Thursday, October 28, 2010

The Parkville Ladies' and Gentlemen's Club- ponderings and plannings

Leith and I are having a some guests over next week for an evening of well-dressed reclining with some good drinks and tasty morsels. Naturally, I am spending every spare moment planning a menu. I just want a few canape-type things. I don't want to over cater, as it's not supposed to be dinner, but I also don't want there to be too little (always my paramount fear when cooking for guests) and of course, I also want everyone to be suitably impressed.  Add to that mix a guest list including vegetarians, a few vegans, and a birthday, and a window of about 2 hours after work on the evening itself to prepare anything and shower and dress, and I'm dithering over what to make to an entirely unnecessary extent. The emphasis is therefore on things I can pre-prepare.

So I thought I'd get my short-list out of my head, and onto the internet.  Please feel free to throw in suggestions if I'm getting this all wrong.

  • Cake: A Black Forest Gateau, replete with cherries and cream, the works (I'll make the cake on Thursday night and just fill it after work on Friday);
  • Tuna savouries (delicious little tuna and cheese pastry parcels) - these can be made this weekend and frozen;
  • An enormous cheese plate with crackers and fruit - this requires getting to the Vic Market, lord knows when?.. but is an essential part of my imagining of what an elegant evening requires;
  • Tofu rice paper rolls - these are the only vegan savouries I think there will be. Is it enough?
That's it. That's all I've got so far. I think it's missing one thing - and that thing is a sweet that is vegan-friendly, but I can't think what it is. Maybe it's just chocolate coated strawberries?

Is it enough?

P.S. Recipes to be posted as I get cooking over the next week.

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