Sagittarius Party

Caution: Sagittarians at play

Saturday night was the annual Sagittarius party. This year the party was at my house. We had quite a large crowd, probably about 30 people throughout the evening. The food was delicious and abundant- if anything, too abundant. I especially enjoyed Gary’s curry-pumpkin soup and Naan bread, and Michael’s amazing chocolate/orange/raspberry cake.



















Goodies. Clockwise from top left: Chocolate Pecan Cake, Orange Raspberry Cake, Chips, Crudites, Onion-Yogurt Dip, Sundried Tomato Foccacia, Truffled Chevre (great on the Foccacia), Mozzarella, Gouda, Hummus

I got to show off a bit with an all-homemade cheese plate. It included mozzarella, the Gouda that I made a few weeks back, and a chevre, which I made on Friday night and Saturday. The Gouda will need some more work. It tasted fine, but I think that I dried it too much. I have a feeling that this is a case where you shouldn’t follow the recipe too exactly, but come to an intuitive feeling for when the cheese is "done." Unfortunately, I don’t yet have enough experience to have that intuition. The cheese ended up being tasty, but crumbly like a cheddar rather than smooth like a Gouda. The chevre, on the other hand, was magnificent. Of all the cheeses I have tried so far, it’s the one that came out the best on my first try. I made truffled chevre spread with it, something you can also make with store-bought goat cheese.

Truffled Chevre

About 4 oz. goat cheese
1 tsp. truffle-infused oil
milk (omit if you are using home-made chevre)
paprika


Mix the cheese and the truffle oil. Gradually add a bit of milk at a time, mixing, until the cheese is at a nice spreadable texture. Transfer to a ramekin and chill for about an hour. Sprinkle with paprika and serve with crackers. Preferably snooty ones- this stuff has truffles in it.



















World's purplest ice cream. Unfortunately, this year it came out more pink than purple.

We had no shortage of food this year, but didn’t have a lot of wild or weird food. Even the worlds purplest ice cream (Maine Black Bear- black raspberry with chocolate bits) came out more pink than purple. That happens sometimes-, it generally depends on how the raspberry crop was last year.



















Sagittarians resplendent in their purple garb

What wasn’t unusual this year was an evening of good friends, good conversation, and good fun. The house looked great decked in Sagittarian purple. The Sagittarians were resplendent in their purple garb, and we even had a purple lava light as part of the décor. It was a splendid evening.



















Non-Sagittarians don't wear purple



















Some Sagittarians can be counted on to be over the top with the whole purple thing.