BYOB and BYOD..?

What is BYOD, I hear you ask? In my first post I mentioned that I own and run the Edinburgh Dinner Party Club through meetup.com (a shameless push - you can find us here). Last night saw another event organised through the group. The event was an informal evening in my little city centre flat where everyone brought a bottle and their dish of choice (now you see the BYOB&D) and it all goes on the one table. As more people turn up, a bigger and better banquet is formed! With some good music in the background (although the Birdy Song and YMCA both made appearances) and very pleasant company, the night was a big success. Who knew I could take 20 people in my wee flat?!

A rainbow of vodka jelly glasses

I thought it would be a nice idea to offer guests a cocktail on arrival. I didn't tell anyone, but the cocktail is a tried and tested (by me) Nigella recipe called a Venetian. It is a sweet but dry mix made of :

1 part Rose Martini

1 part dry ginger ale

2 parts pomegranate juice

I say part, I just measure it out in the Martini cap, with 2 caps equaling 1 part. It's also easy to make and there's no need to shake or stir or anything else fiddly. It seemed to go down well. Vodka jellies, as shown above, were dished out throughout the night. They are easy to make too, and I have to say, they go right to your head:

1 packet raspberry jelly

topped up with 0.5 pint boiling water

0.2 pint cold water

0.3 any vodka, but I used a peach and melon combo that my parents brought back from the Canaries

This should be enough to pour into 25-30 little plastic shot glasses. As for food, I encouraged guests to bring a variety of dishes ranging from hot to cold, sweet to savoury and meat to veggie. The delights included beef steak chilli, vegetarian Kashmiri curry, loaded potato skins, a marinated half side of salmon, quiche, vegetable flan, kedgeree, layered salad, Balmoral chicken, rosemary potatoes, brownies, cheesecake, tiramisu, coffee and cheese biscuits and a giant cupcake! It was all absolutely delicious and more than enough to go around.

All that remained for me to do was drink wine, be merry, then tidy up the following day...

Drinks table remnants 

Food table remnants

My poor kitchen

All back to squeaky clean. I do have four chairs, by the way.