... in which our intrepid protagonist tackles the monumental undertaking of hosting and fully catering a curry and cocktails night, with a guest list nearing thirty people.

Back-story...
Years ago a boss of mine held an impressive curry night for his programming team (the Track Management team) and their Significant Others; probably about ten or twelve people in total. Sociable gastronome that I am, I fell in love with the idea of bringing a large but homogenous group of friends together to celebrate food. And so for around two years the Track Management team discussed organising another night of festivities.

The epoch in the Track Management continuum was not, as one might suppose, my leaving the team, but the arrival of one Chef Michal - a master of culinary specialities with a wanton need to please people with food. The stage had all of a sudden been set. This was no longer an ordinary, or even modest, proposal.

I'll cut much of the organisation story short, but to say that out of respect for the possibly dire (and unmentionable) repercussions of forcing many people into a medium-sized living area with many pots of curry, I tried at first to keep the guest list to a maximum of fifteen people. Unfortunately this covered only the Track Management crew, Scroop + other and only four of my own out-of-work friends. Little did we know, but this would all change...

The last week...
We knew from the outset that this would be no cheap affair. A tentative guess at the cost came to $500, which included food for seven different curries, cocktail ingredients (mainly Gin and Campari) and equipment hire (a few hundred dollars for tables, table cloths, serving bowls and platters, plates, cutlery, 10 wine glasses, 15 martini glasses, 20 water glasses, a deep-fryer and a cocktail blender.)

The Menu as originally composed by Chef Michal. A revised and heavily edited version of this was printed and made available on the night.
TO START
Samosas - Lightly spiced beef samosas with mango chutney
Pakoras of cauliflower, onion, potato and spinach served with mint and garlic yoghurt
Ground Lamb kebabs grilled over open coals accompanied by vinegar, chilli and ginger

TO MAIN
Butter Chicken
Boneless chicken thigh simmered with curry, turmeric, coriander and garam masala. Finished with butter, cream and freshly ground almonds – for those of mild heat disposition.

Lamb Rogan Gosht
Shoulder of lamb cooked with onions, capsicum, paprika, chilli, cumin and fresh curry leaves- for those of medium heat disposition.

Japanese Bean Curd
Pressed bean curd with carrots, potatoes and onions in a medium Japanese style broth – for those of medium heat disposition.

Cockles and Clam Masala
Vongole, clams, cockles and mussels lightly steamed with vinegar, lemongrass, ginger, garlic and star anise. Finished with coconut milk, fresh coriander and mint – tangy and fresh rather than spicy as such.

Thai Curry of Beef
Fresh beef cooked with lime leaves, galangal, candle nuts, lemongrass, coconut milk and chillies. Finished with palm sugar and fish sauce – bordering between medium and hot.

Pork Vindaloo
Leg of pork, deboned and marinated in vinegar and spices for 24 hours. Cooked with onions, garlic, fresh tomatoes and spices – for those who want to hurt themselves the next morning.

TO ACCOMPANY
Palak Paneer - Baked ricotta cooked with spinach, butter and garam masala.
Dhal - Lentils simmered with tomatoes, onions, ghee and spices.
Rice - If you need to know please leave.
Roti - Indian style bread
Naan - A different style of Indian bread
Riata - Yoghurt, cucumber, garlic and cumin to sooth those curried palates.
Tomato Kasanda - Tomatoes cooked with curry powder, chilli and sugar.
Fresh mango chutney - Mangoes, honey, coriander, cashews and mint.
Tomato, mint, Spanish onion salad with vinegar, lime, sugar and fish sauce.

TO DRINK
Lasi
Various cocktails

TO HOST
Paul Cechner The host.
Lucien Sims The bar.
Simon Fitzpatrick The helper.
Michal Pisarek The cook.

The last week was spent shopping (the spices alone came to in excess of $100) and it was then that we got the depressing feeling that we were possibly pushing ourselves into bankruptcy. On Friday I hastily amended the requested donation amount to a more oppressive $30 and hoped that everyone would understand. Fortunately on the original invite email I had specifically noted that the ~$20 request was still to be decided upon.

Michal was waiting for us when we got home from work Friday. So the time spanning the moment I got home through to after midnight was spent cooking four curries. I learned a lot, and it was actually very entertaining, but it did decrease my longing for an evening eating the stuff.

Saturday...
Saturday was filled with highs and lows. I was dead tired from the last few nights' lack of sleep, but was really looking forward to the festivities. The cost had risen from the estimated $500 to in excess of $800, and neither of us had been paid in almost a month!

Probably the most stressful moment was in the evening when people started cancelling. In all, there weren't many of them, but they all seemed to call within the same half-hour period. Even to this day I get an apprehensive chill every time the phone rings - it has become a harbinger of bad news to me now.

On the other hand, the weather forecasts had been wrong and it was going to be a beautiful night. The repercussions of this were astounding - suddenly we could invite whoever we pleased; the gates were open to have a fully-fledged all-friends-invited party! I even invited my two brothers and one of my little sisters, which in retrospect was one of the best decisions I made that day.

I discovered, however, that there is no way to nicely invite even the closest of friends (or perhaps especially them) at the last minute, and ask for a donation of $30 to boot. I didn't want people thinking they were invited because I was trying to make up numbers. The good thing about friends, though, is that you can trust them to give you the benefit of the doubt.

The night...
I've just sent out a thankyou letter to all who came. I'll include here what I wrote:

Compadres,

Thanks to all who attended the Curry Festivities. The night went off without a hitch, and I couldn't be more pleased with the result.

The food surpassed even my expectations, and the ambiance of the dining room was jovial and comfortable. In fact, the bartender Lucien, when faced with the unexpected situation of being without any rowdy drunkards, made the snap decision to play that role himself. I'm sure we can all appreciate the effort it must take for a bartender to play both sides of the bar.

One thing everyone can agree on, I think, is that the night would not have been possible without the hard work of Chef Michal. His selfless devotion to the food throughout the course of the night kept him from sampling the rich diversity in the ebb of humanity continually flowing around him. His social self-banishment was certainly the party's loss.

As for myself, the tiredness in my bones from two days and nights with very little sleep were totally swept away upon entrance of the first few guests (two of my own siblings, no less.) My own role as maitre d' and host kept me in the enviable position of social butterfly all night, and gave me an excellent excuse to dress in my most formal of dinner-wear.

Lucien, Michal and I would like to thank all of you for making the night a delectable success. The costs in time, money and sweat that went into the evening were by far dwarfed by the fun we all had.

We hope you all had half as good a night as we did, and met a few people you didn't previously know. I will certainly be enjoying the curry we made for the next few weeks.

The hardest job I had all night was collecting money off people. Although everyone understood completely the need (indeed, some even said that it was relatively cheap,) I couldn't help but feel like a bit of a cad. In the end though, even this became a pleasant excuse for talking with everyone at the party.

As any party with a cocktail blender is wont to do, there was some degeneration by the end of the night into a weird cocktail experimentation. At one point we were sampling curious concoctions of ice-cream, mango, campari, gin and Ice-Magic. I'll say no more on this subject, or the concept of mixing these with red wine in general...

The morning after...
I spent the entire day Sunday cleaning the house. There was linen to wash, about six dishwasher-loads to process, and three large rubbish-bags of rubbish to dispose of. Wine and cocktail hangover. Panadol. Hangover. Curry breakfast. Wine... and... Cocktails...

Would I do it again? Certainly. I would probably try to make the night a bit cheaper though, and do something that requires a little less preparation. Michal already has some ideas, and Lucien is keen to have another go, so we'll all see.

Poor quality photos can be found in the latest album in the gallery.