Christmas Potluck

We were invited over to the potluck (as per tradition) lunch at the dessert angel's. It was a day we excitedly set aside because we missed our friends!

Besides the fruit and nut pilaf (raisins, cashew and pine) merrily done to near perfection, the man tried to recreate the fabulous pasta we had at The Gate. It was tasty, but not quite there yet.

Unfortunately, the supermarkets were all out of big red onions. So he had to substitute with the Japanese big yellow onions which weren't quite complementary. Worse still, the recipe calls for chanterelle mushrooms. We couldn't get the fresh ones at short notice and not now. So we had to stick to the dried ones which weren't ideal. So more to experiment!

I overdosed on curried carrot and coriander soup. I was just so damn happy that the friends didn't put a huge dollop of dreaded cream into it that I slurrrrped up 3 bowls! The greens whipped up by another were fantastic. Although I was sad that I mistook olives for juicy green grapes. Heeeeee.

Well, I rushed through the meal because dessert was the highlight of the meal! That was about all I wanted to eat. There, I've said it.

A friend brought her mom's homemade mince pies. But I was all macaron-ed and mince-pied out in London. So I took only 1 very good mince pie. The chocolate sheet was excellent although the top was a tad oily. She said she had no confectioner's sugar and had to do some thingamajig to substitute. But the dessert angel had cut down on sugar and butter used, so it was still pretty good! Now, what I totally dig is the grape and almond frangipane tart. I ate big chunks of that. I ate both the man's portion and mine, and had second helpings.

Fed, warm and happy, of course I fell asleep for a good hour on the couch, (this is getting to be a bad habit this Christmas!) sprawled most unglamorously with the mouth wide open. Ha.