Thursday, May 29, 2008

Impromptu Tea With Bubbly @ FatBoyBakes'

Over an SMS, I was informed of tea with his non-blogging friends (and am honoured to be included in the fabulous guestlist). But the bubbling bubbly was certainly unexpected.

Having reluctantly turned down a previous invitation (due to geographical reasons), I made it a point to attend this one as I know how fun and tantalising FatBoyBakes' parties can be. I was so looking forward to it!!!

....*crickets chirping*....

It was rather quiet at first, as the guests settled at the dining table. I for one, was part of the silence as I studied the menu and hanky-pankied with my beloved other half. My D40X.

Then, the first bottle of prosecco rolled out. Followed by the second bottle. And the third bottle....then all hell broke loose. And we pay thousands of ringgits/dollars for enlightening companies to conduct those icebreaking sessions. Next time, just get booze-lah! Ok, perhaps booze is a little too unrefined in the case of prosecco. Afterall, we shouldn't really equate FHM to Botticelli's Birth Of Venus, should we? Ok, vino then.

I apologise for the rather insensitive booze digression and more importantly, the fact that I've not unrolled the scrumptious menu FatBoyBakes had created for us that day.

Let's start with the savouries, shall we?

Nigella Express Quesadillas. With ham, cheese and jalapeños wrapped in pieces of tortilla, the quesadillas were delicious. The rich cheese contrasted the hot, tangy pickled jalapeños nicely. Loved the soft wrap as well.

Cream Cheese Spirals. The pastry was light and buttery, but not the point of being too oily. Filling consisted of cream cheese coated bacon bits and coriander. The touch of chopped coriander was thoughtful as it accessorized the rich filling with its scent.

Chinese Rice Dumplings. The dark, Hokkien-style dumplings were flavourful and packed with ingredients such as chestnuts, salted eggs and chicken meat (if I recall correctly). And the group unanimously declared our love for rice dumplings, with lard. Oh, there was the alkaline water type as well. Lovely. Thanks, Paprika!

And the sweets. Oh, them lovely sweets from the fabulous baker.

Homemade Scones. Light and slightly crumbly, the halved, “buttermilk”ly aromatic scones provided a nice palette to splotch on a heavy dose of jam and double cream to mesmerise the palate. Ok, corny pun that was. Jam came in form of Four Fruits from St. Dalfour. Merci, Lemongrass!

Orange Mocha Chocolate Brownie. How thoughtful of the host to show me an example of a perfect brownie (he was unaware of my ‘touched-for-the-very-first-time’ version back then). The perfect brownie was optimally moist and soft. The icing was bittersweet and rich. And it made mine, well, like being touched for the very first time lor. It’s not about the tools. The key is experience, which I certainly lack.

Lemon Tart. I’m not a tart person (really) but I must say it was one of the tartest of tarts I’ve ever had. In a good way, of course. A taste of the custard filling revealed an explosion of zest of lotsa-lotsa lemon. It would have cost a bomb to have this at some starry, 'haute'r than thou cafes.

The jokes and well, more jokes accompanied the setting sun. Just when I thought we were done with the sparkling vino (I lost count of the bottles we had), came the grandest brut of them all. Oui, une bouteille de Moët & Chandon! Followed by more jokes. What a fantastic way to end the night!

And so it was. A great party at FatBoyBakes'.

Thank you for the lovely meal and above all, the jokes and laughters! I’m actually surprised I can recall the taste of the food I had as after the XXXXXXth glass of prosecco, I was already having an out-of-body experience.

Cheers!
*burp, burp*

17 comments:

ling239 said...

Hey bro, where to get yummy chang ah ? with lots of ingredients, beans etc... and less rice :p

HairyBerry said...

ehh, i got mine from the taman cempaka wet market near taman megah. well, my mum gets it la...hehe...for RM4.00, it has lots of ingredients and the rice is soft. it's the white type. as i know, they only sell during the 1th and 15th day of the month leh. i can ask for phone number if you want. let me know lar ;)

Ciki said...

touch for the 1st time? lacking in experience? common...lol.. words that are hard to believe :P

backStreetGluttons said...

you have been proseccolly seduced and tartly seduced , yet again , thus you will need protection from the force as the empire surmounts in strength. Worry not, the order of the phoenix will be on its way.

Jun said...

moet... hmm... tried the rose? not many guys like it cos they think it's a "girly" drink, but i quite like it :>

r u free on weekends? my weekdays are superpacked :( have to prepare a presentation on tue, but i'm taking a lil' time-out to blog-hop ;p

"Joe" who is constantly craving said...

wah..moet n chandon..u guys live such luxurious lives..such luxurious lives..hahah

yammylicious said...

getting in love wif ur pic!!! go nic go!

Bernsy said...

it was probablt hi tea with bubbly and all la.... bes nye

HairyBerry said...

cumi & ciki, really, really...*innocent eyes*..haha! well, guess experience does bake a better, a much better brownie :D

team bsg, omg, i was just talking to some friends about harry potter a few minutes ago! *shocking* and yes, please do send the phoenix over asap, be it in a bamboo steamer or the whole roasted type as i am in desperate need of a good breakfast! hehehehe....

jun, really? or is it just the rose type? well, anything that makes me drunk is good (todi included)..hehe...

aiyah, like that ar...my weekend schedules are packed to the brim as well...hehe...will see what i can do and drop u an email. you have my contact, right? see ya!

joe, oh, the bubbly was a great icebreaker, i tell ya...hehehe...luxurious? yeah, i must agree on that...and of course, luxury comes with great food as well...i think i had 3 or 4 quesadillas..hehe

yammylicious, thank you, thank you! glad you liked the pictures...i will work harder to satisfy my craving for food and photography as well! hehehe...

bernsy, yupe, it was high tea with bubbly...bes betul lar, bro....and of course, with fbb, there were endless jokes and pokes lar...that was fun..hehe

J2Kfm said...

that was quite a feast.
not too worry, your brownies look more or less (possibly less, hehe) comparable to the ones here.

fatboybakes said...

haha, i agree with jun, moet rose is awfullll! it IS a girl's drink.

HairyBerry said...

j2kfm, absolutely...hehe...mine was nothing compared to fbb's. but i will work harder! wish me luck! hahaha!

fatboybakes, well, i guess the word rose is already an indication of what's to come, eh? hehe...hey, thanks again for the invitation, man!

ling239 said...

sorry, sorry, sorry....
i know i am very late
can email me the contacts please ?
ling239@gmail.com

Tks ~ ^_^

HairyBerry said...

hi ling239, aiyah, dun worry. no problem ;D i'll get the number from my mum and email you soonest possible, ok? ;)

Big Boys Oven said...

lovely, lovely, I like the yummy chang too!

ling239 said...

ok, pls...
Sunday is the big day d oh ~

HairyBerry said...

bigboysoven, yupe, the zhong was nice...are you making any zhong this year?

ling239, okie, will get the number from my mum and email you...perhaps this afternoon, ok? ;)