October Tapas Night

Well, another month and another Tapas night.   I was standing at the sink, washing the wine glasses and trying to think how to start this post, when I realized, I have the perfect opening.

I was standing at the sink...

At any rate, I really don't mind washing the wine glasses and tidying up after one of our Tapas nights.  It means I get to think about how fortunate I am, not only do I have friends, but I have people in my life who love to come on over once a month and have a good time.  I'm very thankful for my house, for being able to host these gatherings, and most of all, for my friends, new and old and those I've not met yet.    You see, we encourage, nay, insist that people we don't even know come on over, and every month there is at least one, if not more new faces.   Some people try to make it every month, others come when they can, there is no pressure to 'come on over', if you feel like it, you show up with an appetizer in hand and visit.  We've met some really cool people doing this, and better yet, have made friends of them. 

One aspect of these gatherings is that I get to cook and try new recipes and also try what everyone else brings.   Along the way, I've picked up lots and lots of recipes, and a couple of extra pounds.  But we won't discuss that today.

I had fun making some new things yesterday, and I'll detail them in another post, but I know you're waiting to see some of the dishes that were presented last night.  Oh, come on, you know you were.   At least my loyal few readers were.

We had quite the gamut of dishes, as usual.   From nuts to soup, well, salad at any rate.

Banana Bread

Spice Loaf

Taffy Apple Salad

Taffy Apple Salad.   This tastes just like Taffy Apples  (I know this cause I've tasted it in the past)

Now that I got the dessert type stuff out of the way, here are a few more dishes...

 Phyllo wrapped Asparagus, totally good. 

 Look at these cuties.   This dish was set down and before I could make it over to the buffet with the camera they were almost all gone.  But what a great idea for Halloween.  Spider Eggs.

Fish Dips

 Two kinds of fish dip, Smoked Mullet and Smoked Grouper.   I love living on the coast, lots of seafood options.   And in the foreground baked Tomato Tarts.

Quiche

 

 Two kinds of Quiche, one with just veggies in it and the other with the addition of meat.

Tortellini

Shrimp with kicked up cocktail sauce.   I learned the trick from a friend.   She used bottled cocktail sauce and added some horseradish to it, and some lemon juice and wow did it taste great.  I cooked the shrimp by the way.  

 This was totally fun salad.   Quinoa, Black Beans and Corn with a Lime Chipoltle dressing.
  Really had a great kick.  And I'll be getting the recipe for it, giggle.  Sorry, I didn't mean to giggle out loud, but this would be so awesome with some broiled chicken, and wrapped into a tortilla.   
Just sayin...

 Another Quiche, and believe me when I say people made inroads on this as well. 

 Look at these cuties.   Muffins with a Kumquat Jam glaze and decorated with M & M's.  Fun and sticky.   Oh, and they tasted pretty good too. 

 Egg Salad sandwiches, with a twist, green olives were added to the Egg Salad.  

Salad with an Asian style dressing.   I ate my veggies last night, really I did.

And last but not least, here are two more dishes I made.
                                                                         

Above, a Pissaladière inspired dish.   I used a Puff Pastry Shell and filled it with Carmelized Onions and Sauteed Mushrooms and topped it with some goat cheese.   This disappeared fast. 










Above here, (I neglected to get a picture of them on the buffet, sigh.)   Baked Cheese dip, the one to the right had bacon bits added to it, and the one to the left was basically cheese.   They didn't last long either.   I served them with some toasted bread rounds.


And I didn't get a picture of the Syrian Style Stuffed Grape leaves either, but you know, I had guests and was having fun.  So there.

I'll be posting the how to's on my other dishes later on.   In the meantime, I need to go finish cleaning up.