Kyspeaks.com

Another year, another Xmas party at SS3. This was the 9th Xmas party we had at my place since I moved here, with the exception of 2010.

As every year, we had a bit of food, plenty to drink (thanks to Carlsberg Malaysia for a case of Carlsberg, Asahi, Kronenbourg Blanc, and Somersby each), and a fun filled gift exchange program.

xmas eve party at KY’s, 2013

This year, we used our gas grill for some pork chop that I marinated, and set up another charcoal grill for our Muslim friends.

Party got started at around 8, and we were lucky that the weather cooperated despite Accuweather forecasted a bit of thunderstorm, so thank you for lying again, Accuweather!

we had a non-halal and a halal grill going on

There were a lot of new faces as well as returning friends to the party this year.

Those who were here before:

KY, Haze, Horng, Yuki, EeLaine, Suan, David, Winnie, Michael, Lance, Melissa, Ruby, Douglas, Yee Hou.

it took Fresh 8 tries to finally get her gift – a water gun

And the new faces who joined us this year:

Evelyn, Dennis, Pearl, Pearl’s bf, Ruby’s guy, Suching, Pauline, Kelly, Sheng, Min, Shah, Angel, Fuad, Ecky, Sat, Sliz, Jon, Latha, Lisa.

So it was 14 + 19 = 33 people, right around our average every year, a big thank you for everyone who made it. For those who missed the party, next year ya!

my gift was MyKuali white curry mee, was a hit!

As usual, our gift exchange had some different rules to the norm:

• every participant contribute a gift worth over RM 30, and then draw a number from the box
• smallest number start by picking and unwrapping a gift
• next number can snatch the opened gift, whereby the person who lost it gets to choose another gift, or snatch another opened gift
• you’re not allowed to snatch the same gift you had before

Kelly, SuChing, Ecky, Haze, Angel, Dennis, Melissa, Eelaine

Just to mess up with the guys, I actually gave a pretty good gift this year – 16 packs of MyKuali Penang white curry mee instant noodle. Arguably the most sought after instant noodle on the market right now, it exchanged hands 6 different times and finally ended up on Winnie’s possession.

Ruby’s guy, Sheng, David, Shah, Sliz, Ruby, Horng, Min

The biggest victim of the night was Fresh, she took 8 tries before finally settled on the water gun that she can use to torment Cendawan, all her other gifts (snatched or opened) were taken by other people, so many highs and so many disappointments, hahaha.

Douglas, Suching, Pauline, Pearl’s guy, Yee Hou, Lance, Melissa, Fuad

Some of the other highly saught after gifts include a bottle of Jack Daniel, a Joker figurine, a pair of wide angle & fisheye lens for smart phone (I got it!), a pack of Somersby apple cider, nanodots magnet toy, a bag of bacon, number 8 magic ball, tumbler, tictac, and more.

It was a fun night and I hope everyone enjoyed. The men in blue never came this year, breaking a tradition of sort.

See you guys next year!

And it was another Xmas Eve Party at SS3, a yearly tradition that we’ve had since 2004 (except for 2010), if you’re counting, this was the 8th time on the same venue with the same concept – plenty of drinks, a bit of food, and a tricky gift exchange program by midnight.

The idea is for everyone to have some fun counting down to Christmas day, and at the same time an excuse to have a few drinks and mingle among like minded friends.

xmas eve party at SS3, 2012

Carlsberg Malaysia was kind enough to sponsor us some beer for the night – we had 2 cases of Carlsberg, Asashi Super Dry, and Kronenbourg Blanc each. Thank you Pearl, Calvin, and Serin!

I made full use of the Jagermiester freezer and Carlsberg beer tower I won from the Jagermiester Halloween Party a couple months ago.

I made some bergedil, haze marinated pork for bbq, Fresh made santa berries

Other than the beer, we prepared some food for the night. Haze marinated more than 3 KGs of pork for BBQ and prepared a small slab of roast pork, I made some bergedil, and Fresh prepared her little cute Santaberries.

It wasn’t a dinner event, so these were just beer food.

Jeniffer & Janine; Fooi, Sam, Kerol, Terence; Shany & Desmond, Eiling, Horng

Guests started coming in just slightly before 9 pm. In fact, David and Michael actually went to my place while we were out having dinner, talk about being too punctual.

Fresh, Huss, Janine, Winnie & Terence, KY, Erin, Yuki, Martin

The returning party goers were:

KY, Haze, Horng, Yuki, Kim, Gareth, Terence, Kerol, Ruby, Michael, Li Ling, Lance, Eiling, Yee Hou, Firdy, Zess, Shiang.

