Potlucking in a New -Fandangled Way

Every Sunday, my friends gather together and have a potluck. Normally it is a "Russian Roulette" as to whether we'll have all desserts and no entrees, or five salads and a package of crackers. This particular Sunday, however, Andy came up with the idea of doing things a bit differently. The inspiration was that we would meet earlier than usual and bring only a series of ingredients with us, not necessarily with anything in mind.



So we arrived in various forms and proceeded to designate teams. My partner was Julianne Smith. Andy Morrise and Jenni Carlquist worked together (apparently if you run well together, you cook well together). And finally, Mallory Snyder and Jenny Morrise teamed up. Each pair took turns calling dibs on various ingredients. We then got to work and fought (hand and fist, mind you) for the different pots and pans in the Morrise family kitchen (a very big thank you, by the way, to Brother and Sister Morrise for letting us completely invade and destroy).

Mallory and Jenny (using only dough and various types of sugars and spices) got dessert-tastic and made some wicked sweet cinnamon rolls.

Julianne and I took it upon us to create the entree (it was worthy of "Louie Surprise" by Papa Rotar standards) consisting of ground beef, tomato sauce, green chiles, onions, and macaroni noodles.
Andy and Jenni did a side dish with stir fried veggies, chicken breast, and some good ol' curry.

Technically, Curry was NOT part of the included ingredients brought (nor were the other myriad of spices this pair pulled out), but we decided to let it go for the benefit of all involved.
In the end, the meal was delightful.

Sometimes don't you just feel like a bottle of ground ginger surrounded by a bunch of other ordinary green-bottled spices?

Yeah, me too.