Mrs. Delicious

Librarians + food = soon, no food

The library had its "international party" last week and we were asked to contribute food that reflects our ancestry. My ancestry is primarily white-bread English. Rather than bring in a vat of mushy peas or pickled eels, though, I decided to go for a more cocktail-party-friendly finger food menu of tea sandwiches and scones. I made a variety of sandwiches* and borrowed a couple of silver platters to put them on, not forgetting the doilies underneath (thanks, Pauline!) nor the raspberry jam and clotted cream to go with the blueberry and candied ginger scones.

*eggs mayonnaise (aka egg salad) and watercress; Major Grey chutney and Stilton; carrot-ginger-cream cheese puree and sprouts; smoked salmon, cream cheese and dill; cucumber and butter; smoked ham and grapefruit marmalade

Here are a couple of bad, low-light photos of the little tea spread:







Other highlights of the evening included an entire table of Syrian food made by one extremely talented Syrian librarian; some kind of strange bright pink Asian noodles that tasted of cilantro and peanut and coconut; the delicious "buttered crab" spread that the actually-British-from-Britain University Librarian brought in and set next to my stuff on the table; the dry ice in the "Antarctica"-themed bar. Some low-lights of the evening: the food almost completely ran out in 45 minutes, so Andy barely got anything to eat; the beer ran out almost immediately so all there was to drink was a very nasty white wine; the karaoke room was sparsely attended. I had joked that I was either going to sing "The Gambler" or "Total Eclipse of the Heart" -- and then one of the party organizers DID sing "Total Eclipse of the Heart"! Complete with dance moves. It was something to see. I ended up singing nothing because once the food was gone people cleared out very quickly, and there is nothing sadder than belting out soft rock favorites in the library to an audience of old books and disposable plates.

posted by Mrs. Delicious @ 5:14 PM