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| Please note, we didn't eat the plate rack |
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| Daughter OS prepares mise en scene |
There are takeaways and there are super-takeaways. This was one of the latter.
A celebration for all the family which meant grandson Zach had to sleep in my study. He’s used to it.
Super-takeaways are characterised by their elaborate and highly individual packaging which ensures every grain of rice, every spare-rib (huge in this case) and every container of highly varied sauce arrived unharmed. The theme was Mexican but upper-middle-class Mex if that makes sense.
Why a takeaway given there are at least three Grade One cooks in the family? Simply because there was a good deal of champagne to be got through before we ate and we wanted no one scrabbling in the kitchen as the corks popped. Also, this meal was a genuine multi-course bargain: £20 a head. That wouldn’t get you very far in most decent restaurants these days. We’ d have spent more if it had been necessary but it just wasn’t.
We are a family of mixed preferences (two are veggies) and yet every container was scraped bare. The quality of the food demanded I explored the extremities of my wine cellar. Two bottles of red cost £34.50 each, but what the hell?
The last participant went to bed at 3 am. I fell asleep listening to their murmuring. Something about a strimmer, I think.
Sounds like.a wonderful gathering, and the food does look quite yummy. I'm glad you didn't have to go all the way to Mexico to get it!
ReplyDeleterobin andrea: I used "takeaway" in its broadest sense. The decision followed a great deal of research, the order was made online, we didn't in fact "take", the order was "delivered". It was the first time we'd used this supplier (The Di Maggio Restaurant Group) and I liked their slogan: A Mexican kit that doesn't involve Old El Paso? And everybody (ie, all eight of us) was impressed by the quality.
DeleteIt sounds like you have a nice family. The food sounds good, too. A feast! Takeaway (aka "takeout" in my neck of the woods) can make a family meal seem like a picnic. Here's a bit of takeaway/takeout trivia just for the fun of it, "According to the New York Times, the iconic "Chinese takeout container" came from Chicago, and was invented by a man named Frederick Weeks Wilcox in 1894." Cheers.
ReplyDeleteColette: Yesterday there was an unexpected sequel - forty miles away - to this meal. See my next post.
Delete"Simply because there was a good deal of champagne to be got through before we ate and we wanted no one scrabbling in the kitchen as the corks popped." Excellent reasoning. Though scrabblings in the kitchen are often associated with unwanted furry creatures. (Or in our house, the huge desire of Frieda--clever cat belonging to my youngest, home again--to scratch open a door and dive down into the cellar where there are camel crickets to hunt.)
ReplyDeleteI expect Zach has learned a few things in the RR study. As a once-upon-a-time grandchild, I was always glad to be left with the company of books.