My Last Birthday In My Twenties!

Yes, I organized a small BBQ cum birthday party to celebrate my last birthday in my twenties. And did I mention the effort of making the red velvet cake twice? (Yes I know I did!)

Anyway, since turning 29 is something really great to shout about (in my books, at least), I chose to invite only the closest friends, neighbours and family to this gathering. I wanted to make sure that I could spend quality time with each of my guests, as opposed to the "eh hi, eh bye" approach I had to adopt during Aiden's last birthday party cum housewarming due to the overwhelming number of guests. And I discovered something interesting, I actually like having a smaller crowd! Not to mention that I could still feel my feet by the end of the night. (Right after Aiden's birthday I could barely feel the soles of my feet and crashed on the sofa in front of the TV while my precious family helped clean up.)

What made this event sweeter was apart from making my own birthday cake, nearly all of the goodies we served that night were either baked or cooked by my own two hands! I only ordered fried meehoon and marinated chicken and lamb for the BBQ, and some guests brought food to contribute. Everything else? Homemade! The ratio of homemade versus purchased was so great that it was actually easier to tell my guests what was bought/ordered than what was homemade. So naturally, this is a post full of pictures of food, so warning - if you're on a diet, stay away!

P.S: Apologies for the grainy pictures from my trusty ol' iPhone. It doesn't really produce great pictures for a night event and it was the only handy camera around.

Blood red cake batter *drool*

Told you practice makes perfect. A somewhat even layer of cream cheese frosting. And since I am definitely not artistic, I enlisted Hubby's help to sketch an outline for the icing wording.

Made nyummy pavlova as well. I love my pavlova served with strawberries, blueberries and kiwis - very interesting colour combination.

I had made the pavlova meringue base the night before the event so that it could cool in the oven overnight. The next morning I gingerly lifted it out, carefully placed the meringue on the dining table and covered it with a layer of foil to protect it. And along came Hubby (who claimed that he didn't know about the existence of the meringue) and proceeded to crush my precious meringue with a stack of magazines. Yes. Thank you Hubby.

Recipe you say? Soon!

What BBQ would be complete without roast chicken?

Jamie Oliver style. See the lemon hanging out of the chicken? Classic!

Another homemade goodie - tiramisu!

I baked carrot cupcakes too. All because I found those adorable cupcake holders at the bakery shop.

With my favourite cream cheese topping. Excuse the melting topping - these were my first batch and I couldn't wait for the cupcakes to cool before topping them.

This batch looks much better.

The cake. Yes, I am finally 29!

Homemade coleslaw and mashed potatoes.

Homemade shepherd's pie. With nasi impit for the satay, courtesy of my in-laws.

The roast chicken in action.

Homemade trifle. Although technically I did not make these myself. A couple of my closest neighbours came over in the morning of the event and made these for me.

Nyummy dadih and aiskrim Malaysia courtesy of a friend and a neighbour respectively. Thank you girls!

The grill in action. BBQ set courtesy of a neighbour. Thank you dear!

The lamb was of course the fastest to disappear. And I thought the marinate was good, especially since the rosemary for the marinate came from our own garden!

The garden set up.

We had 4 tables out in our garden and everyone was dining under the stars. Thank god for the clear weather that night (since it was raining cats and dogs every night the days before and after the event)! We even had a football net in the garden so the kiddos were out kicking balls while their parents had their meals in peace.

The massacre afterwards.

What was left of the birthday cake.

And the remains of the roast chicken.

Tacos and otak-otak - thanks girls. And kuah durian made by my MIL.

Finish!

My last guests to leave.

Time to clean the grill!

Flowers from dear Hubby were the center piece for the night.

And they bloomed just before the night ended.

At the tender age of 29, I am still receiving presents from people other than family? Wow!

Thank you girls, you know who you are!

And guess how I celebrated my actual birthday the next day? By going for a 3-day offshore training....

Where I would have to jump from a 3 meter platform, escape froman upturned helicopter and crawling in a dark room. Oooohhh fun fun fun!

So why offshore training? Wait till my next post!