I'd Almost Forgotten

The title is something that people say a lot as they get older, I think. Well certainly I do for whenever something happens, quite often I remember another incident from a while back where something similar happened and I think this. Well recently that came back again over a series of evenings spent eating.

Sounds silly I know but if you've read an earlier blog post of mine you'd have read that I injured my calf muscle playing tennis, which is an injury that only time heals. And in this case it took 7 weeks of almost total inactivity (I exclude walking here) before I ventured back out onto the court again and on that occasion most gingerly. My timing was off and almost all of my movement was very wary so the result was pretty dismal overall. But at least I made it through the game(s) without reinjuring myself which is something that I have done fairly regularly in the past. So, all good then.

What I had forgotten though.... well almost.... was the structure and order of tennis matches as played at Penang Sports Club.

As I sit typing this blog, I am in Bermuda for our annual pilgrimage and only a couple of days ago I met for lunch with my regular tennis buddies (Friday) and on the following day played tennis at Pomander Gate's court number 2 (of course) and then sat under the palm trees drinking beer and talking nonsense for several hours. The first thing one of my buddies did when he arrived for lunch on Friday (this is Wilfred) was order 4 Tequilas and then came the chickens of red wine and then.... well it all ended fairly badly of course. But that was the realistic expectation going in had one had the wit to look back on past history and run the comparison ruler across this occasion versus so many others.  That is the structure and order of my tennis in Bermuda. I do wonder whether I or anyone else could possibly have any sort of alternative impact on similar occasions in the future.  Wilfred will always order the opening tequilas and the red wine chickens will always flow. That is what happens so all that stuff about only eating salad and drinking mineral water, however good and worthy it sounds, simply ain't going to happen.

Now my seven weeks of inactivity were not the same. It started with total inactivity and RICE (rest, ice, compression and elevation) which in my case meant lying on the couch for a few days watching mostly TV sport. This sounds great but in reality after a day and a half of this, I was going nuts. I cannot imagine how really sick people cope with this. It is appalling. Dull and boring, yes, but the worst part is how you feel not being able to do anything even though your mind is just about firing on all cylinders. I resorted to chocolate during this RICE stage and thankfully it was only for the first two or three days before I was able to get up and motor around a little more every day.

Looking back from here, Viv and I did quite a bit in this time including going to Sabah for 10 days so it wasn't all bad but it did help me forget about tennis. Quite a bit in fact. I made all sorts of resolutions that realistically I will never keep: I'll probably only want to play tennis 2 or 3 times a week; cut back on the post match beers; do a strenuous hike once or twice a week (they are actually great in Penang); and several more involving lettuce and no chicken rice. Then Viv went away for a couple of weeks with her mum, Anna, and I started thinking about tennis again.

It started with the feeling that my leg was pretty much OK and I did a couple of heavy hikes with Viv's brother Anton and wife Catherine (well heavy to me anyway. They had no problems) which felt just fine. So I contacted some guys to see if they'd mind having a none too stenuous doubles with me and they said OK. So we played and all went well and afterwards we sat down and ....

.... this is the bit that I'd almost forgotten....

... for the tradition at Penang Sports Club is that after the match you sit down under the stars with your doubles group and drink beer (or whatever else takes your fancy). Losers pay first. Some times this goes fairly quickly but on others people seem to have a thirst that cannot be quenched. Also, and this was very nice, quite a number of others dropped by to enquire about my injury and then sit down for a beer. So it was one of those occasions and of course at the end, someone said "what about dinner?"

Usually it ends up with anywhere from 6 to 10 people joining in.

First was curry mee (noodles) and deep fried fish belly....

Penang style white curry meets with minced pork, deep fried snapper belly, deep fried fish skin, chicken and veggies steamed, local Penang sausage called Loh Bak

Next was an amazing and awesome steamboat...

Steam buns, deep fried squid, shrimp, clams, scallops, long razor type clams, chicken, fish balls, more squid, veggies, rice porridge... never ending

Next was the seafood restaurant at that famous but weird place on Green Lane in the rain....

Shrimp in maggi sauce, the specialty -- spicy crab, steamed curried fish, veggie omelette...

Next was Korean at the place nearby...

Pickles, kimchee, more shrimp, pork belly, curry noodles... too difficult to name them all

Next was the champagne brunch at the wine shop....

Oysters, smoked salmon, artisanal cheeses and cold meats, lamp rack, wagyu beef...

Next was the Japanese home style cooking ....

Fish balls, deep fried shrimp, grilled eel, grilled small fish, raw baby squid, traditional spider rolls, grilled mackerel, crab, Japanese curry noodles...

And then, and then, and then.... Viv and I left Penang holding our tummies and thanking goodness that we were leaving for Bermuda on our pilgrimage when we could lighten up a little on the eating until we arrived in Toronto (our waypoint) when first thing we did was....

Ribeye at Barbarians in Toronto!!!