No, don’t vomit, but the Irishman and a few of the Peninsula Husbands put on the most amazing, crazy, romantic surprise Valentine’s Day dinner yesterday. Honestly, I’m still reeling from the shock factor. Valentine’s is not a big thing for us. Most years in Singapore, it was either forgotten, or a hastily booked dinner at Les Amis or some other credit card shredding equivalent.
Well, my evening started with me under the impression that we were going to have a picnic at Phillip Island because Mark put on this whole rigmarole of getting me to bring boat shoes, a windbreaker & packing a picnic basket. And he told me that we were going to James’ house first, to get the keys for his speedboat.
Then, when we pulled into the driveway, Mark stopped the car, got out and rooted around in the bushes for a bit, and then appeared with a dodgy looking blindfold and asked me to put it on. Of course I refused! Firstly, on the grounds that it would ruin my carefully applied mascara, and secondly, the whole thing was turning out to be a tad too Eyes Wide Shut for a Monday night… So we compromised on me holding it in front of my eyes as we drove on into the estate.
At last I was allowed to open my eyes, and I saw a very familiar looking marquee on the grounds of James’ magnificent estate, and a fantastic bar made out of bales of hay….
The gleeful husbands. Apparently they had plotted this at our Chinese New Year’s party – which explains why all of them disappeared halfway during the night and were nowhere to be found….
You couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful evening. This is one of two huge dams on the property.
The Irishman was in charge of appetisers and he made us these adorable ceviche hors d oeuvres in lotus bowls. And a spicy beef san choi bao. Duncan made a piquant cous cous salad and some crisp blanched haricots verts. Rick made miso cod fillets for a main course, and James finished up with a intensely lemony tart purchased from Fitzroy.
The wives were so blown away, especially Lisa, whose husband Duncan said that he had never ever remembered Valentines Day. In fact, during all the planning, Duncan was most worried that Lisa was going to think he was having an affair, so out of character all this cloak and dagger stuff was!
A toast for our incredibly thoughtful husbands, we always knew they had it in them!
I’ll be remembering this Valentines for a long time. Thank you husbands!
the crystal bawl 