New Year's Eve in Thailand

Restaurant Name?
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Tonight on New Year's Eve 2018, Don and I are at home in Texas... watching TV... remembering a year ago when we dined at a restaurant in Thailand. I cannot remember the name and this photo does not help me. I will call it Cafe on the Canal.

Remembering Our New Year's Eve Feast
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Last year, we dined with our daughter-in-law, Chali’s family, while visiting their Bangkok home. The Cafe on the Canal, was just across the street from their house, in a cozy neighborhood, far from the touristy city.

Borrowing the Menu
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​It was nearly 10 pm when we thought about heading over for dinner.

Chali's mom, Linda, wanted to place our order ahead of time. Someone ran over to grab a menu and came back with a laminated sign, showing all the options. 

In the States, we've feasted on Linda's fabulous Thai cooking, many times. But when visiting their Thai home, there were so many dining choices, just steps from the house. Linda was eager to order us up a meal, that we could never find in TX!

 
​From the Canal

It was dark when our group headed over for dinner. A few days before, we had seen the restaurant in daylight, while on a canal tour. 

On New Year's Eve we headed over, past an opening to a small dining room. It looked like it would seat about 10.

Luckily that was just a small inside space. There was ample seating on the deck, on that balmy night.

Tableful of Food
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The canal-side deck was fairly quiet at 10 pm. The live music had already finished up and tables were beginning to clear, just as our table began to fill with food.

Cheers

​There were a few toasts to the New Year and a special toast for our daughter's fiance. Jamie was not feeling well and he was in bed, across the street..

Then we dug into our fabulous foods. It's impossible to remember all the dishes we devoured, but Linda chose well and we did not go hungry. I must have used about 50 tissue-type napkins, from the little dispenser..

Surprise Visits

While finishing up our meal, Chali and Scott got a surprise visit and a wedding gift.

The newlyweds were quite the neighborhood celebrities, since their Thai wedding (a few days before) had pretty much involved the whole neighborhood... starting with a procession in the street. 
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More Socializing
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At some point a grandma appeared, showing off a 2 month old baby. Chali and Linda cooed and took photos. The whole evening felt like we were celebrating in someone's home.

Popcorn Time
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After we were finished feasting, we decided it was time for the fish in the canal, to have their own feast. Chali's brother dashed home and came back with the giant (Van Gogh decorated) tub of popcorn, that I had lugged home that day, from a movie theatre in the city.

Happy Fish

Alex was right. The fish did love the popcorn.

I was glad to see the leftover movie snack had not gone to waste.

Post Meal Fun
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By 11, the tables were all cleared and floors were being swept... but we weren't ready to head off, quite yet.

Linda and I did some mom-photo-posing, first.

Then we moved down a level, to the ping pong table.

With some World Leaders looking on from their portraits, we played quite a few ping pong matches. Luckily Linda had checked ahead of time and discovered no paddles & balls. She made sure we did some ping pong equipment shopping, earlier that day. We made good use!

Back in Time For Midnight
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We finished up the matches, while the staff finished cleaning the dishes. Then we were back at the house in less than a minute. We cheered with champagne at midnight, then headed to the terrace to view the moon, which looked pretty full to me!

​Back Again
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The Cafe on the Canal, saw us a few more times during our stay. Luckily Jamie's ailment lifted and he was able to feast on the incredible catfish dish that Heidi raved about. I can't remember specifics about the foods I ate, except that they were delicious and plentiful.

I so wish I could snap fingers and be right back there (with the whole bunch) on this quiet, New Year's Eve!