Simon’s 38th Birthday BBQ

January 11, 2009 by Not Quite Nigella

Dolmades and fat green and black marinated olives

An invite to a food blogger’s birthday is going to be filled with great food. You just know that. It won’t be the kind of party where you’re served a bowl of soggy corn chips and a jar of salsa. A friend of mine went to a friend’s party and was served a bowl of rice and that was it. No sauce, no nothing to go with it.

Tetsuya’s oysters for the early birds-who us?

No, you can be fairly certain that there will be lots of good food involved. Suze and I were invited to fellow blogger’s Simon’s from Simon Food Favourites 38th party this sunny, breezy Sunday afternoon. We made sure to arrive on time as he promised Oysters to the earlybirds (ok we’re not food sluts, ok yes maybe we are).

Spring roll tarts made with spring roll filling with a sweet chili sauce dressing

The view is fetching and he explains that they watched the 9pm fireworks from here. One of the best things about a food blogger’s party is of course they know to let us know when a new dish of food is out and they also make sure that we get some great pics in great light.

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A drink called Pure Evil just has to be drunk…

Delicious fruity punch-not spiked.

Tarts filled with garlic roasted tomato, ricotta, olive tapenade and basil

Blinis with smoked salmon, cream cheese and chives

The item that had Suze and I making absolute greedy guts of ourselves were these blinis with smoked salmon and cream cheese. They absolutely melted in our mouths and we had to stop ourselves from accosting the creator of these and wrangling a recipe.

Eggplant cups

Duck wraps

Vegetarian curry puffs-yum!

Then came out the hot food. There were also the most delicious vegetarian curry puffs, piping hot (as pastry always is best) made and held by Dom using his mum’s recipe.

Chevups sausages on white bread with tomato sauce and mustard

Lamb chops with home made tzatziki

Buttery soft lamb chops-decorum and impending satiety prevented me from taking more!

Vegetable quiche

Risotto balls

Bread and cheeses

Birthday meringues

Chocolate Cake squares

Watermelon

The birthday boy Simon-Happy Birthday Simon!

P.S. Loved this wall collage!

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36 Comments | Add your own

  • 1. holler | January 11, 2009 at 7:44 am | #

    I enjoyed hearing all about the party! You lucky thing, it sounded fab :)

  • 2. Arwen from Hoglet K | January 11, 2009 at 7:55 am | #

    Wow, what a spread. I love the way everything is in little portions, it looks so professional.

  • 3. Adrasteia | January 11, 2009 at 8:16 am | #

    Oh my goodness, the food looks amazing! I am going to have to do some serious food blog searches to find recipes so I can shamelessly copy.

  • 4. snookydoodle | January 11, 2009 at 8:32 am | #

    wow delicious food. surely you ended up with a full yummy :) happy birthday to the birthday boy :)

  • 5. Geoff | January 11, 2009 at 10:33 am | #

    Damn I wish I had’ve made it there on time.. I guess there’s always next year! Happy birthday Simon!

  • 6. Cakelaw | January 11, 2009 at 10:57 am | #

    You had me from the dolmades – lucky Simon. I need me some Pure Evil to make the day go smoothly ;) .

  • 7. chocolatesuze | January 11, 2009 at 11:26 am | #

    mmm blinis how i want more!

  • 8. Annie | January 11, 2009 at 12:17 pm | #

    This is the 3rd time I am drooling over the same food! Damn the 3 of you for taking such good pics, and yay to Simon and fellow chef helpers for coming up with such an amazing spread.

  • 9. Karen | January 11, 2009 at 1:38 pm | #

    And here I am…the silly one who didn’t make it…nothing should’ve got in my way of a good party and good food (not even the F3!).

    I suppose the good thing was I avoided a possible blini catfight.

  • 10. Barbara | January 11, 2009 at 1:46 pm | #

    Wow – I think I need to step up my parties!

  • 11. yaelian | January 11, 2009 at 6:35 pm | #

    Gosh, everything looks absolutely mouth watering and looking at these fabulous pictures makes me hungry!

