1.

“Hi.  Would you like to go out with us?”

Exactly a year ago, a couple of months after A Whiff of Lemongrass came into existence, I ventured out of my comfort zone and agreed to do the unthinkable – meeting strangers whose acquaintance I had made online.  It meant several things to me, but most importantly, revealing my real identity and feeling vulnerable under the scrutiny of several pairs of eyes belonging to seasoned bloggers was the biggest consideration.  Seasoned as in marinated in hot chili padi with lots of belacan and petai pods to boot!  There was Rasa Malaysia (photographer extraordinaire), WMW (human tripod extraordinaire), Boolicious (preeminent food blogger extraordinaire) and the man I feared most (then), Fatboybakes (brilliant wit and sarcasm personified).

“And what’s the name of your blog?  Sorry….could you repeat that?”

The words A Whiff of Lemongrass and Lyrical Lemongrass came out rather awkwardly from my lips.  I stifled my laughter as I felt silly saying it out aloud (for the record, I still feel silly saying it.  On hindsight, I should have chosen a more normal pseudonym….like Tom….).  But I shouldn’t have worried.  I realised then, as I realise now, that food bloggers are some of the most delightful people in the world.

2.

Precious Pea had just moved to her new place.  “Come over!” she said.   In less than a year, we had all become firm friends.  “I only have simple food to offer.”  Uh-uh…….

God bless the chickens that gave up their wings….

…fried popiah…. (this picture is for those (no names mentioned) who took the scenic route to her place via Ipoh and didn’t get to taste this as we had finished it up by the time they arrived)

…minimal oil with loads of seafood, just the way I like it…..

…we all need our vegetables…..

…carbs we love….

…freshly baked chocolate muffins…

…from now on, Precious Pea is going to supply me with her homemade pineapple tarts!….

…Jackson‘s mum made this delicious tapioca cake (kuih bingka ubi)….

…if felt like Christmas again when I laid eyes on the yoghurt cake which the ravenous rabbit, Paprika, had made!

Camera tricks?  I think not.  Those who were present will vouch for the food that tasted as good as it looked.  So to call this food porn may not be entirely correct.  Pornography may look enticing on tape, but nothing beats the real thing, spare tyre and all, because it has one ingredient that pornography does not have.  Condoms.

Nah.

It’s love, baby. L-U-B, love.  Like the food which PP so lubbingly prepared for us.

Like fermented beancurd (i.e. the older the better, not the stinkier the better), these friends are for keeps.

(Also starring, Jason and Teckiee.)

The true test of friendship is being able to type out your friends’ blog addresses when you wanna link them without having to refer to your bookmarks.

The girl from Abu Dhabi may view pics HERE.