It’s as if we planned it this way

A few weeks ago, I was in a Facebook conversation with my good friends Niki and Nelly and we decided we should have a night of cooking the delights that are exposed in the little & friday cookbook (you’d think I was getting commission from them…but I’m not…although that is an excellent idea, thank you). Actually I take it back…Niki and I decided we should do this, and that it should happen at Nelly’s (and Alex’s) house. We then booked in a date and told Nelex what, when and where it was happening.

Lucky they like us.

Over the next weeks we remained in occasional contact about how the evening should play out. After some emails and an actual human to human conversation we chose to make four things…

Walnut pesto, caramelised leek, halloumi and roasted tomato galettes (Alex’s choice).

Orange & date scones (Please note: Both Niki and Nelly seemed reasonably excited about this choice)

Baked chocolate tart (it’s one of those ‘wow’ things)

Pistachio and cranberry biscotti (Nelly’s we-must-do-this-and-have-a-cup-of-tea-with-it choice)

So we met on after work on Friday, went to the supermarket and got our goods.

Headed back and had an incredibly enjoyable time cooking in a little kitchen on a friday.

I know.

You’d think we planned it that way.

But we were all amazed at the realization.

And then we took a photo.

So.

Now we had to bake.

There were dishes, ingredients and people flying all over the place.

At times it seemed like pure mayhem. And surely mayhem couldn’t produce our desired results?

Surely with so many things happening at once, in such a small space, and with an oven which holds one small tray at a time and always requires longer cooking time than the recipe suggests, ridiculously delicious food could not be achieved?!

Well you skeptical wee thing…you’re wrong. Dead wrong.

The galettes were an outstanding success. Definitely my #1 of the night. A truly inspired concoction of genius.

Now to the story of the orange and date scones.

This is what happened.

Nelly and Niki took it upon themselves to make these.

They really did a brilliant job.

Nelly chopped the dates.

Niki zested the orange.

The mixture was combined.

The specially bought demerara sugar was sprinkled on top.

While they were in the oven Nelly commented on how excited she was about the scones…quote: “I’m actually so excited about the scones. I think I’m looking forward to them the most”

They came out of the oven.

Our two date & orange scone making queens are happy with their handiwork.

We sit down to eat beautifully fresh and crunchy hot scones.

First bites are had.

Mmmm mmmmm.

Then, as if to blow my mind with confusion, these words follows…

Nelly: “I don’t really like dates”

Niki: “Oh? I don’t really like orange”

Me: “WHAT!? But YOOUUU wanted to make these. YOOUUU were so excited.”

Nelly: “Nooooo”

Niki: “It wasn’t my idea”

Me: *stunned silence*

Nelly: “These would be really good if you liked dates and oranges”

Nelly's leftover scone bits

My brain physically hurts from what has just occurred.

I blame this hurt on the reason the following happened whilst playing Taboo…

Alex: “Umm…it crawls on the floor…it has six legs…”

Me: “Centipede”

Nelly & Niki: *constant laughter ensues*…all night.

Anyway, let us move on.

The next course was my kind of happiness in a sweet pastry shell. We cooked it for twice as long as the recipe stated (due to said oven), but it still did not seem quite right. It was very wobbly. We were told it would be wobbly but that it would set as it cooled.

We weren’t certain this was going to happen/were way too impatient to actually let it cool properly.

So when we dug in.

It was more of chocolate slop with gloriously crispy sweet pastry.

Thankfully I love slop.

Nelly & Alex struggled with the richness.

Niki and I licked our bowls.

Give me a mug of warm chocolate, butter and sugar any day.

The final course was probably all our least favourite. There was nothing wrong with the biscotti. But we were all very full and by this stage it was quarter to midnight…but with a cup of tea and a few more hours of conversation, we concluded the evening in fine fashion.

And in the words of Nello, “Four recipes in one night and feeling little & friday’d out, let’s do it all over again.”

Amen.