17th April Dinner Party

So, Mum decided to invite some of her friends over for dinner today. Wanted to do homecooked Chinese food but decided to do Western. And since my Sis and I are better at that than Mum, we agreed to let my mum relax, entertain guests and just wait for the food to come.

After running 12km in 1 hr this morning, slaving 3.5 hrs in the kitchen (and made 2 SEPARATE trips to the supermarket during that time gahhhh), you can see why I'm pretty darn knackered right now.

That's why, Imma shut up and let the pictures do the talking. Enjoiii =)

We love aged beef. 4 scotch eye fillets and 2 Wagyu (Grade 4) cuts. Didn't get it from our usual favourite butcher on Clarendon but these were pretty good too. Not too expensive, around $10 for eye fillet and $15 (or less) for Wagyu.

Chicken Fillet Mignon. Chicken meat wrapped with bacon and garlic cheese on top. All meat bought from South Melbourne Market.

Our family has come to the conclusion that though the market there is more limited in choices, but the food you get there are MUCH fresher and higher quality. Hence, comparatively more expensive but you get what you paid for. And it's good to enjoy some quality food from time to time.

Appetizer: Raw oysters with dash of lime and tiny teaspoon of Chilli, Lime and Ginger Sauce. Oysters don't get any fresher from South Melbourne Market too. Shucked right in front of your eyes. Excellent.

Garden Salad that we ate with secret recipe salad dressing, bought from Ms Marples the other day. I like it. Light, mildly sour with a hint of tangy spice to it. If only I were good enough to break it down to ingredients by just tasting it. Drats.

Clockwise from top: Mashed potato with bacon, garden salad, aged scotch fillet with salt and pepper, brussel sprouts, chicken fillet mignon.

OH NOOOOOOOOO. I made really yummy Mushroom Sauce but completely forgot to take a picture of it noooooooooooooo... Got the recipe here.

Dessert: Apple Crumble. Sis made the filling while I made the crust. And cause my Sis wasn't a fan of rolled oats, made some minor adjustments to my previous Apple Crumble Recipe.

In this case, substituted rolled oats with (leftover) Weetbix of same amount but added 60gm more of butter. Split the fillings up to Cinnamon (indicated by the "C") and Nutmeg. I personally prefer Cinnamon. Can anyone spot the Smiley Face? ;p

Apple crumble - huge success. Seriously, I recommend this dessert cause it's much easier to make than you think and tastes delicious. Every one loved it.

Oh and I can't believe I ran to Coles JUST to get a shrub of mint JUST so I could use two tiny leaves to take THIS picture. That's food blogger dedication right there. Now I have no idea what to do with the rest of it. Pfffft.

L - R: Datuk Hiew (who was once a student taught by my Mum's Dad), Datin Hiew (who used to be Mum's high school teacher BAAACK in the day), Mei (their daughter who lives in Melbourne), Sis, Mum and Miss Rose (who's Mum's friend from way back when they studied in England and now residing in Melbourne)

It's so great to have true friendships to cherish after so many years isn't it. So, thank you all for being my friend now and hopefully for many, many years to come.

Love always,

Winston.