Operation STEAMBOAT!!

The notion of Operation STEAMBOAT started way back in February.
To be exact, the baby of an idea was conceived on 14th Feb aka Valentines' Day.

We were having a 2 pax mini BBQ session at East Coast Park that night...grilling our sausages, roasting our chicken, chewing on the wings, playing with sparklers, etc...
And then the lightbulbs switched on.. *blink*

Him: Eh, why don't we try having a steamboat session too??
Me: *nods excitedly* yaya, why not? I have the pot and the portable burner!
Both: OK SET! Steamboat it shall be...in celebration of 18th May...! Woohoo! Steady!!

And so 3 months later...specifically last night, we lugged 2 big plastic bags of stuff and trooped down to East Coast Park again...heheh
Things were abit dismal at first when there were hordes of people and no empty tables...small drops of rain were also appearing..

And then voila! *he spied with his little eye*
There was a family who was packing up and leaving...hopped over quickly to "chope" the table...and got down to work!
He scampered off to get water for the soup...and errr...
I had the unglam task of setting up the table...under the scrutiny of 2 couples, one on my left and one on my right...the 4 of them seated comfortably on stone chairs, enjoying the breeze..

Trying to be oblivious to their curious stares...this girl...

• put up the table cloth (red, white checks...heheheh...$1 only!! disposable from NTUC)...
• took out the 2 gas cans...
• set up the pot and the portable burner...
• took out the ladle, the bowls, chopsticks, spoons...
• arranged the spread of food from fish to chicken to crabsticks to sausages to pork balls to vege to golden mushrooms to bee hoon and finally tofu...
• took out the condiments of soy sauce and chilli sauce...

....whilst swatting away at some irritating mozzies...
See that open packet at the bottom right corner?
With a cube-like thing on it? Hhehe...chicken stock cube for our soup base...Lazy to go boil real chicken stock...

And it was a wise choice to get the tablecloth
Added more flavour to the atmosphere...
And it did real well to cover up the dirt, grime and sand on the stone table haha...






He came back with the water for the soup..and then promptly scampered off again to get insect spray and more water... %$#^&%^*&............And I was left alone again.....
This time round to start the water boiling, the soup base going and the food cooking...

And of course by the time he came back the 2nd time round...some food was ready for his tastebuds!!
Oishii-ne!!

Ok, you can call me dumb...but somehow I can't seem to flip the pic over to the correct position....It looks okay on my own PC...but when I load it here, it just flips over on its own??

And tada! The aftermath....after all the gobbles and the munchies...Cleared the table of all the food! =))









Some Lessons Learnt:

1. Good to bring a torchlight or candles cos we were eating with minimal light....wonder if I happened to chew on any insects which could have dorpped into the soup without our knowing??
2. Strong reminders should be given to the person who's supposed to be in charge of bringing water!!!!!
3. Make sure your skin is thick enough...to withstand both curious stares from people walking by as well as the weird insects...

Woohoo...gonna do it again some time later...
Steamboat by the sea, under the moonlight, with the sounds of waves lapping at the shore ...=))
Not forgetting the lights from airplanes overhead and from the ships lined up just yonder from the shore...
And the gentle breeze ever so often...
Simply cool! =D

But abit sinful cos we popped by Swensons @ T2 for ice-cream after that hahaa....
Frosted Chocalate Malt for him and Chocolate Freckles for me...