Friday, July 12

Russell's first birthday party - Part 2

There was nothing artisanal, organic or gourmet about about our party menu. Just a bunch of crowd favorites and we went with quality and quantity as opposed to variety.

Mama noodle salad

I was introduced to Mama instant noodles from a Channel News Asia documentary, Instant Noodle Diary. Fascinated and by how street food vendors work their magic with this packet of humble instant noodles, I made a Mama noodle salad using THIS RECIPE.  

Two huge plates were polished off quicker than you can say, "Sawadee Ka."

Be warned about the fieriness of that recipe though. Add the chilis in gradually, tasting as you go, unless you want your guests to end up with Angelina Jolie lips. 

Watermelon + feta + mixed greens + truffle balsamic glaze

I was super excited about de-flowering the bottle of truffle balsamic glaze that my parents got from Borough Market. You can't really go wrong with heady truffle aroma and sweet sticky balsamic glaze. 

Korean wings and Indonesian drumlets 

On the grill, we KW made Korean wings (recipe HEREand Indonesian drumlets (recipe HERE). We kept the grilling light otherwise KW wouldn't have the time to catch up with our guests.

Though we didn't have any drumlets left by the end of the party, the wings were a bigger hit, according to solicited feedback.

Pulled pork nachos

The big hunking winner of the evening was the pulled pork nachos with cheddar cheese. We popped the pork butts into the slow cooker at 9pm the night before and around 10 hours later, it was piggy perfection (RECIPE HERE; psst, we skipped the brining stage).


There are two kinds of party hosts - one being the kind who hates having an obscene amount of leftovers and would rather prepare 90% of what people typically eat; the other being the type who dreads the thought of of hungry guests and prepares absurd amounts. 


My mum is someone who belongs to the latter category and when she heard about what we were going to prepare, she volunteered to make her beef rendang. I thought it was pointless to argue with her and in all honesty, I wouldn't mind leftovers of her now-famous beef rendang. 

But there weren't any leftovers at the end of the party as folks wiped the pot clean with prata from Sin Ming Roti Prata (Blk 24, #01-51, Sin Ming Road). 

Yes mum, you were right after all. 

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