potluck n superbowl

Last week’s potluck was HILARIOUS! There were 7 boys and three girls (in my house no less! Funny, I pointed out that the stellar and highly unusual was kind of wasted on us ladies since three of those dudes were.. our boyfriends). As you might imagine, the topics of conversation were a bit different than our typical nonprofit-type woman-centered potlucks, and the food? Mostly wine.

I made do. Frozen pizzas were invented for these occasions. Which is good since it got shnarfed through, and this was my serving (hostess eats last!):

And that rice pilaf I’d been ignoring on my shelf for several years? Perfect! Random salsa in the fridge? Put that puppy out! Bread! Awesome!

Before I was scrounging my cupboards, though, I was excited to finally pull out this:

   

Pathetically, I have yet to make most of the recipes I learned at cooking school in Thailand. Since it’s been a YEAR since I was there, I decided to get crackin’.

This week’s assignment? Pumpkin hummus.

Now, obviously pumpkin hummus doesn’t sound terribly Thai. However, the restaurant/cooking school where I learned of its deliciousness was a cool place. Banglamphu, its Bangkok neighborhood, was the hippie tourist mecca where hostel rooms could be found for $7 a night. The earth-lovin’, herb-smokin’ denizens positively FLOCKED to the vegetarian, wholesome restaurant, and the owner made a KILLING. And, they brought along, with their idealism and body odor, inspiration for food from other places.

Thus, pumpkin hummus, whose simple ingredients are arrayed below:

 

Pumpkin puree (I used some I froze earlier in the winter), cashews, soy sauce, sesame seeds, and cilantro (I was too wimpy to add fish sauce, though it’s an authentic Thai ingredient).

Smashed around in the food processor (lacking, sadly, a mortar and pestle like the awesome ones she used) and it was beautiful. With homemade chips and celery stix. Yum!

 

So at potluck we managed. Erin and David had brought veggies. There was bread. There were dips. Did I MENTION there was wine?!

 

Then I went to another potluck later in the week, for the SUPERBOWL! Football. So cute.

I had no idea what a conversion was and the boys in attendance thought it was just SO FUNNY to explain how the football turns into a soccer ball (converts, if you will) if you get it over a certain line.

Anyway, I wanted something reasonably healthful, so I started with some veggies:

4 carrots, chopped. 1 T olive oil. Medium heat to soften up.

Then quinoa (1 cup) went in to toast.

Then 3/4 cup Craisins and 2 cups water. Bring to a boil, simmer twenty minutes.

Add: 1/4 cup pine nuts, 1/4 tsp. dried ginger, 1 T ground flaxseed.

Thought it was SO delicious, and sort of cute and colorful (actually sorta Redskins colors HAHAHA since they will never be good ever.)

 

 

Tasty. People didn’t really eat it. I mean, there were chicken wings… this was quinoa.

I personally ate my body weight in sweet potato fries. Quality Bowl.