Happy Birthday Singapore!

9 August 2007, Thursday

It's Singapore's Birthday today! And for us, this is our first time celebrating National Day in Sydney. Feeling all so patriotic and loving, as well as missing our home, we had our very own National Day Celebration right here in Sydney!

The PTs have been great for they have so enthusiastically and willingly organise this National Day celebration/gathering for all the Singaporean students at Cumbo. They had invitations sent out to everyone, planned the itinerary, organised the menu for the potluck and even TRIALLED their dishes before the actual celebration... It's THAT much effort put in! Applause to the PTs!

And so, for our Singaporean dish that we're contributing was Fried Bee Hoon. Not an easy task at all because our head chef for the dish has not fried bee hoon, nor the rest of them except for me. Haha. And unlike the PTs, we didn't really had any kitchen trials done beforehand. But as always, we never fail to whip up something delicious... and of course, much credits must go to the head chef!

After much cooking and preparations, Zhen, Hipporu and I headed over to the PTs' place at Georges Ave. While the rest of them headed back to school and Sydney Babe off to acupuncture, I stayed on to 'rest' and help around... And NO, I did not 'pontang' lecture!

When I arrived, I managed to catch the 'Chicken Wing Master' in action!

Just before they headed to the oven...

The 'Chicken Wing Master' in action...
With her trusty sidekick (at the background!)

Much credit must also be given to the wonderfully delicious chicken wing (which really tasted like barbecued wings!) to the chicken wing master's sidekick because if not for here, the fire engine would probably be knocking at the door!

Yes... in the midst of baking the chicken, whenever the master had to open the oven door to turn the wings/drumlets, there will of course be smoke emitting out. The problem is that there is no door that partitions the kitchen and the living room area; and that's where the smoke detector is located at.

Hence, the detector went off three times... which I think was relatively little considering the amount and frequency of the smoke! But all effort's worth because the chicken were just great!

The trusty sidekick!
And so she fans... and fans...

The Chicken Wings & Drumlets!
Yummy!

Now, introducing the other home-cooked (most of them are at least) , fabulous and sumptuous dishes in the potluck dinnner... Grab your tissues quick!!

三杯鸡
(aka 'Three Cup Chicken')

Burmese Pork

Grilled Spicy Chicken
(I think that's what it is at least!)

Nasi Goreng

Fried Bee Hoon

Lasagne

Egg Tarts

Turkish Sweets

Chocolate Brownie

汤圆

Paratha
(Yes my dear fellow Singaporeans.. that's how 'Prata' is actually spelled.
Also, its not called Roti Prata, as corrected by the Indians from India!)

Potato Salad

Strawberry Jelly

The wonderful hosts who wanted to make us feel even more homely and Singaporean-ish, they prepared all these for their guests!

Khong Guan biscuits!!

3-in-1 instant mixes!
(These are RARE and almost non-existant in Sydney!)

We had a great time... we ate, we mingled, we chatted, we gossiped, some caught up with old times, some made new friends...we ate some more, chatted some more...Yeah. You get the picture! And to 搞多一点气氛, there was even music playing in the background - a compilation CD of all the national day songs over the years. Amazing!

FOOD!!!

When it was close to 8pm local Sydney time, a 15-inch laptop was set up in the living area, along with the HUGE heater, so that we could all watch the live telecast of the NDP! The hosts were amazed at how many people could actually fit into their kitchen and living area!

Live telecast of NDP...

Some of them tried hard to sing along with the national anthem... which I will try to commend them for their effort. Hahaha....

And so...

Merlions @ Cumbo!

Count how many people there are!
(oh, don't forget to plus one more who shy away while the camera snapped)