BBQ Party at my house in Seminyak Bali

Sunday was the day of the big bbq and the really cool thing that I was looking forward to (besides the fish satay) was having people who have posted on Baliblog being there and meeting each other.

I had invited about 20 people and told everybody the starting time was a casual 5pm, eating around 6.30pm. In anticipation of a stampede I arranged that Wayan#2, one of the cleaning ladies come over from 5pm-8pm to help getting things ready and give newcomers drinks etc. when the party was rocking. I know from past experience the host usually ends up tending to the bbq and not socializing as much as they would and having a kitchen on autopilot would make things even worse.

In the morning I rode over to Ace Hardware in Kuta and purchased a large plastic box about 1 meter long with a lid. My original intention was to buy a Igloo (Esky) but the largest one they had cost a whopping 3m rp!!! I could buy a new tv for that in the US. My plastic box cost 160,000rp and while it wouldn’t keep the drinks cold as long as a proper Esky it would do the job for 3-4 hours and would make it super easy for my guests to reach in and grab a drink. 5 bags of ice from Bintang supermarket in Seminyak and another case of beer on top of the one I had bought already got my beer quota up to speed. I also a selection of soft drinks floating round in there.

I had made a couple of calls to friends (Dave and Margarita) requesting knives and a CD player. Marg brought 5 more knives giving me 17 including my camping knives.

Wayan showed up and I pointed out how the food was going to work and what I wanted her to do. I borrowed a large pot from the ladies outside to cook the rice and told Wayan I would give her the green light to make rice.

5pm came and the first person to arrive was Dave, an Aussie who is involved with Palu surf boards. Margarita called shortly after and I rode down to Jl. Dhyana Pura and helped her park her Kijang close to the Globe Cafe. I rode her to the house on my bike.

Over the next hour and a half we saw Josh and friends (from N.Carolina) arrive hot foot from a surf tour of Sumbawa. They had actually forgotten about the bbq but luckily Josh called and got everyone moving.

Another friend Chris Brown (that’s the ‘Chris Brown’s house’ fellow) called and asked if he could bring a friend. “Sure” I said jokingly, “as long as you bring one for me.” Twenty minutes later along came Paulo an Italian friend with his partner and Chris, with 2 ladies! The old saying ‘be careful what you ask for you just might get it’ came to mind.

As darkness had decended my phone rang and it was Rob from Sydney. He and his wife Bev were waiting on Dhyana Pura having ridden up from Kuta. My alley was now clogged with cars and bikes so I had to run over to the main street, on the way passing Deb (Eskimo Girl) who was wandering along looking for my hard to find place.

I found Rob and Bev (no Nick from Sydney though!) and ran in front of their motorbike down my alley. Bev has been in Bali for a few days now and they took my recommendation by going to Rumors on Jl. Oberoi for dinner. Rob said the food was fantastic and he was amazed how cheap it was (25,000rp for a sirloin steak). They both said that Rumors looked like a happening place and after checking out the options in Seminyak, Warung 96 in Kuta doesn’t have quite the appeal it used to. By now with the music going, drinks flowing and people getting acquainted the party was happening.

I had about half a bag of charcoal plus half a sack of coconuts. We fired them up with my ‘handy stove burner’and as the coals got nice a red placed the top grill on. I had bought 4 large chicken breasts which were still big when I ripped them in half and these were my first victims. Placing them around the outside of the grill and putting the lid on they cooked very well by themselves. Wayan and Marg called me over and suggested I might not have enough rice so they both went out to a warung close by and came back with a couple of packets. This when added to my big potfull proved to be more than enough.

I introduced Rob and Bev to Deb and Rob commented that he has been reading her comments on Bali Travel Forum for a long time and its cool that he finally met her at my house. By the way Deb will be getting married to her boyfirend Komang and I promised to document it for all the Baliblog / Bali Travel Forum addicts. I pointed out Josh too. Rob offered to take photos of the people present while I manned the grill with Dave. You can credit him with most of the shots.

The first round of food included a large salad I had already made, chicken and fish satay. More rounds of fish followed and people told me it was tasty and they got good and stuffed.

Towards the end of the cooking process I could tell I wasn’t getting the same level of heat from the grill and the fish was going slowly. Dave commented that with such a large deep grill I really need to load the thing with charcoal to give it the power to sustain a high temperature. In hindsight I think the food went well, but my future efforts will be more ‘plug and play’ by which I mean I will buy chicken breasts and steak, chuck a whole bag of charcoal on plus coconuts and let it rip. Doing things the complicated way by riding to Jimbaran and spending all day fiddling around making sauces and satay was a good experience but one I don’t see myself repeating. I might even hire Wayan’s husband ( is that suami Barrie?) to man the grill so I can be a little bit more social.

Dave as well as being a super supportive fellow on grill duties brought a cool semi-techno CD (DJ Tracey) and it matched the tempo of the party very well. Never thought I’d hear myself say techno was good. He also brought 2 banana breads from Bali Bakery on Jl. Imam Bonjol in Kuta. I sliced this up and passed it out. While I was doing this I overheard Josh and the boys talking about going to ‘G-Land’ (Grajagan, Java) for another surf trip. They were geeing each other up saying ‘are you going to G-Land?’. “Hold that thought,” I said. “I’ve got something for you.” I brought over the bottle of arak that Mick had given me and 2 shots glasses. Pouring a couple of shots and passing them out I asked in a daring voice “are you going to G-Land?” Needless to say the bottle of arak took a thumping and in fact most people got a shot and ‘going to G-Land’ seemed like saying “I’m in.”

Josh has 7 more days in Indo before heading back to San Diego and is trying to decide where his trip will actually be to. he told me the surf trip to Sumbawa was a good experience even though the swell was weak.

There are some great deals on surf tours and you might hit it right and have the surfing adventure of your life.

The arak got people in dancing mood and we took turns in jumping into the circle and making a scene. I’d have to say Josh’s friend Kevin stole the show with his ‘no holds barred’ routine which was complete with break dancing and spinning on the floor (maybe I can train Putu to clean the floor like that).

As people began to drift away the core group of us including Josh & friends, Marg, Dave and myself decided to go to Liquid Jl. Dhyana Pura for a drink. The time was about 10pm and the place was very dead. I was actually feeling very dead too after running around after everyone and sweating like ‘pig before Galungan’. I stayed for one water then headed home.

This morning my place looked like a party had happened right before I got up. Next time I won’t hire Wayan from 5-8pm but from 7-10pm. So much stuff got spread round after she left I had to spend an hour or so dealing with it this morning. I knew Putu was coming to clean the house but I feel there’s limit, she can clean the place but shouldn’t have to drag sacks of bottles and pick chunks of food off of the furniture.

Here at Internet Outpost I’m getting some feedback that people had a good time which is what I wanted. In all we had 18 people show up including Wayan and myself. Some of the no shows were a couple friends of Josh, plus Nick from Sydney, Palu, Wiwin and Stewart, Chris Paporakis and Jasmine. Its all there for them to enjoy next time.

Chris Brown gave me a tip that my garden needs more light and I think that with more light I will be able to utilize the whole space. Bbq parties will become a tradition!

• Friday's adventures
• In search of a house
• Sunny Saturday afternoon in Kuta Bali
• Meeting Josh Grillo in Kuta Bali
• Top BaliBlog Posts - #6

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