Last meal of the year

I didn't want to get drunk in a crowded place anywhere in town where u might end up kissing and hugging complete strangers after the countdown....then fight for a cab with the same morons that you earlier had just wished good tidings to. I settled on staying home to cook myself dinner and enjoy a bottle of wine. But Arthur called and suggested going over to his place instead and decided to go after giving it some thought.


Upon arrival I could hear 70's disco blasting from inside the house. And the disco ball was out. I was in for a long night....but at least it wasn't karaoke....We had bubbly and cashew nuts with Chaka Khan, Donnie and Marie, Gloria Gaynor, Karen Young, Andy Gibb, Nicolette Larson and many other obscure, bell-bottomed and big haired individuals.

Even the dogs stick their tongues out at the general distaste of the music.

We went for dinner at the nearby restaurant which serves very decent Cantonese zhe char. We had long beans with miced meat, beansprouts with salted fish, sweet and sour pork, deep fried groupa with a soya sauce gravy and roasted chicken.


Picked beansprouts-what a waste of time and flavour

After dinner we hobbled our bloated selves back to the apartment and drank more champagne. Arthur got back to mixing his disco records. William laid back on the chaise and I lounged on the sofa fending off sleep by playing with the dogs.

Close to midnight, William was fast asleep while Arthur was DJ-ing with great fervor. I poured myself another glass of bubbly. It was a nice, low-key way to welcome the New Year, though I wasn't drunk. Arthur seemed sleepy so I called for a cab before it was too late to get one(I had an early day the next day anyway). I went home and tried to get all that disco music out of my head by blasting my favorite Pizzicato Five album and finishing half a bottle of wine at the same time before dozing off on the ottoman to loony Japanese tunes...

X'mas

OK I am not Christian and do not celebrate Christmas but I did celebrated the food associated with the religious holiday last night. I managed to get the house clean in time before the guests arrived (I started cleaning the house 5 days before the party. The house was a total mess...Its hard cleaning up after a slob of a brother who has no regard for cleanliness or order. Falling sick days before the party from the lack of sleep didn't help either. Nor did handling the pre-holiday rush at work and having to plan the office party make things any easier. But I lived to see the day.

I was up early on Christmas day, half panicking and wondering if the whole thing would be a disaster. Syareena and Rehan were the first to arrive with Syareena's mum's oven and ingredients for the tiramisu that they prepared at my place. Apart from the turkey I also prepared chocolate truffles, though I hadn't had enough time to shape and coat them in cocoa powder(but have Sheila to thank for helping me with that). Herda came next and assisted me in making the turkey dressing and also prepared some pretty salmon rolls with cream cheese and coriander.

There were starters of a topshell salsa with nachos which I think went well with almost everyone followed by Herda's salmon rolls. I think i tried to do to much in one night....cleaning, cooking, lighting tea lights, checking on the food, mulling wine... but did get by with a little help from everyone. Guhan helped set the table though there was a slight crisis when we realised we were short on cutlery. We did get some from digging the drawers and found some airline cutlery that my dad is famous for nicking off flights. Then there was a temporary chair crisis but that too was quickly rectified. Arthur dressed the table and it really looked like quite a chi-chi affair whilst ironically drinking from plastic cups.

But I think things turned out pretty well.... the turkey was moist and flavourful and Syareena's cornbread, Syereen's full cream milk mash, Shan's shepherd's pie and Rehan's tiramisu were all a hit. I was never a fan of tiramisu, but what they whipped up was not like any that I have had before. It usually tasted too strong of alcohol or runny but theirs seemed perfect. Fan Fan brought some freshly made strawberry sauce that she intended to serve with a bottle of low-cost champagne but was instead used as an excellent substitute for cranberry sauce. I could not really taste all the food on my plate. There was just too much and I was really tired. But I could tell that it all tasted home made and good. Playful banter and laughs dotted dinner time conversation though I was pretty tired from cutting the turkey. After dinner we sat around and had tiramisu and contreau. I must say that the meal was pretty much a success. I wonder if I have achieved Martha Stewart status yet....

Further into the night Syareena saw what looked like a dead cat in the middle of the road. Fan Fan and Shan went down to investigate and when they came back, Fan Fan concluded that it was "a piece of hard object". Go figure.

Myth busters at work.

Funeral Food

Shan's grandma passed away yesterday. I wanted to go yesterday but was advised by Shan to come today instead as the food would be better. I am not big on eating at wakes or funerals but I thought for the sake of this blog it would be interesting. It was almost 11.30pm when I arrived and it was pretty quiet. Found Shan manning the donation register book though I was expecting to see her manning the mahjong table instead.


The food was buffet style: psuedo pineapple rice, coconutty chicken curry that i dare not try, stir fried mixed veg, sweet and sour pork chops and greasy nor hiang. I was still fairly full from a late dinner in the office but gave the food a go. The pineapple rice was cold and had gone a bit hard from being under the burners too long and the rest of the dishes were ok but cold... We did stuff our face with kuachi and peanuts which i washed down with grass power, a wheat grass drink.

Before we left Shan showed us the paper effigies that were to be burnt and it was pretty intricate. Shown in the picture is the opening to the paper house complete with table, chairs and painting.(i found out later that it was damaged when the wind blew some flying chairs onto it)

Meat thermometer

Ok there is really no turning back now. I better make that turkey no matter what. I just blew 30 bucks on a meat thermometer. I will need to make a roast for Deepavali and a rack of lamb for Onam if I want to get any mileage out of it.

Baster

I bought a baster today for my attempt at making a turkey on X'mas. Guess if I don't use it I can give it to a lesbian who wants to conceive.