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the original Spanish summer soiree was held on 27th July 2002

tea leaf eggs:
cha ye dan

Boil eggs (in cold water until boiled then turn off heat).

After water has cooled, use spoon to crack the egg shells, to allow the "tie dye" effect.

Add black tea leaves (or tea bags), five spice (wu xiang), peppercorns (hua jiao), salt, soy sauce. Boil under low temperature for 10 minutes. Soak overnight.

Blackberry and apple crumble

blackberries picked from the wild and baking apple from Amanda's tree....

excellent with ice cream

Bon Journal

Bachelor party

The back-up plan was to go out, in case it rained. Otherwise I would bring four bachelors to my new-found single friend, as a present.

When I found out that the barbeque was cancelled and that her friends had arranged something else, I was stuck with four bachelors. What am I supposed to do with four bachelors on a Saturday night?

One flew over from southern California. Another from Copenhagen. A third from Scotland. And a fourth from London.

I decided to make a mini-Spanish summer soiree out of this opportunity. I would prepare sangria and tapas. I would play cocktail music as background to their conversations. I would play hostess extraordinaire.

But wait! Why would four bachelors want to talk to one another?

So I asked the one from Copenhagen if he would bring a girl he knew. I invited a neighbour to come to the party. She called her sister to come by. Later on, another neighbour "gatecrashed" my party. Thank goodness for all these ladies, I wasn't the only girl.

The more the merrier, so the saying goes. Indeed, we drank, ate, talked, and sang until we got too tired to be merry.

24 August 2002 Saturday

photos, courtesy of Klaus

photo, courtesy of Peter

Sangria:

marinate red wine with slices of lemon, orange, and apple and sugar for a few hours

top up the mix with club soda, tonic water, or lemonade (sprite, 7 up) and ice cubes

Stuffed mushrooms:

pull out the stems and cut them into tiny pieces along with celery, carrots, onions, and red pepper

fry the cuttings with freshly cut herbs from the garden and pine nuts

stuff the upside down mushroom caps

bake for 15 minutes in preheated 200 degrees Celsius oven

Vegetable skewers:

use toothpicks or longer wooden skewers

the more colourful, the better: small slices of red, green, or yellow pepper, onions, courgettes (zuchini), aubergines (eggplant)

brush over skewers a mixture of organic olive oil, salt, and freshly cut garden herbs

grill for 15 minutes

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