‘Tacular #38: Tacotacular Foolstacular, hosted by Marco & Laura (April 2017)
Ah, April
Fool’s…who could forget this one…certainly not the McMompsons! Poor Karina and
Christian thought there was going to be a taco theme, but…no. Our
little trick involved a fake blog dish call post, a real ‘secret’ dish call
email, and caused some to worry that the McMompsons would be peeved (pshaw!). The best part was that it took them forever to clue in to the joke; it wasn’t until halfway through the go-round of everyone describing
their dishes that they realized that, um, there were no tacos. Anywhere. Well,
except for their own dish. J
Anyhoo….the
true theme was foods masquerading as other foods! Who brought what?
- Kate & Ian: Spaghetti and ‘meatballs’ (made with legumes)
- Sara & Dan: Mashed potato and bacon ‘sundaes’
- JereMei: Curry with jackfruit subbing in for meat
- I brought ‘scallops with caviar’ on a spring pea puree (King mushroom stems & carrot juice beads made via molecular gastronomy tinkering)
- Ayako & James: Dessert ‘eggs benny’ (meringue and lemon curd)
- Marco & Laura: British Fool
FerGormans –
you were missed (and you missed a great April Fool’s prank!)!
In honour of
Pride weekend, each team was assigned a colour for their dish and outfit. So
dedicated was everyone to wearing their colour, that we were blessed with the
sight of Jeremy donning Mei’s too-small t-shirt, and delighted by the appearance
of special guests Siegfried and Roy (AKA the McMompsons).
So what did
everyone dish up?
- FerGormans (Team Red): Sparkling wine with strawberry puree & classic Russian borscht
- JereMei (Team Orange): Butter chicken
- Marco & Laura (Team Yellow): Paella
- Me (Team Blue): Homemade guacamole (in honour of Team Green – Sara & Dan – who couldn’t make it) served with blue corn chips & a blueberry and lemon curd tart
- Kate & Ian (Team Purple): Roasted purple carrots with rosemary (and I think beets?) & lavender shortbread
- Ayako & James (Team Pink): Beet-deviled eggs & a delicious baked good (memory is failing me…)
- McMompsons (Team White): Risotto
The evening
ended with our awesomely geeky ROYGBIV team photo (green watering can standing
in for MIA Team Green)!
‘Tacular
#40: Cocktacular 8, hosted by Jeremy & Mei (Sept 2017)
Ah, the Fast
and the Furious….have our Cocktaculars caught up yet? There was a loose
Cuba-Russia theme. I sucked at remembering to take photos, so can’t quite
recall what everyone brought, oops. Comment if you remember!
·
Kate & Ian: Toasted Cubano sandwiches &
sangria
·
JereMei: Cuban ropo vieja (pulled beef) with
rice and beans & pineapple daiquiris
·
Marco & Laura: Fried marlin chunks (in
reference to The Old Man and the Sea) & a fruity cocktail made with Blue
Curacao (Blue Lagoon? Blue Hawaiian?)
·
I brought Cuban picadillo (ground beef, olives,
capers, raisins) with arroz congri (rice and beans) & a pitcher of mojitos
·
McMompsons: There were fish tacos and I can’t
recall who brought them, but my money is on these guys J; unfortunately, I can’t
remember what cocktail they stirred up
·
Ayako & James: Pina Colada and margarita ice
cream
Sara, Dan,
and the FerGormans – we missed you!
‘Tacular
#41: Cucurbitacular, hosted by Sara and Dan (Nov 2017)
The theme
was anything from the Cucurbitaceae plant family. So, a lot of phallically-shaped
vegetables, go figure. We are so childish, tee hee!
Who brought
what?
- Sara & Dan: Zucchini fritters & butternut squash soup
- Kate & Ian: Zucchini carbonara
- JereMei: Chilled watermelon soup
- Marco & Laura: Chicken and zucchini enchiladas
- I brought a stiry fry of beef, bitter melon, and black beans (bitter melon, definitely an acquired taste!)
- Ayako & James: Chocolate zucchini cake
McMompsons
& FerGormans – we missed you!
‘Tacular
#42: Brunchtacular, hosted by Mei (Jan 2018)
Our first ‘Tacular
of 2018, woot! With Jeremy in L.A., Mei took on solo hosting duties, and wore theme-appropriate PJs -- go Mei! The theme was breakfast foods from around
the world. We enjoyed some mimosas, and then dug in. But what’d we eat?
- McMompsons: Baked blueberry French toast with warm maple syrup
- Kate & Ian: Chicken and waffles with a thyme cream sauce & a blueberry and green peppercorn chutney
- Mei: An egg, cheese, and sausage casserole
- Daniel: Bacon and marmalade sandwiches on toasted pumpernickel bread (Jenn’s idea, Daniels superb execution)
- Ayako & James: Cinnamon rolls
- I steamed up pork ribs with black beans, a classic dim sum dish
Marco,
Laura, Sara, Dan, and Jenn…we missed you! Jeremy – we missed you, too, but the
Skype call made it feel like you weren’t so far away. J
