1st BBQ in La-La Land

The crazy month that was August is nearly over. Thank goodness for that. I don't think I crawled into bed any earlier than 1am for over a month.

Being totally worn out from the constant partying, I lost all sense of reason and invited my entire lab to my first LA BBQ. Technically, it's the 3rd (see soon to-be-uploaded Flickr shots of the 2nd), but it's the first in my new apartment. Being the host and chef, I failed to take ANY photos, and also later found out that everyone else was too drunk to take any either. Which is a shame. I put a fair amount of effort into marinating pounds and pounds of flesh (purchased from Trader Joe's thanks to Santos' tip): baby back ribs in pineapple juice/ketchup/soya sauce/maple syrup marinade, tri-tip huge-chunk-of-beef in a pseudo-Korean/soya sauce/sesame oil/green onion/garlic/sesame seed marinade, chicken yakitori, chicken/papaya/peppers/pineapple kebabs marinated in coconut milk/pineapple juice/ginger/garlic/soya sauce and chicken drumsticks in miso paste and sesame seeds. And for afters: bananas BBQed in their own skins and served either with squares of Maya Gold (lightly spiced chocolate by G&B) or a Nutella-like spread, slices of fresh pineapple, rum and brown sugar, wrapped in foil and warmed on the pit, and figs with a knob of butter and sprinkling of sugar. I could really kick myself for not appointing a designated photographer. Which is kinda ironic given that I invited my photographer neighbour... C'est la vie.

A good time was had by all, what with mojitos, bottles of Ca' del Solo rosé (a personal favourite for taste, price and sentimental reasons), and several good bottles of hefty reds being consumed by 10 over the course of 5 hours. And how could I forget to mention the absolute pepper vodka? Foul stuff; harsh and an appetite killer. I'm not tempted to try any of the other flavoured vodkas of the same make. They don't quite compare to a very pleasant bison-grass flavoured vodka we tried in a Polish restaurant in Santa Monica (Warszawa?).

Since I can't upload any shots of the food I cooked, here's a gratuitous shot of a scrummy salad crafted by the Monsieur Marcel café at the Third and Fairfax farmer's market:

Sad person that I am, I bought a small jar of Marmite.