Blog feast

It was blog dinner party time at Chez Duck last night. I'm kicking myself for not taking a single photo, but you'll understand why as I progress. I thought I'd give you a cooking photo nonetheless, so here's Bumblebee making meatballs with Mr Pooter a few weeks ago:*



The dinner party attendees were:
-- Naomi (my sister-in-law and LP regular), her partner (BB's big brother) and son;
-- Liam (also an LP writer and his partner;
-- Zoe (the newly mainstream print-published crazybrave) and her partner and son,
-- and myself, BB and Bumblebee.

The out-of-towners (Naomi and Liam et al) were in Canberra for a history conference at the ANU.

I decided to cook an Indian feast, so spent all of tuesday night and Wednesday afternoon cooking. Late Tuesday night, stirring the Kheer, all I could think was why I hadn't suggested going to a restaurant...

And the answer is... because sitting around the table together while the kids ate pizza and played with Duplo in the corner was really pleasant, and much merriment was made.

THE MENU

Nibbles:
Freshly salted pistachios and tomato & basil pretzels

Mains:
Kuruma Iraichchi (Sri Lankan beef pepper curry)
Ooroomas Rathu Curry (Sri Lankan pork red curry)
Gobi Foogath (spicy fried cabbage)
Tamarind Chick Peas
Steamed basmati rice
Paratas
Various condiments, including lime pickle, yogurt and garlic pickle.

Dessert:
Kheer (Indian rice pudding, spiced with cardamon and bay)
Cumquat brandy & coffee

Yum! The first three mains are from The Complete Asian Cookbook by Charmaine Solomon, the chick peas were from a low-fat Indian cookbook I picked up cheap somewhere, and the Kheer recipe is an old favorite from a free Hari Krishna recipe book they used to hand out on the streets of Sydney when I was a lot younger. The pistachios are done by an old Polish guy called Zivko who has a deli in Queanbeyan and comes to the local Farmers Markets. They are just delicious.

The company was excellent. Liam really does wear a black beret! Naomi regaled us with tales of teaching drama, and Best Beloved and his brother M kept us in stitches with family tales of prank phone calls and other merry japes. Much wine flowed, and we all stuffed ourselves to the gills while the kids got faster as they wearied.

Zoe and I fantasised about winning a sum in the lottery and what we'd do with the small but ample windfall: plan a dinner party and fly our chosen participants in. A-la Judy Chicago, we would lay a table for a host of interesting Australian women bloggers: Pavlov's Cat, Laura, Kate,Georg, Thirdcat, dogpossum, and many more. What a feast of conversation we'd have! But what to feed them?

If I get the chance tomorrow, I'll post again. I've got a list of posts that I've been trying to write, including a review of a marvellous exhibition up at the Manuka Contemporary Art Space until July 9. Run! Go see it! Don't delay! Only two more days to go. Unfortunately (or, rather, for my sanity, fortunately) tomorrow I go away for a week to visit the in-laws at the Blue Mountains (and to try and catch a bit of the Sydney Biennale), and there won't be a computer within cooee unless Naomi lets me near hers. So this may be it for a week, or if I can get organised quickly tomorrow, it may not be.



* I must reassure you, to allay hygienic concerns, that no cat touched any of the food in the photo or at the dinner party :)