Birgitta turned 60

Birgitta is one of my bosses, and she celebrated her 60th birthday yesterday. It was a casual open reception, finishing off with a party-related meeting (political party, that is) since she is the president of our local party club, and she's very involved. I thought I'd blog a tiny bit about the food, as it was totally delicious, and it was a very nice change from all the cooking I've been doing lately. (And no, I did not have any cheese at all.)

When we arrived, we were given a glass of sparkling wine - it was cold, dry and very tasty. I'm not a big fan of sweet wines, and therefor I must say that I'm dreading the next Wine Blogging Wednesday - WBW:4 which is a New World Riesling. WBW is a spinoff from the lovely phenomenon of Is My Blog Burning? - a monthly event where all the foodbloggers unite and cook on a common theme. A delightful idea, and I can't wait to take part this time! (Especially since the theme is cookie swap - a wonderful idea!) But, I'm very hesitant about the Riesling. I actually had Riesling as a part of, and indeed with, the cheese fondue this weekend. It was nothing special - frankly, a bit too sweet. As most Rieslings are. I used the leftover half of the bottle to make Nigella's champagne risotto from her latest cookbook Feast. That was a yummy recipe indeed! We had that with pork chops for Saturday night dinner, and fried up leftovers into small risotto cakes that we ate with grilled chicken thighs on Sunday.

Anyway, back to Birgitta's reception. For starters, there were various coldcut meats. I had a slice of lovely cured ham - it wasn't the usual parma ham, but something else entirely, not as dry, but juicy and succulent, and very flavorful. I also had a few slices of salami, and it was just the way I like it - dry and slightly chewy. I don't like too soft salami, not my cup of tea at all.

For the main course, there was a lot of roasted vegetables. I passed on the eggplant and zucchini, neither being my favorites, but I had a lot of roasted peppers. They were really good, indeed better than when I make them myself. I think they also included some chilis, because now and then I encountered some very very spicy bits. It was excellent at any rate, and I will try that myself. I'll note that all of these dishes used way more olive oil than I would ever have the guts for though.

There was also a pasta dish, and I do wish I had the recipe. It was penne in a very spicy but very scant meat sauce. It was made the Italian way - the sauce just added subtle flavor to the pasta, rather than the Swedish way. (Drown the pasta in sauce.) For dessert, there was a heavenly chocolate almond cake, whipped cream, fresh fruit and coffee. In all, a very nice meal, and all the nicer since I didn't have to cook NOR did I have to clean up!