After months of planning, the Vets' Hall resurrected a Kwaj tradition that was last held about eight years ago - the Mongolian BBQ. For those not familiar with the Mongolian BBQ concept, you select the sauces, meats and vegetables and then take them to a grill to be stir-fried. Usually accompanied with rice (steamed or fried). Mongolian BBQ Wikipedia article.
I biked over to Vets' Hall Saturday evening for a few hours to get the cold sauces bottled (shoyu - soy sauce - as it is commonly known around here), oyster sauce, sesame oil, and a few others, then came back around 10:00 am Sunday to begin cooking the other sauces in earnest. Sugar water, lemon water, lime water, ginger water, and finally the oils - hot pepper and garlic oils. Oils do take a lot longer to cool than the waters, so I know the next time I'll make them earlier in the prep day so that they are not too warm for pouring into squeeze bottles for serving. (I didn't have a problem with hot oil potentially softening the bottles - I let them cool down enough until just before showtime.)
At 5:30 pm, the crowds began to arrive, and we had a large but steady turnout. During the meal, I largely kept an eye on the serving area, making sure that sauces were not running out (none did except for one experimental one I created from a Korean BBQ sauce mix. Not bad but I need to try a different method next time. Dinner closed around 8:30 as the local band - the 'Insane Gecko Posse' - entertained the crowd. The remaining meats and vegetables on the serving table were then sent to the grill so we could offer a discounted 'late plate' for late night revelers. Some may have complained about the cost - $40 per person, kids half price, which included free drinks (some beers and well drinks at the bar for the adults, soft drinks for the kids) but the price was comparable to the prices usually charged for the mobile kitchen dinners served up at Emon Beach and the Country Club. Part of the proceeds went to fund the post's scholarship fund, after expenses. After cleaning up and helping a couple of people who had a little too much to drink get in our van so they wouldn't wind up a target for KPD and a potential public intoxication ticket, I finally crawled into bed, thoroughly exhausted at around 1:30 in the morning on Monday. Needless to say I didn't do much but sleep and do some minor clean up in my BQ room when I got up a few hours later.
All in all, the Mongolian BBQ was a success, and we're planning to hold one again in the fall, probably in the late October-early November timeframe.
A full week of work awaits, though next week we do have a holiday weekend, Memorial Day. I've been tapped to participate in the post rifle squad, armed with blank-firing M-1 rifles to provide the traditional three rifle volleys over the grave during the ceremony. Normally, possession of firearms is forbidden on the island; those that bring them must surrender them to the KPD armory for the duration of their tour; Vets' Hall owns their own rifles (a hold over from the days when individual possession of firearms was not a problem) but now keeps them in storage at the armory.
Less than five weeks to go before I go home on leave!
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