Cheese and Wine

Our Cheese and Wine party for some bowling friends went well on Wednesday night. Even my strawberry Santas worked although the filling became too soft and I had trouble constructing them. I forgot to take a photo of them. We ended up with way too much cheese. The assortment of 6 cheeses on a tray turned out to be a heck of a lot of cheese and I ended up giving bags of cheese away. These pix don’t include the cheese and artichoke dip either, obviously I hadn’t heated it up and put it on the table yet.. Then when everyone had eaten their fill, I product the Strawberry Santas which appeared to impress everyone. I thought they looked good, but as I said, I didn’t take a pic. However, I did take a photo of the pathetic last few which we finished for supper on Thursday. the one in the front appears to have collapsed a bit. The thing that staggered me most was once everyone had gone, Matt sat there and finished off the cheese and spicy jam and ate a load of crackers. Most unlike him.
My guests kept yelling at me to get my feet up, got swelling ankles again after my op the other week. Thursday I tried to do just that, but somehow had to keep hopping up to do things. One of those days, so I ended up with a balloon at the end of my leg again. Friday is bowling so I won’t be doing a lot of sitting with my feet up then either. Oh well.
One thing which went down really was the artichoke dip. Can’t remember if I have ever posted it before, but here it is. I got that recipe from a friend at a cookery club, I loved it at the party we went to and have made it a few times since.
Artichoke Dip
1 cup (250 ml) mayonnaise
1 cup (250 ml) shredded mozzarella
1/2 cup (125 ml) freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 Tbs (15 ml) grated onion
1/4 tsp (1 ml) hot sauce, or to taste
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1 14-oz (390 g) can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
Paprika to taste
Instructions:  Combine the mayonnaise, mozzarella, Parmesan, onion, hot sauce, garlic, salt, and pepper in an electric blender or food processor and process until smooth. Add the artichokes and place in a small baking dish. Sprinkle with paprika and bake in a preheated 350F (180C) oven for 20 minutes, until bubbly. Serve warm with crackers or toasted pita bread triangles. Serves 8 to 12.
Have a great day