Chinese Restaurant Night Out Part 2

As promised this is a picture of the night we went out for Thai/Chinese food. The restaurant is somewhere in Rushden and is called Thai Gardens. Despite the name, Chinese & Malaysian food were also served. I was very surprised to see the menu included prestigious Malaysian dishes such as Rendang Ayam, Ikan Stim and Ikan Cili Padi, but I settled on the more multi-cultural Fish with 3 Sauces (can't remember the Thai nomenclature, but the name ended with - Pla). I also had egg fried rice, monk vegetables (which was mushrooms and various vegetables in a garlic/oyster sauce) and green tea. I got to try many other dishes as well since most of my friends ordered either seafood or vegetarian dishes. For desserts I greedily ordered a triple chocolate icecream with creamy coffee. Yum.

Also in the picture are my esteemed team mates or "family" as my Registrar likes to call us. I'm so lucky to work with such a funny, active, fun-loving, friendly, supportive, tea-loving and intelligent group of people that it's a pleasure to go to work everyday.

Sitting at the front to the right is my Registrar, also from Malaysia. He was teaching all of us the right technique of using chopsticks but it was really ironic that while all of us struggled to eat the rice, he was using a spoon! He said eating rice with chopsticks is difficult unless you bring the bowl to your mouth, which would look inappropriate in a proper restaurant. The right way is to eat with a spoon.
Hmmph! All this while I thought there was a secret-special skill that you have to learn to eat rice properly with chopsticks.

Are you guys good with chopsticks? I've always thought I'm not too bad but all this while I've been holding it wrong. The proper way is to immobilise one stick by balancing it on 2 fingers (small and ring finger) and to control the other stick using the remaining three fingers (thumb, index and middle). All this while I've been controlling with 2 fingers (thumb and index) and immobilising with 3, which is more like holding a pencil. I have to say, holding it properly does make things that much easier.

It was a perfect night and the food was delicious. In the picture we were all smiling. But the picture hides the fact that the occasion was actually sad as 3 amongst us are leaving for different hospitals, and that would be the end to our resplendent team, the team of Naseby Ward.