Thought of the Day 21/03/2015: Friendship Therapy

I wanted to write about my last couple of days to gratuitously gloat about the fact that I have returned to the realm of the living. I once again, after around 5 years (pre-relationship era), have friends with whom I actually do things; it's phenomenal! Laughing and feeling genuine happiness is the best form of therapy in existence, a concrete remedy against all ailments be they anxiety, depression, addiction or chronic anger. Anyway, here is what my new friends and I are getting up to in Palmy.

Friday Night at DH's

DH and his beautiful wife, MH.

SK, me and CF: International Chemist Squad!

DH, whom I've written about previously, had the fantastic idea to have CF, SK and I over for an international dinner where each had to make a dish from someone elses cultural origin. For instance, I  (American) was assigned a British dessert, DH (Kiwi) made a French appetizer, then CF (French) and SK (Brit) were asked to make American and Kiwi entrees, respectively. It was such a delightful night stuffed, pun intended, with some seriously bad ass food! PS There home was basically a mansion by Kiwi standards, complete with a full-on bush/garden. DH collects really rare and expensive crotch rockets, so he showed us his bikes and we got to play with their Griffon, Valentino. After dinner we all took turns showing the group our favorite obscure videos on You Tube. I chose the one where some friends record their other friend tripping on acid and animate it. It's hilarious!

Aside: SK recently got the tattoo he's always wanted. When he showed me the day after he got it, my immediate reaction was to ask him why he felt a need to label is ovaries.

DH cooking up Steak Diane. The cow was born, bred and slaughtered in the pasture right next to NZP. It's called the Cow Club. You pay $400 and in about 2 years you get half a cow that's free range, raised sans nasty chemicals and is grass fed. I think it's a phenomenal idea, and once I have enough space for a chest freezer I'm totally joining!

Not to mention he was absolutely delicious. First course, success!

I forgot to take a picture of CF's main dish of Pork Chops with Applesauce, but it was also breathtaking. She cooked the chops with rosemary and made the applesauce herself, chunky apples with onions: tres bon! SK slow cooked this Lamb Stew as his Kiwi dish. Another phenomenal course! At this point I was getting a bit nervous as I'm a bit hesitant in my cooking skills. What's more, DH unknowingly put a chick with an eating disorder, who doesn't cook with fat or sugar, in charge of dessert, hahaha!

To my delight, however, my take on Bread and Butter Pudding (which SK actually requested of me) was a resounding success. I substituted sultanas for blueberries then added in some lemon zest and ginger, not to mention the fact that I used trim milk and cut the amount of sugar significantly. Seriously, the recipes called for 500g (2.5 cups!) yet with only 1/4 cup it was plenty sweet. Everyone loved it, and I was pretty damn impressed myself!

Saturday Yum Cha

I mentioned to SK a couple of weeks ago that I love Dim Sum. He was confused at first, so I explained that it was just all sorts of Chinese dumplings that were distributed on carts. After that he understood and said that it's called Yum Cha everywhere else, Dim Sum is actually a type of dumpling, and then organised an outing for everyone from NZP who was interested. I had all my favorites (Fried turnip cake, steamed BBQ pork buns, steamed pork dumplings and steamed bean paste buns), plus some great new stuff (chicken with sticky rice, roast duck and some sort of creamy fruit dumpling). Best of all, we were all stuffed and it only cost $15 apiece!

Bringing someone who speaks Chinese is a must when going to Yum Cha!

Fellow NZP Peeps. Sadly, the above pictured JS, along with his lady, are moving to Australia. CF is actually JS's replacement. I replaced someone else, so I'm the new queen of Cholic. Joy!

Still more depressing, Mr. SK is also moving away. Never staying in one place for more than a couple of years, SK is heading to India in April to take up his previous post of World Wanderer. He was my first really good friend here and I'm going to miss him very much! The shit he says literally makes me laugh so hard I cry. That is a priceless quality in a friend, and it made me realise how long it's been since I've genuinely and copiously laughed. Thanks to him, now I remember how and am resolute to never again forget.

After Yum Cha CF, DC, SK and I headed to The Square to have coffee and walk around the cultural festival taking place this weekend. After a bit CF decided to go home so DC, SK and I went to a nearby pub so that DC could try and teach me the ins and outs of Cricket. Way fun, but I'm no nearer to understanding Cricket!

What else can I say? I'm fucking LOVING LIFE! I'm healthier here in every aspect of my life: Mind, Body and Spirit, and I have my new friends to thank for a lot of it. No panic attacks, I'm eating about 75% more fat than I have since losing weight which has stabilized my hypoglycemia, I've not weighed myself or counted calories in well over a month, and I actually want to spend time with other people for the first time in years. I'm just so grateful......

Tomorrow I'm heading to Wellington to do an all day Lord of the Rings tour. Rest assured I'll be writing all about it and posting pictures. Stay tuned!