Sunday, June 21, 2015

Tapas Night for June


It was Tapas Night last night, and as usual, lots of great food and fun.

And since we got our A/C unit replaced, it was actually nice and cool inside.
Well, with one slight exception, I'd turned the temp down earlier in the day, but we have the thermostat programmed to lower the temp around dinner time, and it kicked in, which set the temperature higher than I wanted.   But it was all good, I turned it down again and lovely, lovely cool air wafted through the room, again.

But you probably want to know about the food. 
We had some fun stuff.  Let me show you.
Just one overview of the table.   We had a lighter than normal turnout last night, but that's OK, cause I don't think I could have eaten one more bite.
We have such phenomenal cooks here, who really step up to the plate and shine.  (Had to throw that in there since there's a baseball tournament being held this weekend, as well as a fishing tournament and a golf tournament).  There weren't any foul balls, everything was on par and every dish hooked us all.
There, did I hit every sport? 
Tough, I tried.
Here's the rundown.   Of the dishes brought that is.
 This was a yummy rice and squash dish, and had a lovely heat to it.  Susie used Rotel Tomatoes in here recipe and it was lovely.  And the pretty blue bowl made a nice contrast.
 Couscous, and it tasted so good.  I love Couscous anyway. 
And it's one of those versatile grains/pasta items you can do so much with.  
One of the things I like best about Tapas Night is seeing the incredible serving dishes that are used for the food.  This is a wooden bowl from Madagascar and I had to do a close up shot of the lid.   Is this not gorgeous?
 I love it when one of our guests gets inspired and brings something like this.  I never did find out if it actually has a real name, but it's Portuguese inspired and was so delicious.  There were clams and Chorizo, the Spanish kind, potatoes and the most wonderful broth.  I could have just drunk it by the glassful.  I did scoop up a bowlful and stuck it in the fridge for laters. 
 And then there were the beans, baked beans that is, with some lovely bacon strips on top.   Sigh.   I love beans.  And these tasted so good. 
 Here's another shot of the table. 
 Another popular item is always crudites.  We all love them, and nothing quite satisfies like a handful of fresh veggies.
 Unless of course it's fritters.   I apologize for the picture, the sun was coming in and part of the picture was in the dark, and part of it was light.  So I twiddled with it a little and I think it looks a little better.  However the Yellow Squash Bites and the Ham Bites were so good.   I noticed that they were very popular.
 I didn't get an up close shot of this dish, but luckily I got it in one of the overall shots of the table so I just edited it a little and made a close up. This was a  fresh corn, black bean salad.  Crisp and fresh and so good.











And I did make a few things along the way as well.

I made a Soba Noodle Salad, and I will share the recipe and my adventures with Soba Noodles later on. 
I made some Maple Glazed Chicken Drumsticks which I adapted from another recipe, and they were so good. 

I'll share my adventures with them later as well.

I had adventures in the kitchen, sigh.  But it's all good.  At least I didn't burn or cut myself and nothing ended up on the floor. 






I also made some Caprese Bites and placed them in shot glasses and poured a little Quince Pomegranite White Balsamic Vinegar over them.  And they were good.
I'll share the how-to's on that later on as well.







And now for the rest of the story.
In other words, we also had a nice selection of Desserts. 
 A little overview of the Dessert table.
 There was this fun cake, one of those cakes the the baker could probably never recreate but it had a little of this, a little of that added and I liked it, a lot.
There was fruit in here. And Pistachio's and coconut and ...
 








 There was a fruit bowl, in a real fruit bowl.  
I love it when someone does this.   And with the hot weather outside, fruit does go down well.









Another of our guests brought a fruit plate, and again it was very tasty and fresh.  And so pretty.  




I think it was a fruity night.  Cause there was also this Peach Layer cake which was eaten.  I think there was a slice or two left at the end of the night.











Well that's it for this month, time to go and wash the wine glasses and remember the conversations and the fun we had.   

Sidsel Munkholm - Author
Sidsel Munkholm - Author

Sid loves to cook, feed people and have fun in the kitchen. She shares her successes and the involuntary offerings she sometimes gives the kitchen goddess as well. And she's still looking for the mythical fairy to help her clean the kitchen after a marathon cooking session. Currently working on a cookbook showcasing the recipes from her Danish heritage.

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