NS Kitchen Party

A few weeks ago, one of my Australian friends went to America for a series of conferences. They were on the east coast of the USA, first in DC, and then in Boston. In the lead up before they left, they had lots of questions for me, mostly about tipping, how to dress for the weather, and recommendations of things to do/try. While in Boston, they had a fantastic time, and loved the atmosphere of the city & New England in general. When they got back, I told them about how Halifax has a very similar sort of culture and feel to Boston. I'm actually guessing about this, as I've never been to Boston. But from everything I have heard, it is essentially true.

At some point, either before they left or after they got back, my friend learned about kitchen parties. Now fully enamored with East Coast culture, they decided they wanted to experience a NS Kitchen party, right here in Melbourne. Of course, Justin & I were on board, and happy to help facilitate. This was one of those instances where a kitchen party is so ubiquitous to us that we keep forgetting that its not something the Australians had ever heard of before. So after explaining the concept of a kitchen party a couple of times, we got a small group of Australians on board and excited. I should note now that a kitchen party isn't actually that different from any other party in terms of how it works: you go to someone's house, put on some music, everyone eats and drinks. It just happens that during most parties, you naturally drift to the living room. In kitchen parties, you stay in the kitchen. I also maintain that there is a particular vibe that is specific to a NS kitchen party. Its much harder to describe, but you know it when you see it.

In preparation, Justin & I made a NS kitchen party playlist. It features a mix of traditional NS songs (Barrett's privateers, obviously, as well as some other Stan Rogers and a few choice tunes by the Rankins), and an assortment of other Canadian acts that we love (Great big sea, The tragically hip, Joel Plasket, Shania Twain, Matt Mays, etc). We also added some more mainstream Celtic rock (Flogging Molly, Dropkick Murphys). Turns out Aussies LOVE Celtic rock. Or, at least the Aussies that we are hanging out with do. They all lose their minds when 'I'm Shipping up to Boston' by Dropkick Murphy's comes on. I did some considerable vetting of the playlist in the weeks leading up to the part to make sure it was the right blend. Not only is it a great playlist, but its pretty much guarantied to make me a little homesick every time I listen to it.

Since the party was actually being hosted by an Australian, Justin & I didn't want to show up empty handed. I decided that it was finally time to try my hand at donair sauce. As it turns out donair sauce is both super easy and super weird to make. Its 3 ingredients: sweetened condensed milk, garlic powder, and white vinegar. That's it. I was able to find all three ingredients at the IGA express around the corner from us. It was a strange combination of things to buy, made extra-weird because I knew they were all going into the same bowl. It took everything I had not to awkwardly blurt out to the judgey guy** behind the counter "these are being mixed together! Weird right?!".

**Judgey guy from the IGA is actually a pretty regularly discussed character in our household. The IGA express is essentially a tiny but very well stocked convenience store that has everything from fresh produce & meat to bread & milk to liquour. We go there at least a few times a week for snacks and/or staples. It just so happens to be on my walk home from the gym, so I am extra guilty at stopping in to get some things we actually need and also candy for my walk home. We are pretty sure Judgey Guy is the owner as he is the only person who works there that is over the age of 20. We've talked about it, and we don't actually think he is judging us, but he wears his glasses at the end of his nose. He has to tilt his head back to look through them, which makes him literally look down his nose at you. That plus his tendency to have resting bitch face = a perpetual air of judgement. He isn't mean or anything though. And I actually feel like he's a bit less judgey now that he's realized we live locally. Its also possible that he was never that judgey, and I'm just feeling a bit sensitive of my post-gym impulse purchases that almost always amount to 1 actual thing we need, approximately 4 types of snacks, and a piece of impulse candy that I practically have open before I leave the store.

Anyways, back to the donair sauce. Have you ever had a recipe that someone gave you that is so strange you just sort of stare at it for a while before you get up the courage to actually mix things together? That was me with donair sauce. The recipe instructions were literally 'whisk all ingredients together. Refrigerate for 1 hour before use.' That's it. I poured the jar of sweetened condensed milk into a bowl. And then picked up the garlic power and actually thought to myself 'so, do I just add this in then? That can't be right. I must be missing something'. But that's what you do. Sweetened condensed milk, garlic powder, white vinegar. whisk to combine, and refrigerate. Of course I tried it before I put it in the fridge and there was no denying the recipe was correct - it was donair sauce. Specifically, it tasted exactly like Greco donair sauce.

Justin was working at the brewery for a few hours before the party. I met him at the end of his shift, and we got some food in preparation for the night ahead. The brewery he works at specializes in making pizzas, so we ordered a double pepperoni. Of course we broke out the donair sauce to have with it. Remember how I had my intensely nostalgic food moment with KD? Justin had his with donair sauce, right there in the restaurant. I will never again underestimate the role of food in nostalgia and the ability to provide comfort on a spiritual level.

And so, full of pizza and armed with our donair sauce, we headed to the party. We stopped at a liquor store on the way to get our drinks for the night, and a bottle of fireball. While fireball may not officially be a NS kitchen party tradition, it is among Justin & I's friends. Arriving at the party, Justin was delighted to meet the host's dog: a chunky, middle aged pug with significant emphysema. He's a very good boy, and easily was one of Justin's highlights of the night. True to form, we all congregated in the kitchen. As we handed the fireball over to the host, he laughed and pulled out his own, brand new bottle of fireball that he had bought in anticipation of the night (note that this was not planned, and I hadn't talked about shots of fireball being a part of kitchen parties). At this point I would also like to point out that Australia and its strange liquour regulations meant we couldn't find mickey's of fireball anywhere, so we had both opted for the size that Nova Scotian's call a quart and Ontarian's call a 26er.

With that the night began - the playlist was on & drinks were flowing. At some point the host made mini meat pies & sausage rolls for everyone. These are pretty classic Australian foods. In an act of Commonwealth culinary fusion, we ate them dipped in donair sauce. It was pretty good. A bit later in the evening, we broke into the fireball. Somehow, our host didn't have any shot glasses, but had a set of 4 egg cups. So we all took turns doing shots out of egg cups. I don't know exactly how much fireball we went through, but we definitely killed at least one bottle, and probably most of the second. Understandably, the rest of the night was a bit of a blur - but there was drinking, dancing and general carrying on, all in the kitchen. I do think we were able to successfully generate the authentic kitchen party vibe, and all of the Australians had a great time. We ended up ubering home around 3am, and spending the rest of the weekend recovering (again, understandably).

When I saw my fellow kitchen party goers on Monday, we all had conversations along the lines of 'how'da make out on Sunday?' The clear mark of a successful party.