Today was the best "food" day I had in Brisbane. It did have its up and downs though. Here's how it went.
I woke up and realized we RAN OUT OF GELATINE. And without it, my cheesecake was going to be all liquid. So I ate some breakfast and quickly took the bus to Woolworths.
Quickly bought the gelatine and went back home. Started making my cheesecake. Took me about an hour to get everything done.
Ingredients
Mars Bars Cheesecake
Next, I made jelly for my cousins. Then, I cleaned up and started my revision. For lunch, I made some tomato spaghetti. Stopped revision at 3pm to chat with JW.
Lunch
Got ready and finally went out at 4pm. Took the bus to the city before I walked over to Central Train Station. Met IW and H there.
Because non of us were sure where to go, I asked the guard. He told us "Platform 5, Ipswich train". Good. So once we got onto the platform, I saw "Ipswich, Departing NOW".
I took a dash for it. And I managed to get on the train. IW came to the door and it shut right at her face. Then the train left. Damn.
I was calling J to tell him about it. But by the time he answered, I realized something. I was on the wrong train. The overhead speaker announced "This is an express train. Next stop, Darra".
I didn't actually panic but was just upset because I would be late. Once at Darra, I crossed the bridge to platform 4. Then, I checked the schedule and realized the next train would be in Platform 2. So I crossed the bridge again.
Got onto the train. 9 stops and 20 minutes later, I arrived. Walked to G's house and was in time for the event. I went to the table and took some pictures of the FOOD!
So one of the Andrews, Andrew Wong was the host for the night. He made everyone introduce their dish. What everyone did was share their dish name, some description of the dish, and source of inspiration.
Andrew's Kitchen with QUT3
I tried taking pictures of everyone, but most of them turned out blur. So here are a few of them introducing their dishes.
J with Curry Spaghetti
PY and LR with their Fried Dumplings
K with his Egg Tarts
D with Jelly
In between the introductions, J brought out a stack of mini cakes (made by him) with some candles on it. All of us sang the birthday song to TL.
TL the birthday boy
After everyone introduced their dish, it was time for the FEAST to begin! I tried a little of everything. Some were okay, some were great. Unfortunately, there was a dish where the meat was impossible for me to chew. I had to go to the toilet and spit it into tissue.
Halfway through the dinner, some of them asked if they can have my cheesecake now. I had a look at it and it was terrible. It had melted because it was out of the fridge for about 2 hours.
So since the fridge can't help it, I decided to put it into the freezer. After about 15 minutes, it was much better. After about 10 minutes, a few of them came to tell me how they liked my cheesecake. That made me very very happy. :D
Suddenly, C came with a box of "Ben and Jerry" ice creams! There were at least 10 tubs there. She won it from some competition and decided to share it with us. DELICIOUS!
LR trying to stuff all the ice cream into the freezer!
Next was game time. AH prepared the games and taught us how to play them. The first one was called "Terrorist" where we form a circle and pass the "bomb". Two CIDs will then try to find where the bomb is. The second game was "Charades" with a twist. We have to draw the word, BLINDFOLDED!
After the games, it was the moment everyone was waiting for. The judges announced the winners. There were 3 categories. Best Tasting, Best Presentation, and Most Unique Dish.
Best Tasting was the dumplings by LR and PY. There were no dumplings left on the table so that must mean something. Best Presentation was the jellies made by D. She spent a lot of time layering them. (Just realized, that both winners pictures are on this post.)
As for the Most Unique Dish, it was the Mars Bars Cheesecake by ME! :) Actually, I didn't expect to win because J said "you can't get this dish in Brisbane except here" and I was thinking "you can get cheesecake everywhere, so I won't win".
My physical present for the Most Unique Dish. The emotional present is way bigger than this. :D
A photo album
Anyway, I'm happy I won. But most importantly, everyone liked it. I promised them I'll make it again if they want. Of course, every chef enjoys providing his customers with good food right. :D
We hung around and ate some jelly and ice cream for dessert. Then at about 9.30pm, G sent a few girls home and dropped me at Indoooroopilly. Took the bus from there.
Got home at about 10pm. D was watching "Survivor: Redemption Island" so I joined him. Later, I took my shower. By the time I turned my laptop on, it was 12am.
Used the laptop to chat and write this post. Anyway, it's quite late now. Gotta go to bed. Night...
For pictures on the event, click
here (credit Elaine).