Hello there, party people!
One thing I like about getting older is that the food you get at parties gets better. No more store-bought potato salad with more store-bought... stuff. I am trying to do my part to keep up the tradition of not serving store bought stuff, but rather sticking to my family tradition of making stuff myself.
The boyfriend and I both had our birthdays in December and like to celebrate our birthdays together - one party is less of a mess than two and since our food always takes time and money to prepare, it's just easier for us to throw one party.
Here's what we served to our friends last night:
 |
| Before and after! |
We had a savory buffet, soup, and cupcakes for dessert.
Frikadellen [Recipe], puff pastry filled with cashew feta, creamy potato salad [Recipe], "honey" aioli [Recipe], guacamole, hummus, "Mett" (conventionally raw minced pork with onions... ours is made from puffed rice and tomato puree), herb butter, spring rolls [Recipe], chicken wings [recipe] (without chicken and without wings), bulgur quinoa salad [Recipe] and fresh bread. I also made some gluten free bread rolls (from chickpea and buckwheat flour), quinoa salad and Thai spring rolls (with rice papers instead of the wheat based ones) for a friend of mine who's allergic to a lot of things including soy and gluten.
We also had some coconut milk and lentil soup with a bit of curry, fenugreek, and cumin. And on the very left of that picture: Our Lynchburg Lemonade station - the most popular drink after beer and Liqueur 43 with homemade hazelnut milk!
For dessert, we served three different kinds of cupcakes: a lemon cupcake with almonds and pistachios (and a lemon buttercream), good old chocolate cupcakes, and some matcha cupcakes!
 |
Matcha Cupcakes, Chocolate Cupcakes,
Lemon Cupcakes with almonds and pistachios
|
The recipes for the cupcakes are slightly altered versions of recipes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World by Isa Moskowitz and Terry Romero. I'll post my versions (and the other recipes) as soon as I got my energy back up after cleaning up the apartment. :) The decoration on the matcha cupcakes is made from marzipan that I dyed green with vegan food dye.
 |
| (Store bought) puff pastry filled with vegan feta (made from cashews) and spinach |
 |
| I love freshly baked bread! [Recipe] The one on the left made with regular wheat flour and Provençal herbs (which a friend of mine actually picked in Provençe), the one on the right is made with tomato paste (I replaced some of the water in the yeast dough with the paste) |
 |
| Bottom left: "Honey Aioli" [Recipe] (Oh, the selfmade vegan mayo, the garlic,the garlic, and the garlic) Bottom right: a vegan staple: hummus! Top left: "Mett" that tastes and smells so real, it makes me sick Top right: Guacamole. I love guacamole. And there were some lefterovers. Guess what I am eating right now! :) |
 |
| Ah, "Frikadellen" - Mini "Meat" Balls: A must have at any German party! |
 |
Spring Rolls [Recipe] filled with onions, leeks,
carrots, and soy sprouts, seasoned
with soy sauce and roasted sesame oil
|
 |
| Creamy Potato Salad with Homemade Vegan Mayo [Recipe] |
 |
|
Cranberries, Dried Tomatoes, and Fresh Basil.
|
 |
| Chicken Wings! [Recipe] No chickens or wings involved. :) This was definitely the favorite of everyone at the party regardless of their dietary preferences. |
I promise, recipes will follow soon. But after going to bed at 4 a.m., my body had the excellent idea of waking up at 7 a.m. At least this made me collect bottles and load the dishwasher, making the apartment look much cleaner than I had expected it to do before noon!
