Oscar's BBQ

Today we had a 2nd annual BBQ birthday party for Oscar. Last year our manager Wen hosted a BBQ at his house. This year Oscar and Hsinni invited our team and his neighbours for a BBQ. There were 11 adults and 3 kids.

We had a lot of food cooking on the grill including thinly sliced pork, chicken drumsticks, beef shortribs, shrimp, mackerel pike, and mushrooms. For drinks we had diet coke, Hsinni's iced tea, juice, and a variety of beer such as Tsingdao, Asahi, and Corona. For desserts we had a Trader's Joe ice cream cake from Wen, a honey cake made by Eva, and brownies that I made.

Our BBQ started off slowly with Oscar and I putting pork and chicken on the grill. After Wen arrived he took over the cooking duties for a few batches of pork. Chi-Ching was the next cook for more pork and started on the shrimp. Eva decided to speed up the cooking process by poking holes in the aluminum foil that covered the grates. After a few more minutes the shrimp were done and Eva and Eddie decided to remove the foil completely for the shortribs and additional drumsticks. I hope that Oscar won't have too much trouble cleaning his formerly pristine grates. The rest of the cooking was handled by Eddie.

Oscar didn't want me to get a cake but since he told me to arrive around 4:30pm instead of 4:00pm I decided that I had time to try baking brownies. We had a very difficult time getting the brownies out of the container. Instead of squares or rectangles we used a knife and spoon to scoop out odd shapes. I guess maybe I didn't grease the pan enough. Next time I think it'll be easier to just use parchment paper to line the pan. Hsinni helped to clean the pyrex dish after the party.

It seemed that not everybody was aware that it was almost Oscar's birthday. I accidentally let this news slip out so even though it wasn't planned, Oscar received happy birthday songs in Chinese and English. Oscar's candle on the ice cream cake was a number "2" that was previously used at Henry's birthday.

In the end there was an abundance of food. Everybody had leftovers to take home. Note to Oscar - 10 lbs/~40 drumsticks is too much for 11+3.

We spent most of the time listening to stories from Hsinni's father and Eddie. I didn't understand all of the conversation but was content just eating and drinking away. When it was getting dark I asked Oscar to turn on the white christmas lights on the overhang. The atmosphere reminded me of Taiwanese dramas. It would be even better with twinkling lights. I'm looking forward to Oscar's next BBQ gathering where we can try using the charcoal chimney and enjoying more good food and company!