Alle Jahre wieder...

This year, it was the 33. And as always, I celebrated the occasion with a little party at home. Alright, so we are in the UK: English people would expect to arrive to a party full of sausage rolls, crisps, beer. But then... hey, luckily I do not know many English people ;-)
So I can be a bit more adventurous when it comes to party food.
I decided to go for finger food only this year. Makes the tidying up after the party so much easier!
To find finger food that exceeds the usual canapes, puff pastry thingies, chicken skewers etc proved to be a rather difficult task! But after some online research I think I came up with a pretty good mix.
Drinks though always prove to be a challenge: exciting, yet simple. After all, I do not want to be the bartender for the rest of the night.
I do quite like G&T. In Cocoon in London they serve it in a tumbler with a slice of cucumber. Tried and tested at home: Looks good and tastes great. Still, I opted for a not quite so simple version of G&T for drinks: El Bulli inspired Jellied Gin & Tonic on lime crisps. Shame, somehow everyone forgot to take a picture of it :-( Plus, we had Dawa, an African Caipirinha... lime, brown sugar, vodka, crushed ice and a dowel stick dripping of honey.
The food: Cumin laced parmesan cones with horseradish ice cream, sweet and spicy broccoli cake, mini potatoes with wasabi sour cream and caviar, cream cheese filled wan tan cones, feta-mint parcels, buckwheat crackers with venison pate and rose wine jelly, almond gazpacho.

And of course, the cake: mini Sachertorte with peppery chocolate ganache. Yes, I do like my peppery chocolates ;-) Strictly speaking, it wasn't a Sachertorte: a real Viennese chocolate cake would be filled with apricot jam. However, apricots and peppery ganache on top? Nahh... raspberry jam works so much better. Step1: nick your daughter's Barbie cake tin or get yourself a mini sort-of-muffin tin.
Step2: "glue" 2mini cakes together with some raspberry jam (smoothen the jam by adding some raspberry schnaps or vodka while warming it slightly up - on a very low flame).
Step3: make a quick ganache with double cream, min 70% chocolate, butter and egg yolks.
Step4: cover the top of the cakes with ganache and sprinkle over some crushed pink peppercorns.
Step5: eat!

The unloved one...

Even I have my dislikes when it comes to food. Celery and yes, aubergine. With celery, it is the taste, with aubergine, it is the texture.
But in the attempt to live healthy and eat a wide range of vegetables and I decided to welcome the aubergine into my life. I still wouldn't go out and buy one, but I get a weekly organic delivery of seasonal vegetables and it seems that aubergines are always in season: at least there is always at least one aubergine in my box!
... and now? Well, I remember the times when I really didn't like kohlrabi: Kohlrabi-Erbsen-Sauce... OMG, one of my childhood traumas! Dice some kohlrabi, place it in a saucepan together with frozen peas and some water and boil them until the kolrabi is soggy and the peas totally shapeless, thicken with flour, spoon a plate, heap on some potatoes mash and serve to your children.
Years later my guinea pigs showed me that raw, crunchy kohlrabi can almost be a delight.
And luckily a friend once showed me how to make an aubergine dip. Put the whole aubergines under the grill until they collapse, spoon out the soft flesh, add feta cheese, garlic, olive oil and pepper and mix to a smooth paste. But to make it into a real delicacy, try to add some salty capers as well! Lovely on freshly baked sundried tomato bread; or spread the aubergine dip on tortillas, roll them up and voila...