Because pictures of food are cool (apparently)

Ok so here is the mission (should you choose to accept it...) to host a dinner party for ten people on a student budget (sort of)in a Mary's college pantry! Our pantry includes...
one small fridge (no freezer)
a sink
two small (not very hot) hot plates
one kettle

The added challenge being the list of allergies within the group...The list is long!

but I am a girl who likes a challenge and was wanting to do something interesting. I decided to do a Mexican meal because it really isn't something we eat much of in England and I thought it would be cool to learn to do and fun for us to try because most of it none of us had ever eaten before. Also I have a great resource, the ultimate cook book....No not Nigella Lawson (although that it my fave actual cook book) I'm talking about Andy, who inspired me a bit, and was there to walk me through a couple of things. I also had lots of friends to help out (especially Naomi and Nicola) which was fantastic. So we ate...

LOTS of yummy chicken (a couple of kilos, crazy how much 10 girls can eat)
guacamole (avocado is deff one of the funnest foods to work with)
a few types of Salsa (the mango salsa being the big fave)


and all the other bits and bobs you would expect tortilla chips, dips, sour cream, wraps etc....but I think the biggest hit (and idea that I have to forward credit to Andy for) was the butternut squash chorizo sausage thing. I didn't think it was going to work because we didn't have the right ingredients but I made some stuff up and it was great. Helen and Annika made real Mexican Sangria which was lush with lots of fruit in it.

Desert is the one part I can take credit for...I think the simple things in life like Jelly (aka Jello for my N.American friends) is always good, especially with chunks of Mango, Lime and mandarins.




So that was our dinner party, I know that cooking a meal might not sound like a terribly exciting to all of you who cook regularly but for us planning, doing and enjoying something like this is. We eat 'mary's food' everyday and we are thankful for it but it is just so good to cook something and eat something different for once....very exciting!
we also played lots of party games (introducing the girls to the wonder that is 4 on a couch and psychiatrist...Ffion also did some cubing) Then headed downstairs for a Mary's College Ceildh.

I am including a video of the Ceildh so you can see a bit of what it's like....Unfortunately there was hardly anyone there as you can also see....Oh well!

Video Sharing at DropShots.com