Fiqa, Eiling, Ruby & Desmond, Terence, Vindy, Cherlyn, Desmond, Terence

New Faces were:

Fiqa, Huss, Fresh, Erin, Martin, Jennifer, Janine, Winnie, Fooi, Desmond, Sam, Geoffery, Shany, Cheryn, Vindy, David, Gary

So that was 17-17 with a total of 34 people, a pretty nice turn out despite a few notable absence due to work, travel, and family commitments. You know who you are, and we hope to see you next year.

David, Yee Hou, Desmond, Michael, Kerol, Horng, Firdy, Gary

We had another fun filled gift exchange program with the following rules this year

• every participant contribute a gift worth over RM 49.90, and then draw a number from the box
• smallest number start by picking and unwrapping a gift
• next number can snatch the opened gift, whereby the person who lost it gets to choose another gift, or snatch another opened gift
• maximum of 3 snatching sequence per round

The most snatched gift was a sweet Puma Ducati bag from Fooi that’s actually retailed at over RM 300, Lance went home with it. Other memorable gifts include portable air bed, Chinese liquor, ice cream, Thor’s Hammer bottle opener, a couple of salami from Australia.

Terence ended up with a pair of blue lingerie, who would have thought, right?

Gary, Geoffery, Horng; Yee Hou, Fresh, Yuki, Haze; and finally, the drunken man

The men in blue visited us by around 2 am and that’s when the party was winding down. The ending of this party is almost exactly the same as the one in 2008 where we had a dude in Afro K-O-ed on the floor. It was a blast.

See you guys next year!

After the xmas eve party at my place, the very next day we headed to Gareth and Kim’s for a big feast. We were promised a home cooked dinner by Kim, but boy were we surprised by what was in store for us.

The dinner was for some 2 dozen people, but I believe there were enough food to feed at least two rugby teams, including reserves!

the dinner schedule, check out how many dishes here

First, just look at the schedule above to get an indication of the work needed for this epic dinner. Preparation actually started more than a day in advance (for the food alone), and longer if you count in buying groceries, gifts, and extra table/chairs for everyone.

chicken with pigs in blanket, bread, and cocktail shrimp

The photos you see here are some 70% of the dishes served, there are some that somehow escaped the lens. As far as I remember, here are what we were served:

• 2x roast chicken with lotsa pigs in blanket
• bread roast in pork lard
• seafood bisque
• prawn salad
• 3 x pork loin
• 3 full racks of pork ribs
• 2 types of potato
• 3 types of salad
• couscous
• roast vegetable
• pate
• 3 types of salad
• 3 types of desserts
• drinks

the super excellent pork loin and ribs

It was impossible to pick a favorite, everything were awesome. I can make use of some ribs and pork loin right now (or anytime) for sure!

Recipes of some of these dishes can be found at http://www.kimberlycun.com/category/homemade-recipes/

Kim includes photos of each step for her recipe too, super easy to follow.  This entry is on the pork ribs we were served, I believe.

salad, couscous, and more

In the original schedule, apple crumble was supposed to come out at 8:45, but thanks to everyone being overfed with all these awesome dishes, desserts didn’t make their way out until 11:45 pm.

Of course, nobody complained, 3 more hours to digest is a good thing.

seafood bisque and desserts

As with the slightly more mature theme this year, no one passed out from drinking too much, though many almost have a coma from all the food.

we were all very well fed at the end of the night

At the end of the night, Gareth & Kim played Santa & Santarina and distributed carefully chosen gifts to everyone. That was especially a sweet touch, thanks guys, and lets do this again next year and every year.

and everyone got a gift from the hosts!

The first xmas eve party that I hosted was all the way back in 2005, which actually didn’t feel at all like it was already 6 years ago, with everyone still talking about Douglas’s epic puke fest after having one drink too many.

After last year’s absence (we spent xmas eve at Suan’s), the 5th installment of xmas eve party at my place resumes, and this time around we decided to have it back to basic – without the buffet line, satay man, or sponsored beer.

A big thank you to everyone who shows up, and even bigger thank you to those who brought alcohol and home made red velvet cupcake (Lainey) to share.

Horng, Haze, Terence; Aaron, Ruby, Derek; Terence & Celine

Those who came before in previous years:

KY, Haze, Terence, Horng, Suan, Ruby, Eiling, Michael, FA, Ringo, Ginny, Arthur, Yee Hou, Gareth, Kimberly, Huey Fang, Chan, Kerol.

Newcomer this year:

Lance, Melissa, Michael (yep 2 of them), Li Ling, Lainey, Aaron, Zach, Vinn, Pearl, Derek, Celine, Yuki.