    Lorraine, you asked a few questions in my blog about the tofu mayo. I did not use silken tofu, although I would prefer that, for the simple reason that in Israel I can’t find silken tofu, so I used regular soft tofu. Omenaviinietikka means apple cider vinegar and 1 dl is 100 milliliter,1/10 of a liter. That is the measurement unit that we mostly use in Finland.

  • 12. Christie @ fig&cherry | January 11, 2009 at 8:22 pm | #

    I haven’t had dinner yet and my mouth is watering!

    Why do I crave Chevups now?

  • 13. Not Quite Nigella | January 11, 2009 at 8:49 pm | #

    Hi holler-Thanks! It was very yummy indeed :D

    Hi Arwen-Yes it was very much finger food and perfect party food! :)

    Hi Adrasteia-Yes he and his friends did an amazing job. I really would love the recipe for the curry puffs and the blinis, they were amazing!

    Hi snookydoodle-haha oh definitely! I was full when we got to the lamb chops but that was probably due to excess blini consumption :P

    Hi Geoff-Yes, (un)fortunately the food was too good to not eat so a lot of it was gone pretty quickly :(

    Hi Cakelaw-Haha isn’t that the best name for a drink? :lol:

    Hi chocolatesuze-Yeah me too! Oh they were sooo good!

    Hi Annie-Yes kudos to everyone, it was great and also good that we didn’t have to struggle to get our pics :)

    Hi Karen-Yes you should have made it, come hell or high water! :P Nah it was all very civilised although if there was only one plate of blinis that would have been a different matter ;)

    Hi Barbara-You and me and everyone else I think! :P

    Hi yaelian-Oh thankyou so much for letting me know. I definitely want to try it now, it looked so creamy and gorgeous! :D

    Hi Christie-It’s BBQ season perhaps? I think it’s the squiggly mustard hypnotising you ;)

  • 14. Jo | January 11, 2009 at 9:14 pm | #

    This looks great – can I ask who did the catering as my sister is throwing a 21st soon?

  • 15. FFichiban | January 11, 2009 at 10:47 pm | #

    Woooww yuummmmmmm! Could you please write up the recipe for the blinis :D hee hee thhxxx! Anything that makes you guys eat 5 of in a row must be great XD

  • 16. grace | January 11, 2009 at 11:48 pm | #

    in all my life, i’ve never seen so much and such sensational miniature foods. however did you control yourself?

  • 17. the projectivist | January 11, 2009 at 11:56 pm | #

    Wow, Simon throws a good party, it all looks fabulous. especially those little meringues, and those risotto balls, and the roasted tomato tarts and… damn. did i say ALL?

  • 18. Madison Song | January 12, 2009 at 1:19 am | #

    simon had one of the best birthday parties i’ve seen, and he sure looks happy!! =P

  • 19. Astra Libris | January 12, 2009 at 5:33 am | #

    What an amazing, glorious feast! I am in awe – thank you for sharing your stunning photographs!

  • 20. Jorden | January 12, 2009 at 6:20 am | #

    Wow! If that food tasted as good as it looked, you must have been in heaven! I love those mini sausage sandwiches, everything is so much better in miniature :)

  • 21. Tina | January 12, 2009 at 8:48 am | #

    This looks amazing congrats to the caterers.
    Any chance on getting the recipes, I would love to try this on my next bbq as soon as I finish the remainder of my verandah.

  • 22. Simon Food Favourite | January 12, 2009 at 11:30 am | #

    Hi Lorraine,

    thanks so much for coming and taking such lovely photos. Gee, I’ve gotta get myself one of those Digital SLR cameras one day. It was a great team effort from all Chefs and thankfully as prewarned everyone brought their appetites as well!

    Simon :-)

  • 23. MsGourmet | January 12, 2009 at 3:15 pm | #

    it all looks so scrummy!

  • 24. Irene | January 12, 2009 at 4:31 pm | #

    This all looks amazing! Can Simon come and cater for my next party??? :) Seriously.

