Drinks and dinner with friends (17th June 2010)

My buddy James has been away so much this month on his swing expeditions – I hardly get to spend time with him at all! He’s back in town for 2 days before shooting off to Auckland for another swing event and I’m glad he’s decided we catch up over a drink after work tonight. Yay!

Around 5pm, we caught up and walked over to Foxglove located on Queenswharf, the newest bar in town that has taken over the old Loaded Hog. The layout of the place looked similar though the interior design has a 1930’s vintage glamour feel to it, a design with use of dark wood and dim lights, popular in most bars around town these days. James and I had a beer downstairs at one of the high tables – the place was quite busy even though it was only Thursday.

Us two caught up to speed with what’s been happening in our lives over our beers, and around 6.15pm, said our goodbyes as I headed to meet Su Wei and Rissa for dinner at The Long Bar Restaurant on Brandon St. “Hey, wait a sec – let’s go check out upstairs!” I reminded James for we agreed beforehand that we would have a look to see how much the upstairs layout has changed before heading off. We were greeted by a friendly bartender who briefly showed us around – hmm, very nice indeed. There were split areas where people could chat and drink in small groups like a restaurant or you could choose to chill out at the leather couches set up in a living room setting (rug, coffee table, lamp, magazines – just like a designer living room). What was most interesting was when the bartender walked over to a huge closet, opened the door and asked me to have a look inside. Huh??? “Go on, have a look,” he encouraged and I poked my head into the closet to find it was actually a door painted to look like part of the closet which opened to a whole other area with its own bar. I wouldn’t have thought to open the closet door – it had a rustic look as if I might open to discover piles of dust and cobwebs! Does feel much like walking into a hidden world, like in the movie Narnia. Very cool indeed :)

Ok, must go now – going to be late for dinner! Quickly ran 2 blocks towards The Long Bar Restaurant and Su Wei was already there with daughter Amelia who was sound asleep in her pram. I’ve been to Long Bar several times with friends in the past. A very popular and busy small restaurant well-known for its authentic Malaysian cuisine though more costly than most Malaysian places (mains mostly priced above $10). Definitely worth the cost if you want a guaranteed good Malaysian meal.

Su Wei was visiting Wellington for a few days while her partner Uli is here for a work conference and she always makes it a point to catch up with me when she’s in town :) She looks the same as I always remembered her – pregnancy has NOT changed her size and figure! Rissa came by shortly and us girls had a nice time catching up over dinner. We reminisced the time when we first sat down together for coffee some 2 years ago. That was when I first met Rissa and we were both catching up with Su Wei who was leaving town for Sydney. Wow, look how much has changed in our lives since – we were all single back then; Su Wei is now a mum and lives with her partner in Sydney, and who would have imagined me and Rissa having bfs who are best mates and we now hang out together? We laughed and concluded that we are very content and happy with our lives and our relationships at the moment :) Photo of us girls taken outside the restaurant:

Rissa, me, Su Wei and baby Amelia

Oh, and how baby Amelia has grown! She’ll be walking and talking the next time I see her!! Hmm, does she look more like her mummy or daddy? A mix of both, I say! Look forward to see Su Wei and Amelia again soon!