Fiesta!

Over Labour Day long weekend my extended family from Vancouver Island were over moving my cousin into her new apartment (she's taking a Masters in Physiotherapy at UBC).  It seemed logical, as they were all over, to celebrate my upcoming birthday with them.  As Mum is so busy with Gran (who just had knee replacement surgery and is in hospital), it seemed logical for me to take on the party hosting.

I decided to throw a Mexican Fiesta!

Chef at Work!!

First course/appies: (served with tortilla chips)

7 Layer Dip

Delicious Dip! (split in 3 for leftovers!)

This is a secret recipe that I received from Colleen and Wilfy. I can't give out the recipe, but can say that it is definitely not your standard 7 Layer Dip. Delicious!

Guacamole
I found a new Guac recipe online
Ingredients:
1 small jalapeno chile
2 large ripe avocados
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro

The Appie Table

1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon salt
dash pepper
1 small clove garlic, finely chopped
1 small tomato, seeded, chopped
2 tablespoons finely chopped red onion

Method:
Remove stems, seeds and ribs from chile, chop finely.
Cut avocado out of skin into bowl, mash with fork. Add all other ingredients until mixed.

So many people indicated that it was fantastic. I'm not a huge Guac person, so am taking their word on it!

Chef Success!

Salsa
Made following my previous salsa recipes - seemed to be enjoyed.

I also served some Taquitos with these dips, but they were store bought.
(for recipe see previous blog entries)

Main:

Tacos
Ingredients:
1 white onion, chopped.
ground beef.
Taco spice.

Forgot to photograph end result...

Method:
Saute onions until translucent. Add beef and cook until brown. Drain excess fat. Add taco spice with 1 cup of water and simmer until water reduces. Serve with fixings.

Fixings: Shredded lettuce, chopped tomato, sliced jalapeno peppers, chopped green onion.  Also provided sour cream, 'store' salsa, and grated cheddar and monteray jack cheese.

Spanish Rice
While I would love to claim this as my own invention, it was from Rice a Roni. It is by far the best pack they make and I would definitely recommend it. Any time I have made it the people eating have raved about it. 

Does that seriously mean 30?

Dessert
Well it was a birthday party.... so had to make some birthday cake. Wasn't feeling overly inventive, so reached for my favourite box of Lemon cake and vanilla icing.  This is a tried and true combination.

Runny Icing

The strange thing about my cake is that, well, the icing melted.  The cake had cooled for 12 hours before I went to ice it, so it wasn't to do with the cake heat. The icing just never 'hardened' and was a sloppy runny mess. We found this out during the 'happy birthday' song, when I'd held up the cake for a photo. Well, it started 'running' off the cake like some classic TV spoof where makeup drips off someones face!! We shrieked, put it back down and tried to sort it all out.  Tasted fine, just continued to be runny. No idea why.

The Drink Station

Anyway.  We washed all this food down with some fun drinks: Margaritas, Mojitos, Pina Coladas, and some special pink champagne/ sparkling wine with the cake.

All in all, I am very proud that I hosted this entire meal entirely alone with only 1 or 2 mishaps. In all everyone seemed to enjoy the food and I will happily make all of these recipes again! Awesome!