Mad Birthday Party

[firstfrost]

Sunday evening was my Mad Birthday Cooking Plan. So Saturday and Sunday were all about cooking. kelkyag came over and helped with the final stretch, and harrock made the living room all tidy, and my mom hid pictures of me all around the room. I guess not really hid, so much as put in plain sight, but I was mostly focused on cooking and not looking on the tops of furniture. :) Mom also took lots of pictures, which is convenient, because I totally didn't.

Then a lot of people came over and ate food, which was good, and seemed to enjoy themselves. And my parents washed all the dishes, which was extra bonus good. I hear the seven-year-old critiqued all the food on the way home, which I would love to have heard. :)

Comments

Goodness!

[jdbakermn.livejournal.com]

Full of people and food! Looks good too. Lots of things that I don't think I could make, so good for you! Obviously I have a lot to learn if I want to ever reach your level of mastery. :)

[merastra.livejournal.com]

Wow! Looks great! I'm amazed at the variety and that you did it mostly all yourself. Hee. :-) What a birthday.

Did you have a favorite dish? I'm also amused that the "disgusting orange chicken" was the most-requested. ;-)

[kelkyag]

Aha! The label for the squash didn't say "with lime", so clearly people were confused as to what the lime was for. I was tempted to put some on the apple salad, actually.

I think I liked the corn fritters best, but I may be a little too scared of hot oil to try to make them myself.

[desireearmfeldt]

I thought it was clear what the limes went with (but I admit I didn't use them).

Re: Goodness!

[firstfrost.livejournal.com]

None of the individual dishes were all that hard to make; the challenge was doing too many at once. :) (And there was a lot of cheating, with things like pre-made pie crusts and frozen empanada pastry).

But there were several things I had not made before, so that was fun. Like sticky rice, which I had also never eaten, so kelkyag had to keep reassuring me - yes, it's all stuck together, it's supposed to do that, you can sculpt it with wet hands.

[firstfrost.livejournal.com]

The corn fritters were probably my favorite; I think I'm going to have to try making them again, when I can eat more than a corner of one. Or the trifle, which probably had the highest decadence per square inch level. :)

[desireearmfeldt]

What are the surprising fruity bits in the trifle?

[desireearmfeldt]

Those came out really well. I always want to make things like fritters and latkes and things, but my root-vegetable-pancake attempts have almost always failed.

(I did once for Scones on the Range make cool deep-fried rice fritter things, which I always think I should try again sometime, but there would have to be a Big Group Occasion, 'cause they're very decadent and presumably don't keep well. :))

[tirinian.livejournal.com]

The corn fritters (and several other things) were yummy, but the trifle was totally awesome. :-)

[tirinian.livejournal.com]

Disgusting orange chicken is a classic! Who can deny it?

[firstfrost.livejournal.com]

Apricot jam. (Diluted in water to pour on the cake slices)

[mjperson.livejournal.com]

Indeed! We converted several more people to it that very evening.

Yum!

[mijven.livejournal.com]

This just astounds me. I can still picture ilhander's face when I first served it to him. Sort of like "You lied to me; I thought you were serving food?" [Although I guess that's how all peace offerings to ilhander from mijven ought to go. Immediately followed by some attempts at smiting.]

I remain convinced that the recipe has been improved upon.