We celebrated Mom's birthday at our place, the first party with our family. We did not have a housewarming, so this was the first time we all got together at our place.

I prepared most of the food, well... at least 80 percent of the food. Some of the items we had were:

Vietnamese Rice Roll (Pork)

Vietnamese Pho (Chicken or Pork)

Chicken kebab

Grilled Prawns

Grilled Mushrooms

Sausages

Satays (Mutton & Chicken)

BBQ Chicken Thai-style (Gai Yang)

BBQ Crabs

Otah Otah

Thai Mango Salad

Lemongrass Drink

And of course, the Mandarin & Passionfruit Cake topped with fresh fruits that Alan made specially for Mom.

Was very lucky to be able to catch up with 4 of my polymate buddies for dinner & durians. We met at Chinatown newly renovated hawker for some local fares, it was my craving for something very Singaporean. Teck Koon recommended well, we ordered the famous claypot rice (which I have completely forgotten to snap pictures of the stall name). While waiting for Wendy and the claypot rice, we ordered some (pork & mutton) satays. Unfortunately, no charcoal flavour but it was pretty good.

Claypot rice arrived just seconds before Wendy sat down with us. As usual, she looked fabulous & happy. Always a good sign. We tucked in while it was hot, & Teck Koon did a fantastic job serving us as well. 

We then thought it was time for durians. Luckily, all of us love durians. Ordered some D24, (3 for $20) & it was good. We had a good chat as usual before heading home. 

Hey Guys, thanks for coming out at such short notice for dinner with me. 

After a few unsuccessful attempts to visit Fawas and his family, I was feeling heaps better today so I made it a point to visit his family. Fawas' mother was roasting coffee beans (pictures top left) when I arrived, she added cardamons, dried ginger, and dahl and the flavour was excellent. I had a cup of coffee and it was really nice. I couldn't help but asked Fawas to snap a picture of me and his Mum.

Bottom left is a picture of Fawas, his sister and Mum, loved the picture... it is one of my favourites. And, of course, Fawas in his store full of spices (bottom right) - I am now addressing him as the "Spice Boy". LOL

Fawas and his family have been extremely generous, his Mum made Watalapun and Archak for us the other day. And she is going to make mawfish, onions and chillis for me to bring back for my Mum. And she is going to add coffee beans as part of my take-home items too.

I am so glad that they have enjoyed the satays that I have brought over for them, what better way to introduce them to the Singapore food than to use the spices that I have been buying from them and to make something nice.

grilled prawns
cucumbers & mini-spanish onions
and more satays.... yum

Quite a number of our first's today: Sathees' first attempt at making a BBQ tray (for less than US$3.00);
Otoko's first (desperate) attempt at satays;
Raja's first attempt at eating BBQ cooked food; and
OUR very first Sri Lankan BBQ.

Recipe for marinate (in the blender):
8 shallots

6 tsp sugar

2 tsp coriander powder

2 tsp ground roasted peanuts

2 tbsp oil

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 stalk lemongrass, peel and use only white portion

1 tsp tumeric powder

1/2 tsp cumin powder

1/4 tsp cinnamon powder