oh my

What a night it was. I threw a belated birthday cocktail party last night and it went off wonderfully. Everyone had a great time and, to my delight, everyone loved all the food I made. (I would hope so - I was in the kitchen all day long yesterday and I had also done a little bit of prep on the previous evenings!) I worked really hard, but I didn't mind it all all because I love hosting parties. One day when I win the lottery, I am going to quit my day job and become a professional party thrower. But since I don't play the lottery, I'm not going to quit my day job anytime soon.

Here's the menu from last night - recipes will be posted throughout the week Because I was so busy all day, I don't have photos of everything :(

Savory bites

• Asian corn fritters with a spicy peanut dipping sauce (I revamped my old recipe)
• Indian-spiced zucchini fritters with a drained yogurt dip
• Skewers of coconut-coriander marinated and baked tofu, cucumber, and soy-ginger marinated and baked tofu (I didn't manage to get a photograph of these because, to my surprise, they were attacked and devoured within minutes)
• Chaat baskets - phyllo cups filled with mung bean chaat, topped with fried okra slices
  
• Homemade pita chips with:
• Edamame dip
• Indian white bean dip
• Wasabi peas (no, I didn't make them - they came straight from the package)
• Roasted peanuts (see above comment)
  

Sweet treats - all of these are mini cupcakes and are listed from L-R in the photo

• Mango kulfi - cardamom cake, alphonso mango buttercream frosting, topped with a piece of fresh mango and bronze luster dust
• Peach Meg cupcakes - peach blueberry thyme cake, ginger cream cheese frosting, topped with a fresh blueberry, thyme leaves, and blue luster dust
• Pomatcha - Matcha green tea cake, pomegranate cream cheese frosting, topped with a fresh pomegranate aril and gold luster dust
• Lavender pear bear cupcakes - pear honey cake, lavender meringue frosting, coated with white chocolate, topped with green and purple luster dust
  

Cocktails (in addition to beer and wine and whatever people felt like mixing up on their own)

• Bellini bar - prosecco with a choice of fresh blueberry, raspberry, or peach puree (and yes I did make the purees)
• Dark and stormy - Gosling's Black Seal rum with Reed's ginger beer and a slice of lime
  
• The Herbie (the name was invented last night) - gin, lavender syrup, muddled mint, soda water

OK time for me to resume lying on the couch and being lazy. I definitely deserve it after my long week of hard work at both home and office (and after-hours meetings). Stay tuned for recipes for all of the above.