Annual BBQ: 8th edition (yes, again)

If you've been wondering why I've been so quiet on blogland since last week... well I only have 3 letters for you:

B. B. Q.

Yes, it's that time of the year, my annual B.B.Q. with friends. See here for previous years' editions... So I thought this year was our 9th edition, but turns out I'm mistaken (as my sister gleefully pointed out :P). I'm one year ahead and this is truly only our 8th edition. Still, not bad, not bad for a bunch of kids that met during college :D

For me, the BBQ started last Friday with grocery shopping. Luckily for me, one of my friends was free so she helped me out. Only problem is that this year, we were going to be less... like only 6 ^_^; I had the grocery list from last year that I smartly put up on my blog... but that list was for 10. See the difference? Every year we do a BBQ and every year (okay, so I missed last year) I do the grocery shopping... and it's always the same thing: "How much should I buy? What did we do last year?... OMG, I don't remember!!" My motto?

More is better than not enough!

So I buy accordingly to it and it works... I always have more ^_^; Let just say, sometimes, too much more. All I know is that each year, I need to buy chicken wings, fish meat balls, corn and watermelon. That is the constant... that is what people love to eat... The rest, well I have to figure out...

After 5 different grocery stores/market, here is my BBQ grocery list for 6 persons + 2 little sisters:

- 24 chicken wings
- 1 pack of chicken thighs, no bones
- 3kg of fish meat balls
- 1 dozen of corn on cob
- 10 sausages (5 italian/5 honey and garlic)
- pasta salad (pesto and cherry tomatoes)
- 1 big bag of carrots, 1 cucumber, 1 cauliflower, cherry tomatoes and 2 red peppers
- 500g of spinach dip
- 1 bag of tostitos, 1 bag of regular chips, 1 bag of sweet chili chips
- guacamole
- salsa
- watermelon
- 2L of coca cola, 2L of fresca lemonade, 2L of regular lemonade
- hot dog sausages + buns

**Note to Nath: Buy more chicken wings, less fish meat balls (although this year, it balanced out). Maybe more corn too and less hot dogs.

Funny story about the fish meat balls... We went on Friday evening to buy them at the Chinese grocery store; however, they were sold out. Seriously?!?! I kind of panic at that moment, because a BBQ with fish meat balls? Not going to work ^_^; So I decided I'd buy some on Sunday morning - I'd go early... anyway, I was heading in that direction since I had to pick up my friend who helped me with grocery shopping (see, I might do the grocery shopping and marinate the meat... Only problem is that there's never enough space in my fridge to put all the stuff!!! so I had to borrow her fridge... and unfortunately, her car was down). So I got to the grocery store at 10.15am on Sunday (they open at 10am)... went to the meat section and the butchers were preparing the stands. They sell different kind of meat balls: fish (not fried yet), shrimp, beef, etc. The butcher was opening the bags and putting them in container for display. I asked for the fried fish meat balls... and turns out that he hadn't open that bag yet, so he looked at me and showed the bag. I asked for half the bag... and he asked, why don't you take it all? Hmmm... I really wanted only half the bag, but I didn't know how to say NO. Yes, I know, I'm a real pushover ^_^; So I ended up with 3kg of fried fish meat balls... If you're wondering, yes it is a lot!! and it's freaking expensive too!! 1kg of fish meat balls is 13.99$ ^_^; Ah well.

Saturday, I spent the day cleaning my room. With all the books I've bought recently, let say that it's a bit dangerous to walk in my room ^_^; Books everywhere... which quite frankly, that's the way I like it LOL :) What I don't like is the dust ^_^; and my room, I have no idea why, gets dusty really fast... and then, well let say my room's been a mess ever since I came back from Kristie's. So it really needed a deep cleaning. Took me the whole day on Saturday to put books and stuff away!! I had to wake up really early on Sunday to vacuum ^_^;

Then, on Sunday, it was finally BBQ day :) We got really lucky because the weather was gorgeous!! Sunny with some clouds, not too hot and not too humid... and it didn't rain!! Yay!! After picking up my friend and her little sister and stopping at the market to buy corn, I got home at 11.15am... BBQ was supposed to start at 11am, but then, as usual, everyone was late. We started putting the stuff out (table, chairs on the patio, putting the food out, cut the vegetables for the dip) and preparing some food (pasta salad, guacamole, boiling the sausages...). Then at 12.30pm, we started the BBQ... since it's charcoal, it means it'll take about 20-30 minutes for it to be ready (and that's because we now have a cool techniques... The first few years? It took us an hour or more!!). So at 1pm, everyone was there and we were officially ready to start :D

It was fun, we all sat around the BBQ, chatted and ate. After eating, we lounged around, went to laze on the grass. Just a very, very relaxing day. We also played a little on the Wii. Then, we started the BBQ again for the second round of eating :)

The BBQ actually ended quite early this year. By 8pm, I poured water onto the charcoal... What I love about my friends (besides the fact that they're all awesome people, etc.) is that they always help me out with the cleaning at the end :) They do the dishes, sweep the floor, put away things, etc. I've seen my sister hosting events at our house... and she always ends up doing the dishes while the others are having so much fun... and at the end, it's a mess. However, my friends always help out, especially since most events are hosted at my house. Anyway, by 10pm, everyone was gone.

Kind of sad that the BBQ ended so early this year... but at the same time, I was glad, because I was really tired and my feet hurt sooo much!! It was painful to be standing up ^_^; I was also really, really tired. To tell the truth, this year, I was feeling like doing the BBQ... I don't know why... I guess it's because everyone is so busy with work and we're at a stage where we're kind of all going into different directions. I have a friend who just started a new job and it's a very good job... Another one just bought a condo and will be moving out later this year. Another is planning a second trip this year... So yeah, things are changing and I feel that it is changing our friendship... and I don't like changes. Still, I'm glad we had a BBQ and it was fun :D I'm actually planning to perhaps do a second one later this summer... but we'll see :)

Anyway, here are some more pictures. Enjoy! :D

**For those who are curious: I'm the one who wears a purple shirt in the first picture. In the second pic, the one with the orange shirt, that's my sister. The guy in the third picture is my friend/co-worker :) His girlfriend is the one who is sitting next to me in the first picture.