Welcome cocktails made from various coloured liquers, layered and poured delicately into tests tubes to avoid mixing, were the gift on arrival. Then, after selecting an element from the Periodic Table, table cloth, that best suited their personalities or desires, the guests drinking vessels were labelled accordingly and filled with wine served from conical flasks or from the numerous beers and spirits - Vodka seemed to be in great demand and after three emergency re-supplies from the grocers at the bottom of the block, the vodka comsuming community were rescued from a potental libative disaster.
The gifts were lovely; the choco pies and flowers a particular favourite. However, someone brought me a belt which was great - it is fake leather and means I can wear it with no guilt- whoever that was, nice one, thanks. The wine, beer and vodka donations kept flooding in as each batch of guests arrived. A lot of calls to friends already ensconced at the party were received as some found locating the apartment more difficult than others! "So what!?" (Street number) was shouted across the room on numerous occasions.
The food of veggie curry, fresh spring roles, mango salad, fried rice and chinese black bean casserole was complimented by molecule structures of olives, cheese, raddishes and pickled onions. The dessert was also of molecular structures, but this time made from strawberries and grapes. By about 9pm all the welcome cocktails had been polished off (mostly by Daryl), so a fresh batch was made and handed to everyone and all toasted together - apart from the greedy ones who could not resist swigging it down immediately (Daryl) and not patient enough to wait for the toast!
The decor included a lava lamp made in the science department, which although quite nice, was really no more than a blob lamp - still, something to talk about. Food colour was prevalent in many items, including the flower water and made for a more vibrant environment.
The beer (which I find so tasteless in Vietnam - see previous blogs), was much improved by mixing a new find of mine, Dai Viet dark lager, with Tiger traditional lager. The combination has the same hue as a John Smiths back home and is a resonable, if slightly more bitter version, of a good pint of ale.
After all the food had been wolfed by the ravenous celebrants and the guests had thinned to a mere handful of drunken layabouts - mostly from the Saigon International Chior - (I am getting an interesting early impression of these muscians!), we clambered onto to our scooters and eventually found Johns pile about 2 mins ride away - it took us 15 mins!
There, the still hungry guests were treated to Annita's magic chilly chicken and copius more glasses of wine. After failed attempts to start up a sing-song, most of the remnants left for the apocalypse night club and me and John went up stairs to his lounge to watch England beat France in the rugby; though I have to say I could not see the ball too well as my focus had gone. What a glorious finale!
Thanks to everyone for making this a tremendous evening, it was wonderful to see you all there. However, it was a shame that the frivolity was tainted by the news of Emma's serious illness. We all hope she recovers soon.
See you all at the next one
Lynden
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| The vegetarian spread. The veg curry dissappeared fast! |
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| Chris Palmer and Lynden toast with the test tube shots |
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| The mint and Amarula cocktail shots - the triple layer versions were still in the fridge! |
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| The Melon and Baileys - quite interesting to note the various densities of the drinks - made for some interesting practice sessions the night before! |
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| The molecule snacks - the dessert was the same idea but with strawberries and two types of grapes. |
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| The Lava lamp - more of a blob lamp really! |
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| This is what happens when Henry (Lab Technician) gets hold of a beer! |
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| Just getting warmed up -at its peak there was not enough room to receieve any more guests - even with smokers out on the balconies! |
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| Typical entrance to an asian house party. Wonder who the posh suit shoes were! |
