Party of four

Whoosh.

After a day of cooking (Cap was awesome and did the cleaning), the little birthday potluck that could happened.

It was lovely, it was small (party of four), and it went so fast.  Felt like the blink of an eye.

I was grateful for so much: the scrumptious bites, the company of friends, the very real warmth of our home on another bitterly cold winter night.

I only took a few pics right before my guests started to arrive.  And a couple of dessert.  I spaced on taking pics of what my friends brought (Brussels sprouts with pine nuts and zucchini rolls with artichoke).

Nut and Seed Bread with Olivada.  I had a very interesting few minutes when I sliced into this beautiful loaf about twenty minutes before dinner.

I was thrilled with how the bread looked when it came out of the oven this morning.  I moved right along to preparing other dishes.  In fact, I forgot to remove it from the tin.

When I finally sliced into it, I was shocked at the bright green color inside.  I thought it was mold while knowing there was no way it could be mold.  Thank goodness for the internet.  I googled and discovered that sunflower seeds can react to baking soda and turn green!

Sure enough, it tasted fine and slathered with black olive spread, I could ignore the smudges of pesto green.  Alchemy.

I fried capers for the first time today.  Capers are one of my new food loves...frying really changes them.  Again, alchemy.  They were transformed into something else...crispy, salty, less briny.

 

I think these were my favorite tonight (very hard to choose we had such good food): Deviled Eggs with Basil Aioli and Capers.  Layers of flavor, layers of texture.  Colorful, pretty, yum.

For dessert, I made the Raspberry Brownie Bites.  They were a hit.  These are so delightful to the eyes and tasty, tasty, tasty.  As you can see, there was wine and tea, as well.

I am really tired.  I wanted to get these pics up, but, man, I am terribly inarticulate tonight.  Apologies...I will return with clearer mind.

Peace.