The Girls Came Over

A couple of times a year, three girls and I get together and have lunch. It was my turn and I decided to make the Eggnet Salad recipe that I'd found on the SBS website not long after we came back from our trip to the Australian Open in January '09. It was the standout dish, for me, at the banquet at the well known Thai Restaurant, Longrain, housed in an old stable in Melbourne. Fourteen of us spent a really enjoyable couple of hours there on our first night. I'd been wanting to make the Eggnet for a long time but was waiting for the right occasion - I'm very patient, I waited over a year.

In keeping with the Asian theme I went for thai chicken mince balls, pork wontons and sushi for entree. In not keeping with the Asian theme I chose a very decadent crunchie cheesecake served in martini glasses for dessert.

I typed up a game plan, assembled all the ingredients, got Drew off to school and then Meg and I started. We chopped and grated and rolled and steamed. We measured and mixed and cut and diced. The kitchen was a mess and around 11 o'clock, absolute chaos reigned. I had to zest a coconut so I took it outside and just dropped it onto the bricks - it split beautifully but then I broke the tips off two knives when trying to extract the coconut flesh- and zesting a coconut is not as easy as it sounds. Luckily Chris came home and did a 15 minute clean up of the sink which allowed me to wash my hair and Meg to race outside and cut some flowers. Also luckily, the girls were a bit late - by the time they arrived everything was calm and ordered and ready - no hint of the panic of an hour before!

We had the entree.............

We had the eggnet salad with cucumber relish..................

and we had the wonderful dessert.............I couldn't finish all mine.

and here is Chris helping!!!....................

We had a really nice time and it was good to catch up. Sometimes I forget that you need to open the circle now and again; this reminded me.