Simon Food Favourites: Sausage Sizzle

18 November 2010

Slip Inn to Summer Hawaiian Luau, CBD Sydney (18 Nov 2010)

111 Sussex Street, Sydney NSW 2000

http://www.merivale.com

Slip on a lei and party on!

Hawaiian is my favourite themed party which is why I've had them for my own birthday for the past few years. I've also recently returned from holidays in Hawaii so tonight's Luau party was a colourful reminder of how fun and entertaining it can be. It was great to see most of people wearing a brightly coloured lei which would be great for my next birthday — perhaps I should have it at Slip Inn? Complimentary Hahn Super Dry and glasses of House Sparkling were on offer but unfortunately arriving at 6.15 pm was just too late to try one of the Sex on the Beach style cocktail served in a coconut shell — I heard they were really nice though. The BBQ team and hostesses served beef skewers and sausage sizzles to the hungry crowd while an Elvis Presley Hawaiian movie played in the background and lively dance performers took to the stage complete with the haka and some very impressive fire twirling (see video below). The DJ did a great job playing popular tunes to help continue the dancing into the night.

Other free events at Slip Inn:
• 18 Nov 2010 - Slip Inn to Summer
• 12 Nov 2010 - Slip Inn to Summer (promotion)
• 23 June 2010 - End of Financial Year Drinks (promotion)
• 10 June 2010 - Winter Wonderland
• 3 June 2010 - Winter Wonderland (promotion)
• 27 May 2010 - Singha Beer Full Moon Party
• 11 Feb 2010 - Anti Valentine's Day Party

SNAPSHOT REVIEW:

PROS: Free drinks and food, music and party atmosphere, No RSVP required

CONS: Cocktails ran out too quickly and didn't get to try :-(

MUST TRY: Free drinks and food, Getting lei'd, Having my own Hawaiian Party

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Sausage sizzles anyone

Cocktail in a coconut shell complete with umbrella

Complimentary drinks on offer

Beef skewer

Sausage sizzle

Fruit platter — nice to see pineapple made it

I want one of these shirts

Bar decorations

Elvis Presley Hawaiian movie playing in the background

Performers

Some of the crowd being taught the haka

Professional eating fire

Non-Professional eating fire

Leis a plenty

Dance off

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12 January 2010

Simon's 39th Hawaiian Birthday BBQ: Iced Donut Croquembouche (10 Jan 2010)

Iced Donut Croquembouche

There are basically two main food events on my calendar year. One is the Good Food Month in October now called the Sydney International Food Festival and the other is my birthday which for many years has been a casual BBQ with a Hawaiian theme (got to use my Hawaiian shirt for something) at my gracious brothers place which has a nice balcony view.

Each year I promise myself to keep things simpler than the year before but it never quite eventuated except for this year where I finally felt I managed to keep to my promise somewhat so I could spend less time prepping, cooking and serving and more time catching up with my guests and not feel so tired from all the lead up preparation in advance. To achieve this I kept the menu as simple as possible, to what my high expectations would allow :-), and concentrated on less but more substantial sized finger food and focused more on the BBQ rather than cold canapés — since it is a BBQ event.

Early guests were treated to Pacific Oysters with fresh lemon and a Pimm's Cocktail with lemonade, ginger beer, cucumber and lemon which I was inspired by at Sarina and Jordan's Wedding Reception — I'm always looking out for good food and drink ideas throughout the year for my birthday. The usual nibbles of Chips, Stuffed Olives, Dips, Carrot & Celery Sticks, Dolmades, Cheese and Crackers were on offer while the main finger food was:

• Aussie Stripy Saucy Sausage Sizzle

• BBQ Vegetarian and Haloumi Skewers

• BBQ Garlic Prawn Skewers

• Lemon & Rosemary Lamb Cutlets with Homemade Tsatsiki

• Cheese & Spinach Pastizzi and Vegetable Curry Pastizzi

and finally my own version of a Croquembouche made from Iced Donuts as my Birthday Cake topped with sparklers followed by Mini Ice Cream Cones. I like cakes and desserts for my birthday which are actually constructed from smaller bite sized desserts so there's no need for cutting, plates or cutlery. As a small parting gift everyone received my pocket sized concertina folded card of my 2009 Food Highlights.

A big thank you to my brother for doing all the BBQ cooking on such a hot day and providing his lovely home as a venue yet again and for my friends that helped serve the food and clean up the place — it was a huge help and very much appreciated. A special thank you to Chef Loz who tirelessly helped with all the food shopping, food preparation, making my food highlights card and buying the 60 donuts for my cake — your generosity and patience is amazing! This year I can honestly say I thankfully found more time to relax once all the food was cooked and served. Thank you also for all the wonderful and generous gifts which I look forward to drinking, eating and using — I'm truly overwhelmed. I would have loved to invite all my fellow food bloggers but unfortunately space was very limited this year in making sure I could squeeze in 60 guests including 4 kids and one baby. I'm already thinking of my next birthday which is the big '40' and I think I'll try to take it even easier on myself and perhaps get someone else to look after all the catering at a venue so I can relax for the entire time — I promise!

Other birthdays for Simon:

• 15 Jan 2012 - Simon's 41st Birthday - Coach and Horses Hotel

• 8 Jan 2011 - Simon's 40th Birthday - Centennial Hotel

• 10 Jan 2010 - Simon's 39th Birthday BBQ

• 4 Jan 2009 - Simon's 38th Birthday BBQ

SNAPSHOT REVIEW:

PROS: Friends, good times, yummy food, presents

CONS: Time, money, lack of sleep

MUST TRY: Everything, especially making your own donut croquembouche

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Let's get cooking — Chop Chop!

36 Pacific Oysters with fresh lemon ($13.90/dozen) from Christie's Seafood, Sydney Fish Market. Start time 1 pm, finish time 1.30 pm — you snooze you lose!