The orange gathering Friday happened! I was amazed that at one time there were over 30 people in my apartment milling around, drinking, eating and admiring the wall. The beginning of the party was — as always — frantic with me still preparing things. But all in all, I think it went down OK and the last crowd left at 4 a.m.
The good thing about the party was that all my neighbors came, so it was good to get to know them a little bit more. And no one complained. And I danced some. A night of fun — and quite possibly the promise of more social gatherings as they're so much fun to plan.
Yesterday, was an experience like none other. The very amazing Scott, Anthony and I partook in a culinary expedition (my words!) of Southeast Asia. Scott and I had talked a long time about having one day to choose exotic recipes and spend the day gathering the ingredients and spend the evening cooking it.
Scott chose a paneer mughlai. I went for a Balinese panfried catfish with spicy coconut sauce. We had a side of baby bak choy, carrots and apple salad, and rice and parathas. I made chocolate custard cups for dessert.
Almost everything we made was from scratch (only exception were the parathas). It was a hectic afternoon as we rushed to different stores trying to find kencur root, paneer, galagal root candlenuts. Unfortunately, some ingredients were a bit too exotic for Knoxville, so we had to make do.
We got back home at 5 and started prepping and cooking. This was the first time I shared my kitchen with someone cooking a full separate dish, so it took some getting used to. But we did just fine.
The cooking went underway almost without a hitch. There was a cut here, spilled boiling water there, but all in all fairly successful. I was a little worried about the base gede. I'm sure the Balinese version is quite different from the one I made, but it still turned out OK.
We had our sit-down dinner a little after 9. We were all surprised at how good the paneer, fish, salad and chocolate custard cups came out. A debate on the progressive movement accompanied the dinner. It made for a perfect day and cap to a delightful weekend.
The good thing about the party was that all my neighbors came, so it was good to get to know them a little bit more. And no one complained. And I danced some. A night of fun — and quite possibly the promise of more social gatherings as they're so much fun to plan.
Yesterday, was an experience like none other. The very amazing Scott, Anthony and I partook in a culinary expedition (my words!) of Southeast Asia. Scott and I had talked a long time about having one day to choose exotic recipes and spend the day gathering the ingredients and spend the evening cooking it.
Scott chose a paneer mughlai. I went for a Balinese panfried catfish with spicy coconut sauce. We had a side of baby bak choy, carrots and apple salad, and rice and parathas. I made chocolate custard cups for dessert.
Almost everything we made was from scratch (only exception were the parathas). It was a hectic afternoon as we rushed to different stores trying to find kencur root, paneer, galagal root candlenuts. Unfortunately, some ingredients were a bit too exotic for Knoxville, so we had to make do.
We got back home at 5 and started prepping and cooking. This was the first time I shared my kitchen with someone cooking a full separate dish, so it took some getting used to. But we did just fine.
The cooking went underway almost without a hitch. There was a cut here, spilled boiling water there, but all in all fairly successful. I was a little worried about the base gede. I'm sure the Balinese version is quite different from the one I made, but it still turned out OK.
We had our sit-down dinner a little after 9. We were all surprised at how good the paneer, fish, salad and chocolate custard cups came out. A debate on the progressive movement accompanied the dinner. It made for a perfect day and cap to a delightful weekend.
Posted by Jigsha at 8/02/2004 01:57:00 PM | link to entry |
