Sunday Blogger Potluck

Over the past couple of years, I've been lucky to meet some wonderful people in the local food blogging community.  In particular, I've been fortunate to become friends with four phenomenal women - Alicia, Kristen, Megan and Meghan.  Even though we all write about food, we each have such different interests, personalities and points of views...and I think this is why we all get along so well!  Even though we see each other often at local food or blogger events, we like to find time to hang out with each other outside of these events.  Since our dinner at Upstairs on the Square, we've been trying to find time in all of our busy schedules to get together for a tapas/small plate potluck.  After many emails, we finally got together yesterday at Megan's place for a day of cooking, champagne and lots of laughter.

The five of us committed to preparing at least two different dishes.  We each prepped our ingredients at home, but actually cooked and plated our dishes at Megan's place. 

Kristen is all smiles in the kitchen!

My contribution included Cold Curry-Peanut Noodles and Mama Chang's Pork and Chive Dumplings.  I'll be blogging about these dishes later in the week but in the meantime, I wanted to share some photos of the tasty dishes we indulged in.

Megan's Feta Tart (Alevropita)

Alicia's Muhammara

Meghan's White Bean Dip with White Truffle Oil

Kristen's Creamy Parsnip Soup with Crispy Leeks

My Cold Curry-Peanut Noodles

Meghan's Tortilla de Patas

Alicia's Walnut and Mushroom Vegetarian Pate

Doesn't all of this food look delicious?  This was just the first round of cooking and after we indulged in these dishes, we lounged around sipping bubbly and discussing wedding-planning, blogging, new engagements (congratulations Megan!) and new jobs (congratulations Alicia!).  After some time, we finally got ourselves off the couch for a second round of cooking...and eating!

My version of Mama Chang's Pork and Chive Dumplings

Kristen's Warm Brussels Sprout Salad

Alicia's Spicy Shrimp with Andouille Sausage

Alicia's Creamy Grits

As food blogger, we of course took lots of photos of the food.  But as dog lovers, we took even more photos of Megan and Jeff's beautiful chocolate lab, Gunner.  I think we all tried to play with Gunner as much as possible and Meghan and I were definitely guilty of giving him way too many doggie treats!  But look at this photo and tell me how you could resist?!

And finally, after another breather (and some silly self-timer photos), we got ourselves up for Megan's amazing make-your-own sundae station.

Adorable dessert dishes.

Megan's Pumpkin Ice Cream

Megan's Gingerbread Croutons

Megan's Spiced Caramel Sauce

All of the amazing spices used in the caramel sauce!

Megan's Pumpkin Ice Cream with Spiced Caramel Sauce and Gingerbread Croutons

And finally, after six hours of cooking, eating, and lots of laughter, we wrapped up the night with one last group photo.

Thank you ladies for such a wonderful Sunday.  Since we all enjoy cooking so much, it was fantastic to cook together in such a relaxed and low-key manner.  I couldn't have asked for a better way to end the weekend and I'm looking forward to reading everybody's recipes for these dishes!  We also took home lots of leftovers which Bret and I will definitely enjoy over the next few days!

And special thanks to Megan for hosting all of us and opening up her home (especially her kitchen) to all of us.

What was the best thing you did this weekend?