Off to a great start!

What a great way to start the holidays! I celebrated the end of exams for my third year, first semester by going to this really cool place in town called Hornbill Steamboat, which obviously is a steamboat restaurant. It's kinda something of a 'tradition' of sorts for my so-called gang in university (re: the circle of friends I hang out the most with in uni), and we kinda go into this sort of maniacal frenzy near the end of each semester. Like this semester, it was during class when one of us suddenly brought up the subject of celebrating the end of the semester, and this was followed by a rather animated discussion (more like drawing of lots) on where we should go to celebrate. Of course, we ended up settling for a steamboat feast, like the 2 semesters before this.

So I left for this steamboat place at approximately 6.50 p.m., and this time I didn't forget to bring my trusty sidekick - the digital camera! So yes, there are pictures to chronicle the evening!

First thing in a steamboat is making sure you have water. And to make sure that water is boiling. Like no fire means no boiling water. No boiling water means cannot cook anything. Cannot cook anything means no food. No food means not good. And yes, also make sure you have some ice cold drinks (with plenty of ice). Especially useful when scorching oil splashes onto your skin. Trust me.



My friends seem to have really interesting ways of making sure the water is hot. This is what they call "first hand experience" and "hands-on training". This is where the aforementioned ice comes in handy, too.



One of the reasons why my friends and I always return to the same steamboat place is because they really do have a wide variety of food items. In the picture below is just part of what we had to choose from. Personally, I always aim for the marinated lamb and the prawns (bottom left). I like to grill the prawns with butter, salt and pepper - my very own version of butter prawns, ala steamboat! And of course, there's always the usual condiments of vege, nuggets, sausages, crab sticks, fish, chicken, cuttlefish, fishballs, meat rolls, and even ice-cream! No pics of the ice-cream though. As you can see, I have two pairs of chopsticks. Why? Because a friend of mine once told me that you shouldn't use the same chopsticks you use for cooking (re: poking at the fire) for eating.



Part of the fun of steamboat outings is the squealing and yelling when the hot oil sizzles and pops. Here you can see how we cook our food. I'm cooking the nuggets and the clams. Slurp slurp. Feeling hungry yet?



And yes, the main purpose of going for a steamboat dinner is of course the steamboat itself, though I tend to focus my energy on the grilling part (can you call that grilling?)... I usually leave the soup part to my friends. They're much better cooks than I am. Especially when the food is supposed to be eaten. Teehee!



A close-up of my nuggets and clams... Sizzling, frying, the aroma of frying butter wafting up your nostrils and sticking to your clothes, hair, skin, blah blah blah... You can also see what my friends were cooking - some juicy morsels of meat (left) and a dim sum (that's what the green thing is) peeking out on the right.



So there you have it, one of the best ways to kickstart the holidays, and a tradition that has been observed for the past two years or so. Me and my friends split the bill four ways, so each of us paid RM21.50, which is really not bad for a great night out with friends! Nothing better than coming away with a little souvenir or two - burns and blisters!

Cheers!