It's a Piggy New Year!

The unveiling of our dinner

It's well into the new year and I haven't posted anything in ages. Blame it on my month long sojourn in Malaysia, hectic schedule whilst I was out there or the impossible internet upload speeds I had to contend with ... but the main thing is, I'm back with ton of trigger happy holiday snaps and a whole load of foodie stories.

If Christmas is about quiet family time, New Year's Eve is all about the partying - head banging until the wee hours of the morning and getting so drunk you wake up with your head in a bucket. Alas, my NY's eves always tend to be a little tame (if you must ... bland probably sums it up a little better). Who wants to push and shove (and be pushed and be shoved) in an overpriced club? Or fork out for an expensive but mediocre meal? So this year it was off for a pigout on ... PIG (ok, forgive the pun .. it was just too tempting)! Kindly hosted by Ravenous Rabbit, we had a a whole pig .. not one of those wee lil piglets but a full grown momma fit to feed some seriously hungry people.

When the roast is roughly the same size as a 5 year old child

The hog may have been the star of the night but let's not forget the other bits and pieces we had with it. In my humble opinion, the pineapple sauce made by Ravenous Rabbit's mum was in a whole different league, topping even the pig. Forget apple sauce ... throw it out, it's so yesterday! Pineapple sauce should be the sauce for roast pork. Sweet with a nice tang - gorgeous!

Another of Auntie A's special roast pork sauce - creamy mushroom. Good old Campbell's anyone? With a whole lot more mushroom-iness! Mix the mushroom and pineapple sauces together and it was good enough to be eaten alone.

When there is pork, there should always be rice. Typically Asian. The fried rice was C and K's contribution to the pot luck, along with a pot of crispy fried shallots.

C brought buttered corn on the cob with soy sauce and black pepper - just the way the Japanese like it. Ok I'm not sure how the Japanese like their corn but this corn idea was something I picked off a Japanese menu and have made with tinned corn several times. Corn + butter = good, corn + butter + soy sauce = even yummier! I'm not sure where C picked up her corn but I quite like the different coloured kernels. It makes life that bit more interesting.

Spam and practically everything goes .... so no complains about the Spam and pasta dish that W brought. Alright, maybe there wasn't enough Spam ...

For even more pasta goodness there was a creamy tomato and bacon sauce. I love my red sauces and let's face it, anything with bacon, cream and booze in is good. But oh so very, very rich!

The salmon fishcakes were good - nice flavour but as with everything deep fried, it would have been better straight out of a smoking hot pan. The sambal worked with the fishy flavours.

For dessert there was TO-DIE-FOR caramelised apple crumble pie. The smell hit me even before we started eating and it nearly knocked me off the piggy course (to be fair I'm not a huge roast pork fan .. but hey, when it's in front of you it's just rude not to tuck in - just as long as there's no crackling in sight!!!). The taste of the pie was as good as the smell. Sweet caramelised apples and all that buttery crumble and pie crust. Oh sinful! But I was good .. I had a little piece and turned my attention back to the pig. The memory lingers on .. as does everything that is bad for us.

There was actually a whole ton more food - like my contribution, a orzo and tuna pasta salad. I thought it was pretty good but someone mentioned it tasted like uni food whilst helping themselves to another portion. I'm not sure if I should be offended .. There were cannellini beans in pesto and a most delightful buttery and creamy mash. Of course there was the almost compulsory green salad and after dinner jelly. Photos of all this seem to be missing from my camera. Instant deletions of terrible photographs or perhaps forgetfulness on my part. Who knows? What I do know is what a greedy bunch we are, with eating ambitions far larger than our bellies. And the greediest of the lot - C and I. Check out our doggie bag! Yes, that tower belonged to us both. We very possibly took a quarter of the pig back with us - but to be honest, I never solved the mystery of where it went after. I have a feeling it's hiding in C's freezer ...

Happy New Year!