Eiling & KY; Lance & Melissa, FA, Michael & Li Ling; Michael & Ringo

Unlike previous year’s crazy binge drinking style, this seems to be the year where everyone sorta take things slightly more maturely. Everyone was just having a good time, sipping some single malt whisky or having a cold one.

No, there is no beer bong  this year, and if you want to look at pictures of people passing out, I’ll have to disappoint too. Some might say this is a sign of old age, hmmmm…

Yee Hou & Ginny; Ruby; FA; Lainey; Suan; Haze; Robb & Zach

The gift exchange part tho, was as fun as ever. Every year we had this rule, and I highly recommend that you do the same for your xmas gift exchange. I initially got this from working at Unisys in Cincinnati (man that was over 10 years ago)

• every participant contribute a gift, and then draw a number from the box
• smallest number start by picking and unwrapping a gift
• next number can snatch the opened gift, whereby the person who lost it gets to choose another gift, or snatch another opened gift
• you cannot snatch a gift that was in your possession before

Gift exchange was again the highlight of the night – best was the 1kg bacon

In essence, having the last number usually means you get to pick anything that’s opened, with only one unknown gift. However, even the last person can get his/her gift snatched if she (A) snatched B, then B snatched C, but C can actually snatch back A’s gift.

Loads of fun, try it.

The most snatched gift this year was from Lance & Horng – who contributed a whole 1 KG bacon and a small water feature thing. Those gifts exchange hands at least half a dozen times.

The funniest gift tho was from Robb, and drew by Kerol (after what she chose initially got snatched) – two bundle of bananas!

fire works; Gareth telling stories; bacon; Kim & Michael

I prepared a bit of BBQ (20 wings, some sausages) for those who happened to be hungry, Lainey brought her home made red velvet cakes (super yummy!), and at the end of the night we bbq some bacon too.

And no, this year we did not have any cops coming to end the party. Now that’s a first.

Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year!

Ladies and gentlemen, today yours truly don on chef’s hat and pretend that I know something about cooking. The recipe you are about to read comes from the Southern part of the country that likes to police the world. Yes, that would be U S of A.

We are going to learn about fried okra, on of my all time favorite beer food that isn’t served in any restaurant this side of Pacific.

fried okra ingredients – okra, pepper, salt, egg, milk

First, the ingredients, and they are fairly simple:

• okra (or lady finger, if you prefer)
• half a cup of milk
• one egg
• a cup of corn flour
• a tea spoon of salt
• pepper to taste
• other spices optional (be imaginative, if you would)

fried okra makes for awesome beer food

Then, the steps, this is child’s play in terms of cooking, no post graduate degree in culinary field is required:

• slice or chop okra into bite size
• beat the egg, milk, salt, pepper, and corn flour in a mixing bowl till even
• coat the okra
• fry till golden brown
• serve while hot!

This is one yummy snack that goes very well with cold beer, Kilkenny, Heineken, Guinness, anything! I brought this as my contribution to Suan’s xmas eve potluck, and was happy that it was well received. Even master chef Lance liked it, and that is plenty good for me

mimi bacon pizza by Haze

Haze came up with this concoction that she called mini bacon pizza. The ingredient’s pretty straight forward:

• bread
• bacon (as many slice as you have bread
• pasta sauce (tomato base)
• mozzarella  cheese
• oregano spice

Steps:

• flatten the bread (she had somehow forgotten this part then…)
• spread pasta sauce on bread, then add cheese and oregano
• carefully lay a strip of that precious bacon on top
• roll everything up and hold it with a toothpick
• fry till golden brown (for the health freaks, you can also bake them)

The result certainly did not disappoint either, I liked it a lot too!

clam chowder (Lance), bacon pasta (Suan), roast chicken (Kim), sausage (Horng)

Lance brought a pot of clam chowder that had uses some sort of bacon stock, it was by far the best clam chowder I’ve ever had! You can actually order it at bbq-addicts.com, I guarantee that you’ll be 100% satisfied!

Suan cooked up some bacon carbonara that turned out to be the best pasta she’s ever made, Kim too roasted a chicken, very juicy, and tasted plenty awesome right out of her new oven! Horng made some sort of east-meet-west sausage for the potluck.

xmas eve party at Suanie’s crib

The little get-together over xmas eve turned out to be a very gastronomically satisfying event. We had a little bit to drink (there’ll be plenty more for NYE in a few days’ time at Michael’s), and spent the night reliving the old tradition of watching Euro Trip all over again.

So how was your xmas?