1. Appetizers
2. Main Course
3. Desserts

But of course, if you put a bit more brains into the equation, it'd look like this:

1. Fried tofu cubes with 3 different flavoured sauces at your disposal
2. Salmon Sashimi
3. Fried pork belly cubes (hence ends the appetizers)
4. 'Wong Gua Pai Guat Tong'- A kind of melon and spare rib soup. Now, the cantonese are reknown to LOVE their soups and the chef did justice when he prepared this for the family. (Hereby commencing the mains)
5. BBQ-ed pork ribs. These were like, individual ribs prepared one-by-one, 6 inches long and pretty much tasty lol heavily doused with a flavourful sauce.
6. Spring Chicken. Cantonese style, no explanation needed here.
7. Claypot rice. Lap Cheong, Coagulated flavoured chicken blood and bak choy stalks served seperately, thereby allowing you to create your own mix.
8. Black Pepper Beef. This was a steak chopped up basically. It was funny because the chef must have thought a smaller family ordered it because what seemed like 15 cubes of beef for 5 people didn't seem quite right. Perhaps he was trying to deliver the weightwatchers' message or something.
9. Stir-Fried Kai Lan with oyster sauce, generously topped with chopped Garlic. This is where you tell if someone has the balls to consume the greens with those little 'breath bits'
10. 'Fan Chew'- which is pretty much the crispy rice you stuck to the side of the claypot with a pretty tasty broth. Apparently, the seniors at the table liked this dish because it brought back memories of their childhood. It was evident really :)
11. And finally, dessert which comprised of one superbly hearty but superbly made mango pudding, cut fruits and Shanghainese pancake, crispy fried.

Just a note, all the above dishes were pronounced in a Cantonese way so it takes abit of practice if you happen to be of another dialect.

But on another note, on top of everything that we had, I had the privilege of having 3 glasses of red wine, which was a 96-pointer, opened by my uncle. But the 3 glasses were simply just a warm-up for the liquor fest that was about to follow at Manish's place later that night. I think I was having an easy time lining my stomach walls with the mandatory protective layer of fat during dinner, in order to prevent getting my butt drunk. We basically a good 2 hours on dinner just eating I think.

I shalln't comment on the bill, having stolen a glance but my uncle was told sincerely that dinner was greatly appreciated.

Armed with an entire bottle of Tequila and Margarita mix, it was like my weapon of choice entering the 7th floor of Casa Melwani whereby the 'Drink' part of 'Eat, Drink and Be Merry' was fulfilled for the next 5 hours. No details but because my fingers are itchy and they're begging to do so, I'm gonna list out pretty much all the booze I consumed.

1. Started off the night with two rock-solid glasses of whiskey
2. A bottle of Vodka spritzer
3. 2 Glasses of Margarita and a shot of Tequila that followed
4. A glass of Heineken
5. 2 nasty shots of whiskey that I had lit up for the fun of making it flame up. Good stuff it was.
6. More Tequila (amount unremembered)
7. And a Half bottle of Red Wine, downed in one sitting due to the playing of 'Circle of Death' by the boys. I'd like to see someone else try this besides me. I guess there are probably many people "out there" who will proclaim their threshold for alcohol but till then, if anyone can't gulp down half a bottle of Shiraz straight from the bottle and still walk away without getting drunk then those claims arent worth ass ;)

So by the time I finish my 5 hour drinking spree, my face is red, I'm jolly, tired but not drunk. Manish gave me a nickname and I'd like to see it stay that way- "The only Chinaman in Singapore who can hold his liquor."

And when I got up for church the same morning at 7am, groggy and aching all over, it was as close to feeling as if I was in a drunken stupor as it could get.

I went to church today filled with two kinds of spirit...