The Half (House) Warming

So why a half-warming?

Because our fab friend Mike is half as old as he used to be when he first had his housewarming 15 years ago - that is, when he bought his house the first time around, then bought it again last year. Naturally, such a spesh occasion needs a spesh menu.

This was quite a fun challenge on a few fronts. It would be the second biggest group we would cook for (the biggest is 80 for my bro-in-law's 30th, which is also notable as we fed all of them on around $300. Apparently the guests still remember the oven baked beef ribs and the cheat's sushi with wasabi suprises - amazing really, considering the copious amounts of alcohol consumed that night!)

It was also the kind of party where the 35 or so people would drop in over the whole day, so we had to stagger out the food plus have a cold and hot selection for the canapes and possibly the lunch mains. Oh, and did I mention that today was one of the hottest days in Sydney, hitting the high 30s in the City and mid 40s in the west? Thank God for airconditioning! So we had to make sure the food was going to be hot and humid-friendly and still manage to be appetising.

A few lessons learned:

• The K.I.S.S. principle (keep it simple, stooopid!) applied more than ever. Take advantage of pre-made stuff - the rare roast beef on multigrain pepper crackers with beetroot and a tiny dollop of horseradish cream topped with a sprig of parsley was made completely with store-bought ingredients but looked and tasted fabulous.
  
• Big is beautiful - I was amazed how the 4-kilo ham cooked the way my Mom cooks it just disappeared, and the roasted whole sides of ocean trout with walnut and coriander salsa worked really, really well


• One (or two) unusual dishes adds a bit of "wow" factor, and gets people to try new tastes and textures - the ajo blanco in shot glasses did the trick


• A pail-ful of punch was essential on such a hot day
  
• Don't let a seeming failed dish get the better of you - the slightly fermented vodka-fed watermelon ended up in the punch, which was quite fabulous

So the next big one to cook for is a house and another two-thirds warming and an even number! Note: possibly only nerdy maths types will get this.