A multicultural Christmas party with friends yesterday included homemade and catered treats.
The spread of appetizers almost did us in — a cheese(ball) board with 4 varieties: mushroom truffle, jalapeno cheddar, tangy blueberry, and spicy cranberry, chilli crisp apero cheese bread (made by me), samosas: both chicken and potato, green apple dip with crudités and crackers, spicy chicken poppers, a sushi “cake”, and, ubiquitous to parties here — fresh wafers aka potato chips.
Good thing the main course was “light” — biryani and masala chicken 
.
Dessert was a spread of Goan and other southern Indian Christian specialties — plum cake, Baath (coconut semolina cake), guava cheese (actually cubes of jelly, not cheese), rose cookies (frilly, crisp, deep fried), marzipan, jujubes. Plus a few additions — tiger / marble cake (made by me) and strawberry tres leches cake (made by a friend) — it’s strawberry season here.
