For the March Potluck, we picked Middle Eastern for the theme and the moment it was shared, our great cooks were all over the Internet looking for what they could bring. We all are very emotional and involved foodies and never fail to bring more food than needed for the number of people. Our mindset is lets not miss our only chance to try the theme and just make everything that sounds yummy - eat like there's no tomorrow:). It was my turn to host the Potluck - of course... Ajay handles the 'Make the home presentable' part and I handle the yelling part to get that done:)....I am good at yelling, if I don't, the entire effort and time goes into cleaning the small 200 sq ft office room - we never have time to get to the bigger and more accessed parts of the house. Aadyah joins in to lend her helping hand - BIG helper, sometimes I get more help than I need...but she's so much fun. After confirming every one's availability, I shot the email asking everyone to pour in their Middle Eastern ideas.Our very first response came in from Andre (if I could say so, biggest admirer of good food in the group) - Lamb Kebabs and Gyro..ummmm...sounds yum....Though it clearly was an suggestion, Hazra dint miss her chance to have some fun in telling Andre, a response means the one who responded makes the items he listed....that statement sure made Andre nervous and not respond to our emails again - that was bad Haz!...we do love your ideas Andre - keep sending them:). Here's what followed for the final Menu:
- Suchi & Abhi - Kabsa (rice and chicken dish from the Arab) - Thanks to Suchi's dad who shared this great recipe and of course our chief chef Abhi who takes up all the hard work with Suchi bossing around and making trouble all the time...wait till the BIG protest from Suchi starts, for me calling Abhi the chief chef and her the trouble maker - but the group will support me on this:)
- Haz and Andre - Tabouli Salad and Baklava (Haz is our dessert queen - best desserts made from scratch - yum was the Baklava and of course the host gets to relish all leftovers. I was nice enough to share some of the Leftover baklava with Andre, knowing he loves all Haz desserts and even after he got me killed multiple times in the game of Mafia:)
- Ronita, Aj and Aadyah - After lot of confusion on what to make and thorough research on youtube, it was Falafel with chicken stuffing, Roasted Red Pepper hummus, Baba Ghanoush and the undisclosed attempt on making Pita from scratch (turned out fine but practice would make it better)
- Sonali, Shiv, Som and Sunny: Lamb Rack, Arabian Shrimp. Ok I thought no one could be more confused than me when it comes to choosing the dish, but No - there was Sonali to beat me there....Hours spent on Internet - no outcome, then more hours spent in the grocery...I could visualize Sonali and the lambs looking at each other for hours with so much love and bit of nervousness - like two people trying to fall in love but undecided if lamb would make a better partner than the shrimps....and then few calls to the Potluck team to get mixed opinions and finally ending up in dual partnership-with both lamb and shrimp...Shiv decided to display his creative skills with trying a new drink which he named 'Classic Mombo Jombo' - Oh My God that's completely made up...
- Tushar - our forced bachelor friend:) - missed his wife Nilu badly, for he realised we ladies are good at making decisions and would have helped him get the much needed confidence with trying his hands on something Middle Eastern...He played safe in the absence of Nilu and decided to rely on famous Boston based Mike's pastry for the yummy Welcome Spring cake - so apt for the month of march...
That was our big Menu list...ask me about the quantity...we all believe there should never be scarcity of good food (Amen!)...if its 11 of us, each one of us will cook for at least 15...and with all the items..there was only food all around my kitchen....when everyone started gathering, I and Sonali started to fry the Falafel for they taste better if served hot - my attempts at Pita would have been a disaster if not for Hazra's just in time help that saved them...the evening started with Falafel Pita wraps, Tabouli salad and assorted drinks including Classic Mombo Jombo:)...
What followed was the game "Mafia" that took serious efforts on Aj's part to explain the rules, with Suchi's constant trouble making act, trying to sabotage Aj's attempts...they simply love to fight about everything and pull each other down...some strict disciplinary ground rules finally helped with starting the game. Only to find that the players need to go back to Kindergarten and get their basic listening skills refreshed. Having played the game before, I was just so SMART at it - my game plan & analysis skills were at it best, but... being the competitive player that Andre is, he saw me as a big threat and made sure I was killed no matter I was a Villager or a Mafia....Haz kept wondering through out who are the Mafias and kept killing the poor villagers....Aj, Som and Abhi were the consistent Mafia's and Suchi took over from Aj soon as the coordinator...I told you - girls are so much better at managing anything and everything.....Sunny was busy with the computer and kept targeting Daddy Shiv every time he had the Mafia powers...Andre could not control his Mafia instincts and decided to act as a Mafia informer while being a villager - (trust me all he was trying was to get me killed by ganging with the Mafia's)...that's when we realized, it is not good to keep Andre away from food for long...he was taking multiple breaks to eat Baklava's (which he was asked to stay strictly away from till the Potluck day, else there wouldn't have been any left) and too much sugar made Andre super hyper:)...in any case, we all were tired of killing the Villagers/Mafias, and distracted with the delicious Kabsa, Lamb Racks, Shrimps and Baklava's waiting for us....
Time again to attack on the food......we went crazy and out of control...you could only see little food left - the amount that looked excess when we started was disappearing fast...Baklava and Mike's pastry for Desserts were just perfect to add that sweet tinge to our Middle Eastern food festival.....the evening continued with some Charade game, interesting trivia, fun facts - read out by Aj and Shiv from their IPhone and lot of small interesting catch up talks that went on till past mid night...this included discussion on ideas for next Potlucks...Brazilian, West Indies, Malasian..etc etc are all on our minds...
I repeat: There's nothing that beats the combination of GOOD FOOD & GREAT COMPANY....we proved it again:)) Cheers!!
Al-oh....this is the most precise and well described blog...naturally had to come from the Host!
ReplyDelete3 cheers for the Cake as it made to the top of the blog....worth an effort to take it from boston :)