2010 couldn't have kicked of in a better way. Couple of months ago I suggested we all went for an island retreat some time around New Year cos I know most of us needed the break especially those overworked ones (no, I'm not referring to the one who gets of at 6.15pm and claims to be overworked). But due to some unforeseen circumstances or rather typical Malaysian 'besok lusa' mentality, it did not happen. So I thought it would be nice to have a BBQ. Not just any BBQ, no, when I suggest a BBQ, it has to be LEGENDARY!
Yong doing work, one for the album indeed...
Quite frankly, I'm kinda sick with the chicken wings and measly looking hotdogs on the fire, well I thought of making a comparison bout the hot dogs but I guess I'd better not. Now don't get me wrong, I do enjoy BBQs in the past with all those stuff and all, especially thankful to the people who took the time to organize and cook but I think its time for an upgrade. So up popped my idea of having the most legendary BBQ to date with burgers, lamb and cheese sausages amongst others.
I give you, "The Pit"...
So as the days drew closer, plans started to come together and the necessary stuff and ingredients were bought. Heck we were so ecstatic bout it that we went shopping at 9am on New Years Day! We manage to delegate jobs to those who were there and me being me, the only thing I was interested in doing was the burgers! I thought, "Hey, all those years of eating McD, Burger King, Carl's Junior, A&W, Ramli Burger, Burger Maut, etc. should give me quite a good idea of how to make an awesome burger rite?".
If you smell what the chef is cookin'...
Now besides the awesome food, what else is essential in making an epic BBQ happen? Why the BBQ pit itself of course. None of us had those high end BBQ grills that have temperature control and the one that Liang had was well, a bit too small for my plans. Wanted to use those for the sausages though. But I figured, we have like 4.5 qualified engineers around (the 0.5 comes from yours truly with a diploma :P), impossible we can't design a grill right? Oh and we have a medic in training in case shit happened. We have the resources, so how hard could it be? With some help from my dad, Zhou, Daryl, Yong and Phang came out with what I must say is a marvellous piece of engineering.
Awesomeness at work...
As for me, I was busy making ketchup, yes ketchup. Zhou at first asked why make when you can buy. After giving him 'the look' and giving him a taste of my concoction, I guess he knew then. Though not all of our food was 100% self made. Example, Yong was suppose to do the marinade for the lamb himself but his mom got in the way. Zhou was suppose to make croquette (sorry if spelling wrong ah, my england not the powderful) but his grandma took over and my mom had a hand in my burger making attempt. Thankful we are, cos without them, who knows what we would've been eating.
The dude staring at the camera wanted to ditch this and go Penang instead...
Anyways, when it came time to start the fire, it started to drizzle so with a slight change of location, THE BBQ got under way. See not even that imaginary person in the sky could stop me :P. Had Daryl and Phang on duty for the lamb. And I have to admit, Tesco marinaded lamb tastes pretty damn good! Of cos the home marinade one kicked Tesco butt lah but hey. I guess hours watching the Asian Food Channel on Astro thought me a thing or 2 about determining how well done to cook meat cos the ones that came out were tender, juicy and I have to say perfect! So kudos to the chefs!
Concentration is key to perfect grilling...
Next up was the burgers, already before it got on the grill, I proudly announced it was gonna kick so much ass, this burgers eat Burger Mauts for breakfast! This time, I took over the grill cos I wasn't gonna let anyone else mess with nothing less then perfection. Yes yes, I am gloating quite a lot here but hey, its my party and I do what I want to rite :P. Anyhow, remembering important tips to cooking the burgers surely did help, namely 1) Do not turn them until one side is done 2) Do not press down on the burgers. And how did it turn out in the end? I guess it was THAT good that no one bothered to take pictures of people eating em. All busy stuffing their face full. Well, the look on their faces says it all and for me, a job well done. Mr. Yeah even said it was better than McDs, and coming from him, I take that as the utmost compliment!
My master pieces...
Well, after the starters and mains, everyone was visibly stuffed like a Christmas turkey but the night was still young so what better way to carry on then to have a drinking game? Now while we were out shopping, me and Yong asked the rest who followed us who wanted to drink and one by one said 'no' or assume those not around would not. So fine, we just bought 1 bottle of tequilla. When the games got underway however, one by one begin to show their stripes and drank along.
Ahem, step one to cook an awesome burger is...
I for one was pleased cos if it was just me and Yong and Zhou drinking, it wouldn't be so fun. And thankfully Siang became our saviour by bringing a half bottle of Absolut which we cleaned dry as well! This couldn't have been achieved if not for Yong's brilliant idea for a drinking game. I was surprised to see how fast the drinks went! Another good thing for me was that no one puked or got wasted. Though I think some were pretty close to!
Great food deserves great company...
Before calling it a night, I had one more surprised up my sleeve : Peanut butter banana shake. Granted that night's batch wasn't my finest. Think the one earlier in the day was better. For those who want to know, inspiration came from Paddington's House of Pancakes. And after the cleaning up, everyone went home at 3 am. I really do hope everyone had a blast and by the looks of it at the end of the day, I hope I have my reputation intact (cyeh, 'sif I have one to begin with o.O). Drew pointed out that it was the same time that I actually said it would end on Facebook, now hows that for good hosting!
When the drinks start pouring, the horns start growing...
The next day, I was seriously burnt out. Don't know if it was the excessive indulging of good food or the way I slept and certainly not the liquor, but I felt very lethargic and aching. Haha, signs of old age. Slept almost the whole day in fact. But most importantly, NO trips to the toilet for unscheduled stops! Asked a few of them and seems that everyone did not suffer from any food poisoning. Hahaha. Daryl and me were relieved to hear that. Unless of course someone contracts mad cow disease within the next 10-14 days and turns into zombies!
One for the road before he jets to the States...
Of course couldn't have done it without the help of everyone who cleaned, carried, arranged, cooked that day. So as cliché a speech as it gets, without you guys (and girl) being there, it wouldn't have been LEGEN...wait for it...DARY! For those who must be wondering why or where I keep/get that line, here's the man himself to explain:
Oh, I really do hope the next one (when ever , where ever) will be better then this!