  • 25. Not Quite Nigella | January 12, 2009 at 8:22 pm | #

    Hi Jo-Simon and his 5 friends did the catering so it was a group effort. I don’t think they do it for a living although I think they should!

    Hi FFichiban-I will if I get the recipe! :) Yeah they were absolutely amazing! On an exciting note, I got the curry puff recipe from his friend Dom! YAY!

    Hi grace-who’s saying I controlled myself? :lol:

    Hi the projectivist-Yup I’m with you, it was an awesome spread!

    Hi Madison-Yes good food tends to make us food bloggers very happy! :P

    Hi Astra Libris-Thankyou so much for your kind words! :)

    Hi Jorden-I completely agree, miniature anything is fantastic! :)

    Hi Tina-The caterers were the birthday boy and his friends :) I’ve got the recipe for those wonderful curry puffs and am hoping for the blini recipe. As for the rest, that might be his secret!

    Hi Simon-Yes indeed, they’re very good cameras, especially in low light. Thanks for making sure we got the photos and for inviting us! :)

    Hi MsGourmet-It was indeed! :)

    Hi Irene-Haha my thoughts exactly! :)

  • 26. Marc @ NoRecipes | January 13, 2009 at 5:57 am | #

    Wow what an impressive spread. The oysters look fantastic! and those tarts (all of them!

  • 27. Y | January 13, 2009 at 10:53 am | #

    Love the wall collage too. Everything looks delicious!

  • 28. Not Quite Nigella | January 13, 2009 at 8:29 pm | #

    Hi Marc-Yes I was so glad that we came early! I wouldn’t have wanted to miss out on the Oysters!

    Hi Y-Yeah I really wanted one :lol:

  • 29. Vanessa | January 15, 2009 at 8:05 pm | #

    Why wasn’t I invited to this party?!! This food looks amazing. How about some recipes? I’d love to make these for any family function that may come up.

  • 30. Not Quite Nigella | January 15, 2009 at 8:54 pm | #

    Hi Vanessa-Um I don’t know but if you’re a friend of Simon’s I’d send him an email! I’ve got a recipe for the Curry puffs which I will make soon.

  • 31. Bria | January 16, 2009 at 7:14 pm | #

    How do I get an invite to this party next year? :p

  • 32. Not Quite Nigella | January 16, 2009 at 9:31 pm | #

    Hi Bria-I don’t know, who knows if he’ll do the same thing next year! I hope so and I hope I’m invited :lol:

  • 33. alice twigden | August 20, 2009 at 2:52 pm | #

    Can anyone suggest a caterer for my sons 21st birthday in sydney

  • 34. alice twigden | August 25, 2009 at 3:44 pm | #

    Simon

    Are you available to cater for my sons 21st birthday

  • 35. Simon Food Favourite | August 26, 2009 at 11:56 am | #

    Hi Alice Twigden, that’s very kind of you to ask me to do your catering for your son’s 21st birthday. Unfortunately the only time I actually do anything like this is for my own birthday each year and it pretty much takes all my energy for the rest of the year :-) . I remember my 21st being quite simple in terms of catering which consisted of chips, dips, drinks, a belly dancer and a birthday cake :-) If you don’t find a caterer for your needs I’d suggest self-catering but keeping it really simple and asking a few close friends who love cooking to help out. it’s amazing what cooking talents you find in others. To create a canape party atmosphere keep everything to as bite sized as possible. i like canapes because you don’t need cutlery and plates to eat it including the cake/dessert i usually prepare. that’s my birthday philosophy. how about a Krispy Kreme Donut cake idea i spotted one night http://simonfoodfavourites.blogspot.com/2009/07/krispy-kreme-doughnut-birthday-cake-24.html all the best and have fun, Happy Eating :-)

  • 36. Not Quite Nigella | August 26, 2009 at 12:30 pm | #

    Hi Alice-I know Sweet Inifinty in Woollomooloo do catering. Ask for Tom or Kylie and they should be able to give you a quote :) 02 9331 2448

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