Balltacular Round-up!

Gang, we've made it through 28 'Taculars. Woot! For our latest spectacular gathering we celebrated spherical, roly poly foods. The McMompsons were our lovely hosts this time around. So, what'd we roll?

• Kate and Ian skewered up tomato and bocconcini balls with basil oil, and bacon pops made with goat cheese, pecans, herbs, and apple slices....food on sticks, yes!
• Marco and Laura brought yummy arancini balls served with a marinara sauce
• Jenn and Daniel fried up delicious falafel balls -- worth the effort and the date with hot oil!
• Sara and Dan stewed up Dad's sweet and sour meatballs (whose Dad, though, I'm not sure...)
• The McMompsons rolled coconut chicken balls with nuts, and roasted us up a pot of baby potatoes
• I baked up savoury gougeres with Gruyere cheese
• What about dessert? Well, Ayako baked up her infamous cream puffs -- two kinds! Coconut and lemon
• The McMompsons rolled us two kinds of cake pops (lovely presentation, CMac!)
• And, JereMei won for most labour-intensive dishes -- fruit salad with what I call 'science balls'...coconut rum, and yogurt (Ferran Adria would be proud)....and, because that wasn't enough....they also made homemade Easter crème eggs!

For the first time I can remember, there were no leftovers. Which meant that either everything was very tasty (as always), and/or we've collectively figured out how to bring just enough food to feed fifteen people, and/or we were super hungry.

Plus, we had a full turn-out. Double woot!

The next 'Tacular will be Troptacular, hosted by Marco and Laura on Saturday, May 30th. Bring us your favourite tropical foods and dishes!

Balltacular! Who's rolling what?

Bring us your round, roly poly dishes. Post what you're making! I'll be baking up some savoury gougeres with Gruyere cheese.

Lit-Tacular Round-up!

Our 27^th spectacular ‘Tacular featured dishes from, or inspired by, literature. We enjoyed a delicious array of bookish delights. So, what’d we eat?

·        Ayako and James kicked things off with some wee mini quiches, inspired by Julie & Julia

·        From Game of Thrones, Karina and Christian ladled out a delicious chestnut soup topped with crispy sage and pancetta

·        Mei and Jeremy roasted up a Watership Down-inspired rabbit with carrots and, I think, chimichurri sauce (yes, a bit of a ‘cheat’ since it wasn’t technically a dish from a book…but it was yummy, so we won’t dole out any penalties this time :D)

·        I stewed up a lamb, prune, and apricot stew from The Hunger Games, served on top of Israeli couscous…fit for the residents of the Capitol!

·        Kate and Ian baked up a Thoreau-inspired hazelnut raisin bread…we even got to see the kneading action, in action!

·        Ayako baked up yummy Madeleines, from Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past

·        And…Jenn and Daniel brought a refreshing key lime pie, from Nora Ephron’s Heartburn

Marco, Laura, Sara, and Dan…we missed you!

As always, click on the 'Tacular Memories link on our homepage to see the photos.

The next ‘Tacular will be Balltacular, hosted by the McMompsons on Saturday, March 28^th. Bring us your round and roly-poly dishes!