marathon night

when the mister was outta town last week, C invited me to join her ortho team for dinner and drinks. what i wasn't prepared for, however, was the marathon night it ended up being i.e. 6pm to 6am. now no one really has dinner at 6pm but there was talk of linking up with the nurses in town after dinner. working backwards, we really did end up having dinner later than that. A is new to town and hosted us in his lovely new-built near the city centre. he's also an excellent cook and together with his friend R they prepped a feast of chicken curry, the yummiest dal this side of the indian ocean and tasty lamb mince, all served with roti or rice. C and i each brought wine, i was feeling domestic and threw in a frosted cake* for good measure, and the other guests brought more wine, sticky toffee pud and yummy scottish ice cream. conscious not to promote too hedonistic a lifestyle and have to admit this is really only my second night out in the city since starting medsch 3+ years ago. in fact, the first time was after first year exams! 

after dinner, we braved the cold (look ma, no coat!) to a pub for drinks by the original town wall, then to a club by the railway station, before ducking into a secret bar under (in? over?) the railway arches before ending in another club for dancing. no night out is without its fare share of drama (oh boy!) and as the designated married / sensible / not on the pull person it was more vicarious living as i guarded bags and drinks. not the most exciting at times, but hey. the alternatives weren't any better. left when the lights came on (my inner uncool teen is slightly thrilled to have stayed awake till past 3am) and back to A's for some curry-fueled after-partying. there was i feeling like a hero with my early train (another story) but A trumped with his being at 0700h. host with the most!

oh and the photo of C and i in our pumpkin-turned-carriage because who'd have thought our minicab would end up being a party bus with lights and all. felt it was a waste for it to be ferrying two excitable girls a short distance but the cabbie was kind and helped us take piccies heh.

*so i can't count and somehow scaled up the frosting recipe, and realised too late that i'd frosting for two cakes but only baked one. in retrospect i really should've saved the remainder for a rainy day but in reality i just had it for lunch instead. maturity ftw.