Eating outside is an angmoh thing. English people love it. So when I turned my carport in to my dining room (my house is not big, this was valuable square footage that my car didn’t deserve) some people didn’t bat an eyelid.

Some of my non-angmoh friends freaked out: “But where will you park your car?” seemed to be the main concern.  Luckily my road has masses of on-street parking, so that was one problem solved.

There were a few others though.  Mainly that it’s actually damn hot to eat dinner outside, especially if the day has been a particular scorcher.

So, to chi-chi up my carport-cum-dining room and make it slightly more bearable from a heat perspective, I popped down to my local wet market and bought bundles of lovely rattan fans. All at just $1 each, I now tie them with ribbon to the handle of each dining chair when I have a dinner party.

Who’d have thought it? All this from the girl who had to ask her mother-in-law last week how to boil an egg. *Blush*

(Actually in my defense, it IS quite difficult. I mean, there are a lot of factors to take in to consideration. Is the water at a rolling boil or cold? Are the eggs from the fridge or at room temperature? If anyone else also has difficulty in this department, the rather curt/shocked reply I received and have now noted down in permanent marker on the tiles just above the hob is boiling, 4 minutes.)

Unlaid table image courtesy of Teak Furniture