Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Day 196: Dinner Party Bonanza


Dinner Party Bonanza: Origin; Melbournian-Eng. An event consisting of yummy goodness of various origins; Competitors vie for the title of best dish and those that lose was the dishes and pack the spoils for the victorious. 

If you remember from the last dinner party, I walked away victorious. I still have my "certificate" on the wall lol. This time around I lost to a very noble competitor. I honestly thought I couldn't lose. I marinated my chicken in a homemade buttermilk and floured it in a bath a secret seasoning. The macaroni and cheese, was quite possibly the best I had ever made! I know a certain someone had four servings in a single sitting, and it wasn't me or Diana! Either way, I did lose. But I lost with a huge smile on my face. Jude, a friend of Gemma competed in this round. We had all met the weekend prior so it was good to get to know each other in a more intimate setting. She made a chocolate ganache tart served with a honeycomb butterscotch Ice cream. It was absolutely amazing!!! I'm talking gourmet bakery quality. I wish we had an extra room in our apt so we could move her in, and she could pay rent  in chocolate tart form! Needless to say, I had no problem coming in a close second. Diana made her famous Guacamole and Pico De Gallo. It was sooo good as usual! For this round we added a scoring category, The "it factor." She nailed her presentation and her entrees came out looking like something from the pages of a magazine. Adam also wowed us with his presentation of a homemade noodle and meatball soup. He made sure to include a short history of its origin and how he made it, great effort Adam! Gemma kept us in suspense all night as to her dish. She also gunned for the it factor points and didn't disappoint with her Tetris inspired cake. She hand carved the pieces and fit them together like a pro. The cake was peppermint and chocolate marble with vanilla icing, mm mm good! Yasmin's friend Rafael, (visiting from L.A.) also joined in the fun with a Brazilian orange chicken and rice. He was just happy to have completed a dish. We all spent the weekend partying together, so by sunday, it was all catching up. 

These lil competitions, get-togethers, what have you, are really pulling the best creations out of everyone. Not that a regular dinner party wouldn't. Its just fun to talk smack and challenge ourselves to raise bar above spaghetti and buttered bread. Diana was also able to get some great photos from around the house. The desert flowers look amazing. How about that clock shot? Gemma made that! I'm thinking it would be cool to blow it up onto canvass and making a clock out of the picture. What do you think?  

2 comments:

  1. It's official, I MUST visit ASAP. You and Diana throw some amazing dinner parties. Miss you guys tons!!! xoxoxo Rachel

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  2. wowwy wow! what a great spread!

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