Housewarming

After few weeks of cleaning, moving in & 'filling up' my newly rented apartment, I finally throwed a small housewarming party inviting my colleagues home (before I buy carpet to minimize the after party cleaning impact, lol) where the only entertainment is from a donated 14" TV. And because I only have 4 chairs (which is the dining chair), my boss brought 6 foldable chairs so my poor guests don't have to squeeze 'intimately' on my Klippan couch.

At some point, my colleagues think I can't even boil potatoes. So, in order to prove them wrong, even though I don't cook not very good (yet), I baked a cake! My mean colleagues said I want to take them with me to death by 'poisoning' them with my cake, ishh!!!

The cake flavour (strawberry jam meringue cake) selection was inspired by my boss's baking, it tasted really nice & the recipe seems easy. My cake looked nice too but tasted very 'solid', think it didn't bake well enough but my colleagues almost finish it and have been kind with commenting. They're not really that mean afterall. Or perhaps they're grateful to be still alive after eating my cake, hence being kind? hmm...

I have analyze the root cause of my cake's failure with my mentor (a.k.a. my boss) and we figured I should bake extra 10 - 15minutes than suggested time, the online recipe isn't full proved. The oven temperature should increase to 190 degree if I'm not using fan assisted function; 170 degree if I do. I'll definitely experiment again until success is achieved!

On top of the cake, I also prepared devil's eggs, baked nachos with salso sauce n mozzarella cheese, meatballs and baked sausage with mashed potatoes. If you notice, they're all pretty 'dry'...I'm practicing best policy to prevent my place from getting too dirty :) Of course, potato chips, chocolates, peanuts & drinks are served to keep my guests munching all time :)

I believe I did a good job in cleaning the glass floor window because one of my colleague walk right into it & bang his nose, leaving behind an oily nose mark. We burst out in huge laughter when it happened. I wish I took my colleague's picture back then, he was so embarrased & was stressing it wasn't funny when everyone is laughing, lol...

Pic: taken with some of my colleagues/guests

I was asked to provide a wish list but I really can't come up with anything so I said I want to have a 42" plasma TV (just to see my colleagues' reaction). They were puzzled and then said plasma TV is not an option :) In the end, I got a nice red colour vacuum cleaner, a 17.1L microwave oven, a green plant (which I'll try to keep it alive longest possible), some authentic chinese food & a cute soft toy (it's actually the 'dust' from the cartoon Totoro)!

I'm really happy that so many of my colleauges dropped by & overwhelmed with the housewarming gifts (practical & fits my needs). I kind of expect the party to be slightly boring, never thought that putting a dozens of people, lousy cake + beers together in a small space with insufficient chairs can be fun & filled of laughter. I must definitely do this again in future (maybe another type of cake? hmmm) :)