Troptacular Round-Up!

Our 29th spectacular 'Tacular was Troptacular -- a celebration of tropical ingredients and dishes. Heck, some folks even donned tropical gear for kicks! Marco and Laura were our lovely hosts.  What'd we eat?

• Marco and Laura started us off with tasty coconut chicken skewers and a fruity tropical punch (with vodka!), and simmered up a Thai-style mango chicken curry; shout-out to Marco's floral South Beachy shirt
• Karina and Christian arrived in their finest hula gear (but where, where, was the coconut bra?!), and toted a coconut lime chicken salad with macadamia nuts....even the serving utensils were made of coconut shells!
• Mei (in her tropically dress) and Jeremy grilled up jerk chicken and served it with a grilled pineapple, peach, and coconut salsa
• Kate and Ian also fired up a grill, searing up a perfectly cooked pineapple-marinated flank steak, served with an Israeli couscous salad
• Sara and Dan cooked up tender Kahlua Kalua pulled-pork for sliders (ooh yeah, gimme a soft white fluffy bun any day...)
• Ayako (in her tropical crab-print blouse) mixed up a bowl full of tangy halibut ceviche with tequila (yes, please!)
• And to round out the mains, I made a batch of pineapple fried rice topped with crispy shallots and roasted cashew nuts, served in pineapple bowls; I didn't wear a lei, but I did wear some tropical colours in honour of our theme
• For dessert, Sara baked up a beautiful pineapple upside-down cake (fruit grilled on the BBQ!)
• Jenn finished off our meal with creamy homemade mango ice-cream, and stirred up a pitcher full of Dark and Stormys

James and Daniel...we missed you. (Well, technically, Daniel made a brief appearance and enjoyed the meal in his own kitchen with a screaming baby for company, but that doesn't really count I suppose!).

For photo memories, click on the "'Tacular Memories" link on our homepage.

The next 'Tacular will be Cocktacular 6, to be hosted by the Fergormans. I think there may be some sort of British theme?