Mary's Dinner Clubs - Indonesian Dinner

So the Indonesian dinner clearly goes down on the list of favorites – the starters took quite a bit of experimenting but the process was great fun. It’s just hard to imagine what radishes and pineapple might taste like together or bread with white pepper….

So it was all tested and the winner was: a pineapple-cucumber-chili salad with cashew nuts and spring onions served in banana leaves with a brown sugar-fish sauce dressing and Indonesian soda bread with different spices.

A special thank you goes to the owner of the new ‘Orange’ fruit shop just behind my house for getting those banana leaves for me and for having such a pleasant and reasonable shop altogether. I can even put in orders on Friday for anything I need on Saturday – what else could a hostess ask for?!

The guests had all been really excited about Indonesian food and I wanted to make sure I'd meet their expectations. The Satay chicken was savory but not too spicy with the flavors of coconut milk, peanut butter and chili paste blending beautifully. The chicken itself was marinated in soy sauce, rice vinegar, garlic and ginger – sooo good! The dessert was ‘just’ baked bananas, but with a slice of fresh pineapple and a bit of chocolate sauce they made for a perfect finish.

By that time the guests had somehow melted into one big, fun group; British, Austrian, French, Italian, Russian… a good time was had by all. There was a record high of 5 newcomers - thank you everybody for coming out! As always I am happy that everybody walked away so pleased, having made new friends over new food.

Some of the comments on the facebook photo album that made my day on Sunday: ‘My dear Mary, thank you, once again for a superb evening. The company and food were WONDERFUL! and I haven’t laughed so much in ages' or 'It was a great evening and absolutely wonderful and excellent food. Thank you Mary!'

I look forward to welcoming first-time and returning guests at next week’s Salvadorean dinner. Check http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002911386281 for details or contact me at maryanglbe@hotmail.com

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