New Years - Food, feasting and lizard herding!

Hungry?

This post is really an just an excuse to post up a picture of the awesome New Year's Eve feast we had. As a cook there are few things more pleasing than a table full of awesome food and good company to share it.
 

Carl and I have a bit of a tradition of having a few friends over and breaking out the weber on New Years Eve. Actually, I believe this is what we originally bought the weber for, and then my sister gave us a charcoal spit for Christmas the other year, so we really had no excuse for not putting on a good feast.

Still not hungry?

This year the feast included a selection of dips with toasted Lebanese bread, including home made baba ghanoush. This was my first time trying to make this and there's probably a few things I'd do differently next time, but overall I think it was a success. Possibly the hickory smoked eggplant was a bit too much, but it seemed like a convenient way to roast the eggplant at the time.

Hungry yet?

We then had hickory smoked lamb and chicken (weber) and roast pork on the spit, accompanied by cous cous salad, Mediterranean roast veg salad, roasted potatoes and a green salad. Enough to stuff ourselves silly!

Dessert was supplied by our guests and consisted of an exquisite, rich chocolate cake which I'm told was sweetened by raspberries. In addition there was a huge bowl of fruit salad and whipped cream, and to round out the mix a lovely orange a poppy seed cake.

It was all awesome!

I like to start the year how I intend to live it, so feasting with friends into the wee hours of the morning was definitely the way to go!

Our resident Blue Tongue . . .

Some of you may have heard a story about the last new years eve that we put on, specifically that we had to devote a great deal of time carefully herding our resident blue tongue outside after he decided that he much preferred the coolness inside the house. Anyway, we managed to get through New Years eve without the lizard sticking his head up, however on new years day I found him patiently waiting by the front door to be let in. Suffice to say, we rounded him up and put him out the back, safe from cars and cats! 

... in his natural setting (courtesy of Carl)