すし, 寿司, 鮨, 鮓, 寿斗, 寿し

A day's worth of prep in honour of two family birthdays is behind me and as it happens I'm feeling sad I'm out of work this Sunday morn.

A day out with mum in my cranky car stocking on enough fish, rice, noodles, coriander and sake to feed a small village followed by hours on end of chopping and dicing and stirring and basting.

We set the table with whatever seemed fitting after one too many cups of green tea and just about made it in time before we received the guests - tempura batter whisked, ramen stock cleared and dog sedated with biscuits (no, we did not cook dog - we merely treated him more than usual in the hope he'd be full enough to not pester us later on - to no avail)

(*that Cooking with Dog youtube tutorial came in handy!)

 and after one too many fizzy sweet drinks and aged grappa I totally gave up on photographing the proceedings ... as usual

That is me teaching dad how to roll (ie. me putting on my ill-fitting patience cap)

perhaps I should have done this a long time ago: 

'should you need anyone to organize a party/meal/any-sort-of-event for you please drop me a line'. 

There are only very few things I enjoy better, most of which are still related to cooking, drinking and organizational tasks.

*sushi-burp*

A Gathering for Fine Ladies

... self-proclaimed, but 'fine' (to different extents) nevertheless. The post-festive-season Sunday lunch for the girls happened again - one cannot but repeat a success. Last year's six gathered around the same table to a mish-mash of cutlery, coloured glass and flowing wine. This time round we all brought a dish or two to the table, thus making my life as 'hostess' so much easier! 

Alex brought fresh bunches of flowers for all, I replaced a couple of lightbulbs in the chandelier for the occasion, brought out the latest flea market finds as tableware, laid the table with gifts, chocolate mice and place-'initials' and tried (in vain) to keep the cat off the table until the guests arrived.

 This is Sarah being cute (aka Sassy Bo-jangles/KOKO-najs/The Secret Rose)

And this is the array of food we consumed .. or at least tried to .. including Rachel's dips, Carla's shakshuka and freekeh & meatball soup, mah chicken and onion curry and Alex's mushrooms in wine and potatoes from mayo-heaven. We tried very hard not to flop forward for dead at the table .. and we're all big eaters! 

Sassy's lovely personalized gifts for us represent a Roman numeral for our combined weight after the meal and made our gathering at the table look a bit more sect-like.

When we meet for food, we mean business .. posing for photos is rare, far-between and generally discouraged .. in fact Ness (aka Festive-pompom/condom) strikes a 'WARNING' pose!

 

And here's dessert .. lime and poppy-seed cake by Sass and imqaret by Vaness

I love this fuzzy photo of myself (aka notorious-non-poser) and Alex (wearing her pendant with pride) by Sarah ..

 

and this one of myself looking a bit like a 50s houswife showing off Gustav's pillow-tummy. He be chillin' on my lap!

Why doesn't this happen more often, eh!? Documenting it feels essential now that we girls have grown into ladies and find fewer occasions to meet and make a day of it .. I'm sitting on the sofa with the cat, he's looking up at me wistfully, happy that it happened yet somewhat saddened that it's over - BOTH eyeing the last piece of  leftover cake on the counter top!

until the next time!