We had our team Christmas party last Dec 23. Normally we would go to a restaurant, but since Guohao just got his new house turned over, we decided to have it there. He didn’t decide this, by the way, we invited ourselves over. Don’t worry – he was completely fine with it. We are comfortable enough with each other that we can impose such things. 😆
In fact, they also imposed something on me – that I should cook a Filipino dish for them to try.
That probably won’t seem like a big deal to most – you know – adults, but I rarely cook. In fact I don’t even remember when was the last time I had cooked adobo before they decided to spring this on me. I decided to cook adobo because it’s one of the most popular Filipino dishes and also because it’s easy enough to cook, even for someone with my lack of cooking skills.
Luckily I had documented a recipe of it on this blog, one that I had successfully cooked before. But just to be on the safe side, two days before the event, I did a test run and cooked a small batch. I’m glad that I did, because it reminded me what not to do. So on the morning of the party, I managed to cook a decent if otherwise a bit too dry for my liking pork adobo.
My Uber managed to find Guohao’s place even though it’s not on Google maps. When I got there, the guys were still busy roasting vegetables and shucking fresh oysters, so I hung out with Guohao and Yan Ming’s wives at the piano room, where I played a portion of the only piano piece I know from my piano recital as a kid – Edelweiss.
When food was ready, we sat down to eat, and I was relieved when they liked my adobo.
While eating, we filmed scenes that we would later use for our office funniest video entry.
Then we exchanged gifts.
Now every year, it has been tradition to come up with a complicated kris kringle theme. This year the theme is Justice League.
But it’s not as simple as it sounds – your gift cannot be directly related to the Justice League.
For example, it cannot be a figurine of Batman – but it can be a figurine of a bat or a man.
With me so far?
The gifts we had:
- Pixi Glow set – The Flash, because he glows
- Water-activated sports travel – Aquaman, for obvious reasons (I got this gift from Nic)
- A succulent in a pot – Superman, because he grew up in a farm
- Virtual reality headset – Starro (a villain), because he can do mind control
- Honey – Batman, because his voice is hoarse and he needs honey to get better 😂
But my gift was the entire Justice League. The entire movie group, anyway. What was in it?
- A can with Prince William and Kate on it – Wonder Woman (Diana Prince)
- Lewis & Clarke padlock – Superman (Clark Kent)
- Stone Color post-its – Cable (Trevor Stone)
- Flash drive – The Flash
- Aqua-coloured sharpie – Aquaman
- Nescafe rich coffee – Batman, because he’s rich
I know. I overdid it. 😂
After that, Yan Ming brought out a Swensens reindeer themed ice cream log cake, which coincidentally matched the reindeer photos on the living room wall.
Yan Ming and his wife had to leave first, to catch a ferry. The rest of us left had a tour of the rest of the cozy, nicely decorated flat. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Guohao had actually gone and bought a Steigen Automatic Laundry System, which I had introduced him to when I brought him to the media event for said product.
We then sat down in the living room and had a game of Cards Against Humanity. Evelyn and Guohao are really good at this game. The losers had to finish the roasted potatoes before we all bid goodbye.
It was a fun Christmas gathering, and I’m really glad my team always makes it a point to celebrate it, even though most are not Christian.
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