Christmas Day Party 2011 Part 2 Food at the Party!

 Food Arrives to the 12 foot Kitchen Island

As the guests arrived we had a magnificent array of food on the island. The Food Arrives to the 12 foot Island We had appetizers that included marinated asparagus, my personal specialty, French cheeses, including a baked brie, and a firm white cheeze, sweet pickled peppers (say that 5 times quickly), rolled pretzels dipped in white peppermint, a new recipe that I downloaded,refrigerated cauliflower pickles, black olives, several kinds of crackers and salmon dip, and samosas from Reza's mom. I know I have forgotten a few members on the appetizer spread so please forgive me. As always you could pretty much live off the first course. This is a family that loves to cook and bring so we celebrate that too on this day! The dinner menu included corned beef and cabbage, white sauce enchiladas, mac and cheese with tomatoes, and ham by the master ham maker, Robert. Kelly had a couple of requests for her red oriented jello, and mom brought the green salad. Mikie brought a delightful fruit salad and someone brought some beautiful roasted purple potatoes and broccoli. A wonderful chicken and rice casserole showed up on the counter as well as many special Iranian dishes. We had quite a spread. If you couldn't find some that you could eat on that spread, then you just were not into eating that day.

We all found spaces at the tables and we had great conversations. Suzy had a chance to get out her little Christmas dessert plates and people had a chance to visit the food table and the people next to them for a nice period of time.

The Lovely Lemon Throw Down Begins

The cry went out for the lemon throw down competition to begin. The table was cleared and Linzi summoned the four neighbor judges. Each entry was given a number and four portions each of the eight entries were lined up on the table. There was super lemon cake, and lemon ginger cookie sandwiches. There also was lemon bars, and lemon bunt cakes. We had lemon cupcakes with penuche frosting and lemon cornmeal cookies. Someone brought lemon rosemary cookies and lemon marsh mellow whipped cream wedges. The judges had some tough decisions. We watched them as they poured over the entries. They seemed to delight in their task... but it was difficult. One judge asked if the batters had to be homemade. Comments were made on the judging cards and the judges were able and happy to scoop up their portions and take them with them back to their Christmas celebrations next door.
 A bit of panic spread among the contestants. Some of them had forgotten the number that was assigned to their masterpieces. A quick run down with the judges provided content to the numbers that they were judging,

Wanda Brown Wins!

A The winner of the contest was my mom. She won with her lemon bar recipe that used Meyer's lemons and was both delicate and textural in its lemon interpretation. Some people were a little disappointed because they were sure that theirs would win. In the end we all won as there was plenty of lemon dessert for Christmas dinner. Some were made in a team effort. Some were a solo concept piece. All of the contestants which represented all of the major families,  had a new conversational piece. How was yours made? Compliments were handed out to people that do not usually do any baking in their family but rose to the occasion with an entry.
Kelly felt her entry was vindicated even though it didn't win, because Suzy spent 10 minutes attacking her cake with a spoon and loving every bite. Overall the contest was a great successs!

At the end of the contest there was rumblings about what the contest would be next year. Would it be chocolate or maybe coconut? Or will it change to a general category like side dishes? Some people in our family have nut allergies so that should be figured into planning next year. I really think that there is a next year with this idea.

Love and Peace to your all! : ) Pat