Saturday, November 10, 2007

Open House Batch No 4 : Done

Gosh! When will she stop talking about open house?

He he.

Last Friday night was probably the most ultimate open house I had. The guests were about 60 plus. Most of them are, I can say, my closest friend here. You know the kind of people that you WANT them to stay longer at your house. Those who can go straight to your kitchen and make themselves comfortable. Those who can korek periuk for extra servings.

I cooked:-

Nasi minyak sprinkled with saffron and raisins
Dried chicken curry
Acar nanas and timun (pineapples and cucumber pickle)

Mee curry
with fried chicken chop chop (for description in photo form refer HERE)
Fried chickenlah of course
Accessoriesnya

Surprises of Rojak Pasembor ala Lollies
which is a mix of
springrolls
Crispy tepung goreng (sliced)
sliced boiled eggs
Things fried in special batter
prawn
calamari
chicken breasts (cut in strips)
sliced cucumber

The Rojak surprise was to be eaten with peanut sauce

Marble pudding

Air sirap bandung

Teh tarik

Cofee susu panas (brand Kenco)

I couldn't make extra desserts because I had to run to another open house during the day.

Phew!! I was really tired at the end of the day. The most painstaking job must be the rojak surprise. There were just so many things to do for the dish. The frying. the slicing. Including the peanut sauce which thankfully i roasted the peanuts days before.

But everyone attacked it and it was gone in like ten minutes. Tinggal timun je sikit. Me happy!

I had a few worries before the open house. First, because there was a bigger co joined open house during the day where most of the cooking experts in D0ha cooked. There were nasi kerabu, mee hoon soup and LAKSA SARAWAK (oohh sedapnya). In fact a few of my guests told me not to do it at the very same night but I was adamant. But I was still worried that people won't be eating since they might be full. And worst most of the hosts for that big open house were my guests. Errkkss.

My next worry is as usual, would the food be enough? What if I underestimated their tummy?

My biggest worry was probably, that most of my guests are experts. The kind who can whip out dishes for hundred of people with eyes closed. the kind who keep big pots and pans and warmers and periuk nasi and long sudips and big senduks in their house stores. The kind that have the individual tunku api to cook outside their house for kawah style. Oh I have been mixing with them and I know that they have taste for food. And can be particular especially if you are cooking malay food. Sambal ikan bilis tak kaw, memang slowlah dia orang. Not that they say it out loud, but I know. So worry worry. But again I was adamant. Because my niyat is to call people over and hope that even if the food was bad, they can still enjoy themselves. But pray notlah.

So cook with love and feel happy. Those are the magic ingredients.

Alhamdullilah they LOVE LOVE LOVE the food. They love the mee curry. the love the dried chicken curry I made. My nasik minyak turned out perfect. They even suggested I opened a restaurant. Oh how kembang. And people rushed to the dining table. It was almost chaos. Its either the food was too good or it just appear rowdy because the place is too small. But people were laughing, shouting and jesting at each other. It was like pasar chow kit for a moment.

Despite people claiming that they are full due to the earlier open house, they added more plates and bowls. Oh I was delighted. I love my friends. All my tiredness? Gone!

And as expected most of the ladies made themselves comfortable in my kitchen. Those with little babies mostly sat in front of the TV. The men in the majlees. Some playing 400. Mostly chat away. One guy even slept, after eating, on my arab sofa.

The children played in my kids' room and some outside.

They left at somewhat midnight.

That night, I was really tired. But somehow I was too excited to sleep. I went chatting the night away with my lover.

I slept happy remembering my funny friends.

I also slept, a happy goddess.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ooo wiii.. way to go my friend... a restaurante to be opened soon!! Glad that you are happy with friends over there. May the SIL keep on stronger each day.

Nanti jangan lupa jemput I bila buat open house kat mesia..

Eddie Putera said...

tulah..betul kata ummi. make sure kat mesia nanti ajak kita rang gaks..

Lollies said...

ummi - hahahaha. tak adalah restoren tu. cakap-cakap kosong aje. but yes hope the rahim gets a stronger SIL kan?

djin - uhuk uhuk. tersedak

Theta said...

Ahhh...laksa sarawak brings back memories ;-)

Wow, sounds quite hectic but worth it especially after you see the end-results, right?

Well-rested dear Lollies! You deserve it.

Anonymous said...

Lollies nak recipe for the batter to fry udang and sotong. Mine always tak lekat one..

Mulan said...

wooowwwweeee... u memang superwoman...!!! jeng, jeng.. bikin cafe/restaurant there & then i boleh promote satu globe.. "lollies cafe" in doha, qatar..