part time waiters that are hired for D&Ds back home, when i'm already glad drinks didn't get spilt...
  
• amazing location and view - the restaurant was by the beach at elbow beach hotel. we were outdoors enjoying the cocktails before dinner started. the burning embers in the outdoor heaters kept us from the chill so we could hear and see the waves crashing onto the beach as we sipped away at gorgeous cocktails. dinner was served in the restaurant with the view of the beach. you could say "what's so different about a beach? a beach is a beach is a beach, no?" but ah, then you're wrong, cos every wave is different, and every indentation made by each wave on the sand is different. looking at it at night makes it even more romantic... ooh... the high life.
• christmas crackers - oh, this is the first time i opened a christmas cracker like this. you cross hands and link up with the rest of the people at your table so you're holding an end of the cracker in each hand and pull at the same time. then totally random little gifts pop out! i got lipgloss from M&S while hao-e got a wine bottle stopper. i'm dreaming of more wine this new year! dp's gift was a key chain that he thought was more suited for a female, so he gave it to me. aww.... my first christmas gift in 2007. haha.
• gifts to staff - not only did the long-serving staff get named, every staff member received a hefty present from the company as it performed well this year. a very nice and hefty present i must add. guess they must have done really well.
  
• after dinner party - the party continued at the club next to the restaurant called "the deep" where you could dance the night away. again, drinks are foc. so i couldn't help but down some g&ts and my newest crave black&diet coke. i lurve alcohol. period.
  

finally left the party at 1.15am when the music started to get very carribean-y. we enjoyed ourselves. well, i enjoyed myself esp with the alcohol. did you enjoy your D&D this year?