Friends, Food and Fun: Weekend Cooking

Food, glorious food

I mentioned a couple of posts ago that our weekends are become one large excuse to keep stuffing ourselves. To be honest, we had some friends, a husband and wife duo Jaydeep and Radhika, returning to India on March 1st after five years in Toronto so every weekend was a chance to spend time with them and celebrate the good times we’ve had together. This weekend is quiet one and Sean and I are actually surprised we have nothing to do.



The weekend before last we spent the night at our friend’s Liz and Ken’s place and, of course, made a grand potluck feast to go with it. As usual, my department was dessert and I made chocolate mousse spiked with (a lot of ) Grand Marnier. But since Sean and I loved the cauliflower fritters we made at the cooking class at Aphrodite Cooks we decided to make them as well. The next morning we had another feast for berakfast.


Last Friday was a sophisticated charcuterie and cheese party at David's place where we wolfed down a beautiful collection of Canadian and international cheeses from Leslieville Cheese Market. For that evening I made a cheese cake and a silken glazed chocolate tart. Then on Sunday we had a barbecue at Caroline and Nick's home to commemorate the leaving couple’s last Sunday in town. So we had succulent pieces of pork, chicken and a lovely pasta salad. To end on a sweet note I made my Mexican lime and vanilla flan.


Oh yeah, did I mention I joined a gym?


It's been a bittersweet time, bidding Radhika and Jaydeep farewell, even though we only knew them for a couple of months. It's also given us a chance to bond with our other friends talking about everything from our birthplace Bombay to politics and careers. And we've been lucky that we've always had plenty of delicious home-cooked food and good wine to go along with it all. Here’s an photographic account of the past two weekends where the food was definitely the star of the show.

Appetisers - Our cauliflower fritters and Radhika's home-made beef samosas

Sides - Radhika's potato bhaji and Nick's roasted vegetable medley

The Main - Liz's roast goat leg

We're Indian, we had to have rice. Here's Liz's nut rice and the laden table.

 Nick's beetroot salad

Breakfast the next morning - Liz's burji or akoori eggs. She also made banana pancakes, which I forgot to photograph.

Radhika's masala chai

At David's place: Radhika's bruschetta and the cheese platter

The delicious charcuterie and wine

At Nick and Caroline's barbeque: Pasta salad and barbecued pork

We like our carbs - potato salad

Liz's vada pav masala chicken

Grilled eggplant

Mexican lime and vanilla flan

Remainder of the chocolate flan and cheesecake