New Year, New Beginnings, New Resolutions B-D

BLESSED NEW YEAR TO ALL MY FELLOW EARTHLINGS !!!! As cliche as it may sound, lets all mark the start of the new year on a positive note by counting our blessings and putting behind all negative events of the past. So lets look forward to a beasutiful, properous, blissful year ahead; On this good day,  EAT, drink, laugh & be merry with your loved ones. Look forward to new updates, recipes and recommendations from pleasures-of-the-tongue as well=D CHEERS TO 2010 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!~

My family and i started off the year on a high note with an unforgettable party of the year, best party ever yet - credits to my dearest daddy! An awesome open-air rooftop BBQ, with AWESOME food, awesome people, awesome weather - credits to the grace of God. We ordered most of the food from BBQhouse. Garlic chicken sausages, otak, buffalo wings, 'tiger' prawns*, sweet potatoes, lamb steaks, mutton & chicken satay, beehoon, sea coconut&longan dessert. Aunt cooked splendid chicken perettal which was eaten with the beehoon/delifrance bread that Sheila Chechi brought. My mom got extra sotong balls, chicken wings(above- uncooked/cooked) and tiger prawns(above). Kala Chechi brought her delicious Jamie Oliver roasted chicken(above). And of course, there was alcohol. A range of wines, vanilla vodka, Jack Daniels whiskey and champagne. Last but not least, every BBQ must-have, marshmallows(above). I got the flavoured ones this time, in addition to the usual. Those with the fruit-flavoured jelly inside. Those were great on the grill; to be popped into your mouth as soon as they begun to balloon. One bite, and the liquidified jelly oozes into your mouth. A burst of ecstacy, i'd say. Crispy on the outside, hot and soft of the inside. The lamb was alright, though they were a little tough. Perhaps cos the BBQ dude did it a little too well done. But that's personal pref though. Some like it well done, some like it raw and juicy. I like my steaks done medium rare=) I believe steaks when cooked at a doneness any more than medium well, is overcooked. Overcooking the steak steals the juicyness and tenderness of the meat, and leave it tough and kind of dry. But some prefer it that way though. Oh well .... The otak was a la mode. My favourite is that thick otak they usually sell together with them soft steamed mantou buns at the Singapore expo foodfairs. They sell the frozen ones at NTUC too. The *tiger' prawns we ordered from BBQhouse was the greatest disappointment. They were more like little shrimp on sticks, and were dry, contradicting to how it was described on the order list as 'honey-glazed BBQ tiger prawns'. Luckily my mom got the extra tiger prawns, the real big juicy ones, that is. She marinated it with salt, like juice, and a little of the pepper paste(above) she made for the extra chicken wings she bought, which consisted of grinded black peppercorns, ginger, and garlic. It was splendid, and so were the marinated chicken wings, to which she added wholegrain mustard and raw honey too. Back at my place, minutes before midnight, supper was served, that was the salad(above) we made; sliced strawberries, bananas, lemon curd, raisins and cereal. simple and sweet:) smth healthy to balance out all that we had devoured earlier. We enjoyed that while watching the countdown on TV. The remains of my oreo raspberry cheesecake I had made the beginning of the week was gone too. The endless compliments I received about t was a great encouragement to my culinary fetish and sent me over the moon=D
A lesson learnt which my dad and I both agreed on was that for future BBQs, it'll be better if we buy our own food instead of ordering. That way, we know what we buy; what we see is what we get=) Well, i'm planning on organizing a BBQ for 4G and the YJ makkalz very soon. I've already got the menu all planned out in my head, so stay tuned !xD
Once again, a very blessed New Year to ALL OF YOU. Toodles !~