Seafood cake slice - unforgettable : )Katja's smoked salmon and cheesy spinach starter
Homebaked Desserts to die for
Cattis ' Swedish seafood savoury starter cake I offered to be the hostess for the first lunch episode a month later on a sunday.I'd set the table with typical indian serveware - stainless steel thaalis(plates) with 2 small steel katoris (bowls) on each one,cutlery,wine glasses, a lotus flower centrepiece etc . I had prepared South-indian coconut based prawn curry,Paalak Paneer,Pulao Rice and dessert . My dear supportive husband was happy to head off to the pub to watch a football match so we could party on. My newfound girlfriends arrived one by one and we ate lunch together after which I showed off some of my gorgeous traditional indian clothes,explaining how embroidery differs from one state to another . I must say the real joy of hosting and serving my guests indian dishes is not only their compliments,but also their appreciation and genuine interest they take in the nutritional benefits,cooking techniques,variations in indian cuisine etc . Then we strolled about the vintage and charity shops near my flat for a while before having a coffee at Tinderbox.
The next luncheon was in Edinburgh at Maria's flat .We got the scotrail from Glasgow and walked up Leith and were treated to a royal feast of home made fresh authentic spanish tapas with Sangria . Maria demonstrated to us the recipe for Sangria and though she lives in a multiple residence accomodation ,she cooks all her food and grows her own herbs in her backgarden like mint to flavour various dishes and also to make mojitos . We all played the Ludo game in her back garden which incidentally has its own tweaks of rules in each of our countries we learnt,and lucky me won it after over an hour and half of playing . What a pleasure it was to be served sangria,then coffee and first dessert during the game, and at the end of the game,a second dessert .We were immobile by the time we reached home after thanking our gracious hostess Maria .
After a while,it was the third lunch at Cattis house who lives in a lovely holiday seaside town outside Glasgow called Troon . Since I'd never visited Troon before,I was excited and I enjoyed the 30 minute picturesque train journey from the historical Glasgow Central Station (It was at the hotel at this station that John Logie Baird had his first television transmission when he invented the tv in Scotland and this hotel has hosted famous personalities including the Kennedy,Churchill,Frank Sinatra etc ). It is a lovely sunny town full of cute houses and we were totally spoilt by our swedish hostess.
Cattis had prepared a delicious ' savoury seafood cake' for a starter that looked so perfect that we could not stop raving at the very sight of it . Lovely recipe made by assembling tuna,mayo,cooked prawns etc between layers of bread slices and an icing of creme fraiche , decorated with tiger prawns and caviar on top and cucumber and carrot slices along the sides.I've been telling everyone about it eversince ! After lunch,we painted for a bit in the sunny lovely conservatory which Cattis built herself , followed by Tandoori salmon for our main course and a lovely raspberry cake with swedish vanilla cream ,most cooking ingredients are easy to find in the Ikea grocery store . We walked up to the beach and saw the shops and park around before I was dropped off to the train station as I had another party to attend at night .
The last supper was at Katja's new flat .She made an awesome gourmet starter which was the ultimate combination of spinach,cheese and smoked salmon ,then a classic german main course of meat and potatoes and spoilt us rotten with two decadent desserts . I miss our lunch club so much especially because I'm used to girly get togethers centered around food and movies and shopping, but this one was unique. There are various charity ' Come dine with us' clubs now available by the musular dystrophy organisation where you organise a dinner club with a set of people you know, you contribute a sum to each host at every dinner and at the end,the collected cash is submitted to charity which is a great cause. I guess this is for lazy people like me who'd rather slave in the kitchen rather than run a marathon in the cold for sponsorship for a good cause. I am sure this tv series has inspired the nation to do good to society,after all , at dinner parties we ought to do more than just eat , burp ,and drink .
