60th Birthday Celebration for 7th Uncle

Tsu Mae SMSed us a month ago to invite us to her dad's 60th birthday celebration on Fri, 29 Aug. Her mum, 7th auntie will be cooking dinner for us. I always love 7th auntie cooking. She's a very good cook.

When we arrived at their house, the above hors d'œuvre was set on the side table ... cheese cracker with Camembert and brie and grapes, strawberry and bruschetta (roasted with garlic, olive oil and vinegar). We had champagne (Moet & Chandon) with the hors d'œuvre. It was a lovely start to the evening.

This is the marble cheese cake that I made for 7th uncle. I bought the cake stand a week ago from Living Quarters (at RM89.91 after 10% discount). The cake stand came with a clear plastic cover and the stand is removable. You may choose the display the cake with or without the stand.

This is broccoli salad. The ingredients are broccoli, bacon, raisins, onion, grapes, cherry tomato with creamy salad dressing, red/white wine and vinegar. The salad was crunchy and very tasty with the bacon giving a slight salty taste balanced by the sweetness of the grapes.

This is Pilaf rice, using basmathi rice cooked with butter, raisins and almond. This went well with all the dishes served. It was fragrant with the fruity taste of raisins and the cruchiness of the almond.

This is Peperonata using red and yellow bell peppers, red onions, red wine, vinegar, fresh oregano and thyme. A great vegetarian dish.

And this is roasted smashed potatoes. First, boil the baby red potatoes. Then, smash the potatoes and roast them with Parmesan cheese, rosemary, parsley and olive oil. A delightful companion for the beef (which I don't eat).

This is Herbed Rib Roast. 7th auntie used rib eye beef, roast it with herb, salt and garlic. 7th uncle had to use a special electric knife to cut the beef. It was served with mushroom gravy. I didn't eat this beef as I'm a Buddhist. The beef was cooked medium well and everyone said the beef was excellent. It was the highlight of the evening meal. Apparently it took 2 hours to roast and it is apparent that the juices are well preserved in the roasting unliked the dry product that is served in a grill restaurant.

I particularly love this dish. This dish was created by 7th auntie herself. Pan fry the prawn, dish it out. Then, fry the onion and button mushroom. Pour in the pan fried prawn and stir with bacon, pepper, parsley and olive oil.

Again, 7th auntie made a wonderful dinner. After the dinner, I interviewed 7th auntie to get the name and recipe of the food that she cooked that evening. 7th auntie, please feel free to correct me if any of the food and recipe were described wrongly.

4th auntie brought fruit salad, mixed with 8 different fruits ... mango, dragon fruit, green grapes, red grapes, black grapes, blueberry, cherry and plum. Tsu Mae pour a little of raspberry flavoured vodka to the salad and it brings out further the taste of the 8 different fruits. I just love the colour of the fruit salad.

Lastly, we sang birthday song and ate the marble cheese cake that I baked. I was worried that the cheese cake would not turn out well. Thank God that everyone loved the cake.