Citrustacular Round-up!

Our 10th anniversary ‘Tacular was a tart and tangy citrus-fest hosted by Ayako and James. For some reason my memory of the particulars of each dish are a bit fuzzy this month, so if I’ve missed some details, please fill them in! Here’s what we enjoyed…

Much to Karina’s delight (especially since she had cabbed it over), there were a lot of boozy drinks. James muddled us up some mojitos and whizzed up margaritas, while Karina and Christian stirred up delicious bourbon sours (made with very generous double-shot pours). I brought homemade limeade which was not intended to be alcoholic, though for many that’s what they became thanks to the freezer stash of gin and vodka. Hick!

For the edibles, Ayako started us off with slices of goat cheese dressed with basil and lemon zest, homemade lemony hummus and guacamole, and awesome scallop ceviche. After some nibbling and more drinking, it was onto the mains…

First up were the pastas….Mei and Jeremy rolled out some homemade fettucine. Freshly boiled, tossed with lemon, basil, cheese and served with capers and shrimp….al dente goodness. Sara and Dan mixed up a yummy tortellini salad tossed with lemon, springy asparagus, peppers, cheese and pine nuts. Mmmm, carbs.

Thanks to Ian and Kate, salads and grapefruit were well represented. Salad #1 featured red grapefruit, red onion and basil. Salad #1 had red grapefruit and sliced avocado. Refreshing indeed!

Karina and Christian cooked up a rich stew with tender beef, carrots and orange. The citrus flavour would have been even more pronounced had Karina not remembered the orange zest garnish after we had finished dinner. Oops!

I fried up old-school ‘Chinese’ orange chicken, take-out style (look out Manchu Wok!). Now my house smells like a deep fryer, but I think it was worth it.

After a short ‘are her boobs fake?” Facebook interlude, it was time for dessert! Sara baked up scrumptiously buttery lemon squares, Ayako sliced up homemade chocolate orange bars, and we washed it all down with, erm...more booze.

Speaking of booze, we decided that the next ‘Tacular will be…2Cock2Tacular (or Cocktacular 2 for you non-Fast and Furious fans, myself included)! When? Saturday, July 16th at the McMompsons.

You are requested to bring a cocktail as well as a complementary food pairing. For full ‘Tacular enjoyment leave your cars at home! Christian may or may not be pitching tents in the backyard for overnight guests.

We’d like to keep track of our recipes, so please post your Citrustacular recipes as a comment to this post. And, for photos, click on the “’Tacular Memories” link at the upper right corner of this blog.

Mark, Mark, Allison, Jenn and Daniel -- we missed you!