More Birthday Celebrations

Rice paper rolls, duck and lychee martinis.

I really enjoy cooking Asian food these days. Last night I cooked dinner for friends to celebrate my birthday. I'd invited 6 people to sup, and had decided early on that tonight's menu was going to be Asian and would feature rice paper rolls.

Because I had to work yesterday, and dropped by another birthday celebration, I didn't get to start cooking till 5pm. Even with J as sous chef, and the purchase of a duck (cheating slightly!), we had to bustle a little to get everything ready. J reminded me to stay calm.

Guests started arriving from 7.30pm, and when M appeared with the vodka and lychee liquer, I started to make a batch of lychee martinis. HC protested at the amount of vodka I sloshed into the cocktail shaker, so she diplomatically offered to take over and soon we had a round of martinis to get the dinner party started. By the time we sat down to our Vietnamese rice paper rolls I was turning slightly red.

Mains were egg noodles with shredded duck and shiitake mushrooms, beef salad with green papaya (with one variation - duck substitution for a beef-allergic guest), and duck pieces and rice. Noodles are a traditional Chinese birthday dish as they represent long life. HS obligingly grated a mountain of palm sugar, and we finished with sago gula melaka (sago pudding).

We didn't end up opening any wine as those drinking voted for more lychee martinis. Suitably relaxed by the alcohol, the conversation became quite mellow and candid (but retained a degree of respectability!). We moved from food science to the removal of facial hair to the chemicals in shampoo to stories of various people falling out of bed.

I think 6 to 8 people is a good number for dinner. Enough bodies so that people get to meet someone new, enough perspectives to make it interesting. More than that and its a challenge to cook for everyone. Note to self: plan another dinner party soon. One of my 50 things to do in 2007.