So this is the second time I'm catering to her home. The first was an 'emergency catering' where she actually sent me a direct message on Twitter. Her friends were coming down from Aussie and she wanted to host a dinner without cooking. Of course I obliged and even personally delivered her order. So this was catering no. 2, I must confess that since it was another 'Emergency Catering' order, I could only sort out the food in time. So the people at Group Based Caterers were very kind to look into the Equipment, Staffing, drinks, kuey teow & the LAMB (which i loved btw)!  Kudos to them. 

This time thou, Ms. Lee insisted that I join in on the party, she made it clear before hand that if i agree to cater, then i agree to attend as a guest as well. I accepted, naturally (I couldn't say no, especially when she said they're having LAMB!). So a little inside info, this is how catering's usually work for us, we go in as a team to set up, usually its me with my bosses... Mom & Sis. We're a relatively young business at 3 years old, so we still very much like to have a personal touch to our services (not gotten lazy just yet!). But when i announced that I was also invited to the party, beloved Mom & Sis decided that I should go alone. Brilliant! Catering ... Alone ... recipe for nightmare i tell you. But i did have the last laugh, as the fantastic people at Group Base Caterers namely Kenny the head Waiter did everything. I am ashamed to say that I did not do any work for the catering at all. Real champs these guys, very helpful. 

So there I was, a glass of white wine in one hand and Mom's home made muruku in the other (I catered that too) and was essentially mingling. Met a great group of educators from Malaysia as well as Australia. Must admit the whole experience was a lot of fun. After chatting initially with a couple of doctors & Ms. Lee's father in law about politics & national interests, i decided to attack the buffet, namely the Lamb!  Later I decided to go for the whole awesome banana leaf fare courtesy of Spicy Corner (ok I'm plugging myself here, humor me!) and joined Ms. Irene, Peter as well as Loges & his wife at their table. Turns out Loges is the principal manufacturer for the company that i buy Spicy Corner' Eco-Packs from. After getting to talking, it turns out that many ideas i had on eco-packaging that previously i was told would cost too much can actually be done for much less. Hence it goes to show that sometimes we need to meet the right people in order to get things done. 

Of course at Ms. Lee's party the conversation eventually went to education (not that its a bad thing) and I was very interested as I see my years at Sunway College as a solid cornerstone to my life so far. Peter (if memory serves me right is a representative from Victoria University 'VU' in Melbourne) was fascinated by students venturing into business and went on to explain how VU is implementing a Personal Development 'PD' course starting next year. He was very excited about it and stated that VU will be making PD courses part of the compulsory credits necessary to graduate. He also added that one of the course would be Entrepreneurship where they would get local entrepreneurs to come and basically mentor the class for a semester. This was brilliant, as I personally think this is highly relevant to todays marketplace. He went on to say he would like to suggest me as one of the 'mentors/lecturer' for the course. I found this amusing, only because I never ... ever ... had considered lecturing or anything of that sort. He assured me that he was NOT offering me the job and would only mention it to whoever would be responsible for the PD program at VU - Sunway. Although unexpected, let me tell you that I dont think i would turn down the offer if it came my way. 

Of course conversation didn't end there, the table went on to deliberate the declining eating habits of the western world, lol. Peter explained how huge the portions of carbonated drinks were at Mcd's in U.S. and how the closest thing they get to veggies is French fries. Of course this ended with him telling us how much he loved Asian cuisine where theres a huge variety of vegetables for your choosing. The table also fell in love with specially home made 'Carrot Halwa' that mom had made for the party. This was a special dish indeed, as mom only made it on very rare occasions. Back when we were in India, every time she made Carrot Halwa or sometimes 'Beet-root Halwa the day would be considered a special occasion, Sis and me would just spend the day sitting at home with a spoon in one hand and a bowl of moms delicious Carrot/Beet-Root Halwa in the other... good times those!   

Again it was a wonderful party & very fun too. Between, Prem Kumar singing traditional music for us & the Teh Tarik lessons to our Aussie friends, Donuts with Deepavali greetings on them & Chocolate Marshmallow desserts made by Ms. Lee's daughter. It was a memorable night indeed. And lets not forget the awesome Lamb as well as the mouth watering dishes from Spicy Corner. I know  I know, i didnt take many photos of the food. Got distracted. More photo's the next time.