Friday, February 02, 2007

Party Time!

We are going to a Mexican "Tables of Grace" dinner on Saturday night. These fellowship dinners for a dozen or so people are hosted by church members in their homes and this dinner is going to take place in the parlor at church where there will be plenty of room for everyone and a place for the children to play. We are looking forward to it. I'm sure the hostesses will have the room decorated and all the food will be yummy and the company very fun indeed. We all have been asked to bring something Mexican-themed, and I said I would bring enchiladas and a cake. Martha Stewart's recipe for enchiladas looks as good as anyone else's so I plan to bring a nice flat casserole dish full of cheesy beef enchiladas. Sounds good to me. They look as simple as anything Martha Stewart can be.

The thought process around the cake is a little more complicated. I found a nice recipe for Maple Cake which sounds like it would be good--but I have never made it. George hates coconut, so that's out. I would make a lemon curd cake, but that is a little harder, and smaller, and may not feed the right number of people. I am not in the mood for chocolate. I thought about staying true Mexican and bringing Flan, but that is too hard to make, and the children won't like the burnt caramel taste. So, I am going to keep it simple. I have decided to bring a store bought Boston Creme Pie.

No one makes Boston Creme Pie like Bostonian bakeries and theirs is just as good, if not better, than anything I could make homemade. I'm pretty sure that if I made two large layers of yellow cake and put a creamy custard filling in between, the two layers would slide apart and end up lying side by side on the kitchen counter. Sometimes we do have to learn from mistakes we haven't made yet! George loves Boston Creme Pie, and I don't remember ever having it until I moved to Boston. It is George's favorite treat for his birthday, so...I don't bake many birthday cakes either!

So, Mexican Cream Pie it is. I'm sure it will all be delicious.