Blind Date II

E, Baby Boy and Crepe with Jam

I've never gone on a blind date in my eligible days. But a few years after getting hitched, you actually see me going on 2 in less than 2 weeks.

It's to prove that I've caught on to the Internet Revolution too, making friends on the Net, through blogs and forums, and then inviting them to my house for a little gathering. The idea crossed my mind to drug and then skin them alive for experimental cooking purposes, but I managed to suppress it just before they arrived.

The first blind date was with our very own Dutchess of Cookalot and the second was with 2 Singaporean girls (E & A) married to Italian men and living in Italy : in Turin and in Padova, to be more precise. Plus a Malaysian family (Singapore PRs) from the kids' school. It was a lovely gathering though with all those kids (3 + 1 + 2) screaming all day long my head is still ringing with it a few days later.

To me a gathering is about meeting people, but very importantly it's also about makaning (eating). Though I've never had so many allergic people under my roof at the same time (e.g. E is allergic to curry and chilli, A to seafood and CL's kids to both meat and fish..!) and planning what to cook on this day turned out to be more of a headache than usual. I had originally planned on making a Singapore feast, but ended up making neither this nor that :

• Sangria





• Tea Leaf Eggs



• Mini-Quiches
  
  
• White-Wine Roast Chicken with Rosemary Potatoes


• Prawn & Lettuce Salad DIY Italian-style
  
  
  


• Curry Chicken (courtesy of CL)


• Ginger and Garlic Fried Rice



• Boeuf Bourguignon (looks horrible but is really good)
  

• Fusion Salmon with Soy Sauce (a hit with everybody)


• Almond Jelly with Longans


• Crepes
  
  
  


• Petits Fours (courtesy of A)

I must admit that I didn't exchange too many words with the Italian halves of those couples as I was more interested in meeting the Singaporean girls. My Singlish at full steam, they all understood me, what bliss.

Alas time flew by as usual and it was soon time for everybody to leave - except E and her Hub who were to be my B&B guests :-). An occasion for me to air the top floor of the house and let in some human presence - as my mother is likely to say.

Cinnamon Rolls using Focaccia Dough

For breakfast, I made more crepes though they were small eaters and didn't want to take me up on my offer of bacon, eggs etc. I experimented on more cinnamon rolls, this time using Focaccia dough and let me tell you that it was even better than with pizza dough!

Thank you, E, A, CL and your respective Hubs for making the journey to my isolated farmhouse. Hope to see all of you again sometime soon!