Another awesome party at our place

Wow, yet another birthday-related post. What did I tell ya? The kangaroo’s birthday celebrations were as long as an Indian wedding. Many thanks to all who made it happen.

We squeezed about 20 people into our small one-bedroom apartment last Saturday night for some bad-ass karaoke singing. I got the karaoke set for his birthday pressie and we both agreed that this was the best party investment ever.

That’s the kangaroo getting the ball rolling. It didn’t take very long for others to follow suit.

Party notes: The last party-goer left at 4am while one neighbour joined in happily (he heard us singing at 1am) but another neighbour stomped in and was furious, “It’s 2am in the morning!” — with his shoes on (no respect, yo). Old and new friends came to partake and the kangaroo was really touched that they all made it.

Folks who were really shy came out of the closet and rocked the mike till the wee hours of the morning — you know who you are. There aren’t many nice photos in my camera of this amazing event so what I’m about to show you is not how it really went down. But hey, at least you get to see what I made for the party.

Buffet spread on the dining table.

Japanese snacks.

Marinated mushrooms with pesto pate.

Pineapple salsa.

Veggie sticks with raw ranch dip.

Baby tomatoes and mozzarella lollipops and guacamole and corn chips.

Watercress, daikon, seaweed salad tossed in yuzu and sesame oil.

Mixed green salad with pecans, dried cherries, cucumber, tomatoes, and raw Italian dressing.

Strawberries and vegan chocolate sauce.

Snack platter with nuts, cheddar cheese cubes, cherries, and olives.

Yakitori…bacon wrapped asparagus and baby tomatoes, sausages, chicken, pork and beef. Not pictured are the beef rendang (Singaporean beef curry) and yakisoba.

Some people wonder why I would go through all this trouble to prepare food from scratch — why not order a huge tray of sushi, or pizza, or takeout? Well, I wouldn’t say I made 100% of the food, but I’d like at least to offer good, wholesome, tasty nosh to my guests that isn’t laced with MSG and other crap. I mean, such food tastes so cheap and insincere.

BUT, if I get invited to someone else’s home and there’s takeout, I’m not going to scoff at it. Far from it, in fact, I would happily eat whatever is on offer. I recognize that not everyone has the time or patience to make an elaborate feast but I’m just a bit of a…traditionalist when it comes to my own home — this is something I discovered about myself after I moved away from Singapore. My mother always cooked up a storm when there was a birthday celebration and we used to go to my grandaunt’s when we were kids for an enormous Peranakan dinner spread every other Sunday. I think what’s going on is that we bring what we value to our new homes to make it like home.

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