We decorated the house with little trinkets from the native land; a windmill here, set of clogs there, and vases of tulips, everywhere.
The food was fun to plan and prepare. Chicken noodle soup to start, with Omas secret ingredient making it authentically dutch. Beef croquettes, rookworst sausage, stumpot ( a silverbeet potato concoction), eel, (yes, eel!) gerkins, silver onions, mustard and apple sauce to accompany.
Then came the dessert.
I had to fight for supremacy in this department as John bought out all his sweet treats that he was brought up on; biscotti covered in muisjes and vlok, tai tai, spek (scrummy soft sugary marshmellow), and paperkoek, all very attractively displayed on a platter. But what about the real dessert, I exclaimed!
I decided to google dutch cakes during the week and came across a Charlotte finger cake. Kahlua coffee mousse with cream and lady fingers. I made it on Friday and it didn't come out looking very attractive at all so I was convinced I had lost my touch with these cakes after last weeks effort too!
So I headed off to the Riccarton Market on Saturday morning and went straight to the lovely dutch lady who sells all manner of dutch desserts/cakes and bought an emergency cake....apple tart.
Anyway, back to the dutch evening and the table full of guests ready to sample the Mother Maderia cake of the week. I must admit, the mousse blended in very well with all of Johns sweet delights, and the apple tart made an appearance too. Every sat with very full bellies, satiated.
The night came to a close around 2 am after demolishing a bottle of very delicious Advocaat, served with bacardi, cream and lemonade!
Tot ziens!
P.S Last weeks cake was actually made correctly the first time.....the pan it was cooked in was too big therefore the cake looked like a flop! ha ha
24 hours later and I still have a full belly! Delicious! I may have eaten half the cake..really good. A good strong coffee flavour. Clarky is now a convert to John's heritage food! Really fabulous! How do the dutch stay so slim?!
ReplyDeleteA wonderful night of Dutch food and culture...right down to the authentic Dutch music on the vinyl LPs. As the night went on and wine flowed, the music changed to some good old favourites - 'Burning Bridges' by the Mike Curb Congregation, 'Try A Little Kindness' by Glen Campbell, 'Cherish' by David Cassidy, and many other songs which we found ourselves singing along to. We all loved the Charlotte Finger Cake and delicious sweet treats. I was grateful for the elastic waistband which was on the skirt of my Dutch costume. Thank you so much for a fun night. Annette & Mike
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