Lit-Tacular: Who's Bringing What?

Post what you're making! I will attempt some kind of riff on the lamb and dried prune stew from The Hunger Games (probably with various dried fruits and maybe Moroccan flavours...).

A Double ‘Tacular Round-up! Cocktacular 5 & Wraptacular

Well….I’ve been a bit behind on posting the round-ups. Here, finally, are the recaps for our last two delicious gatherings. As always, click the "'Tacular Memories"link on our homepage for photographic memories. Hope to see you all at Lit-tacular!

'Tacular #25: Cocktacular 5 -- Hosted by Mei and Jeremy, August 2014

Oh my, this was our 25th Silver Anniversary 'Tacular. Gah, so many years of themed food nuttiness!

Alright, here we go...since Fast and Furious 5 was set in Rio, Cocktacular 5 had a Brazilian theme. Despite this, I did not spy any thongs, but who knows what Dan had on under his jeans...

Here's what we ate:

• For starters, Karen (Mei's cousin and Special Guest!) served a pretty beet, goat cheese, garlic and nut spread with cucumber slices
• Mei and Jeremy fired up Eggy and grilled a whole lotta meat (including chicken and a beef cut called, I believe, picanha); their carnivore's delight was served with farofa (crunchy topping featuring cassava flour), and chimichurri sauce
• Kate and Ian simmered a big pot of yummy Brazilian chicken, rice, and orange stew
• Dan and Sara served feijoada, a savoury black bean and pork stew (a chainsaw was nearly employed in the making of this dish!), and a big bowl of delicious "Everything Dan Hates" salad (hearts of palm, artichoke, tomato, onion, mayo, and lime)
• I baked up some mini Brazilian cheese breads (Pao de Queijo)
• For dessert? Ayako and James brought Brigadeiros (balls of chocolaty bon bon goodness)

And, here's what we drank:

• Potent Earl Grey cocktails with gin -- Ayako and James
• Minty Caipirinhas -- Sara and Dan
• Fizzy Amazonia cocktails made with sparking wine, Cachaca, lime, and apple -- Kate and Ian
• Tropical Coco Cabanas made with strawberries, pineapple juice, coconut water, coconut cream, Malibu, and Cachaca - me
• Some kind of crazy chocolate dessert cocktail that seemed to take an hour to make and had all sorts of ingredients including Nesquik and Cachaca - Mei

Marco, Laura, Jenn, Daniel, Karina, and Christian -- we missed you!

'Tacular #26: Wraptacular -- Hosted by Kate and Ian, November 2014
Who loves wrapped foods? We do! (OK, maybe not wrapped sandwiches, those are always kind of boring and soggy.) And so, a theme was born for our 26th spectacular 'Tacular. Here's the wrap-up (get it, get it?!)...

What did we eat?

• The McMompsons brought bacon-wrapped dates...ah, such tasty little morsels
• Kate and Ian baked up lots of pastry-wrapped apps and presented a perfectly golden "chicken rolled thing with green stuff and pine nuts" (so says the blog, if anyone can share a more detailed description of this dish, please do)
• Sara made delicious sundried tomato and Feta cheese roll-ups
• Jenn and Daniel rolled dozens of refreshing fresh rolls (shrimp and vegetarian), served with a peanut dipping sauce
• Jeremy and Mei grilled us yummy corn husk-wrapped halibut served with a charred corn salsa
• I sautéed chicken, shitake and veg to make a filling for Chinese lettuce (crystal) wraps, served with hoisin sauce and chopped peanuts
• For dessert, Ayako brought a beautiful apple and cranberry free-form tart

To my dismay, we wrapped, but did not rap. *sigh* Maybe next time.

Marco, Laura, and Dan -- we missed you!