First recipes

So far, I would say my retro party cookbook is all about cheese. 

I made the Blue Cheese Dip with Vegetable Strips. I am not sure I got the proportions quite right because I had 125 grams of cheese and I just thought it would be too much to put it all in. I probably put about 90 or 100 grams in, with my light sour cream, mayonnaise, chopped celery, and Tabasco. It was quite tasty indeed, but I might make it without quite so much mayo next time. Any sort of creamy, cheesy stuff is great for dipping veg or crackers in. 

Next stop was Spinach-Cheese Bake. This called for 3 eggs, a bit of flour, cottage cheese, grated cheese (it would have been better with Swiss, but I have cheddar) and "two packages (10 ounces each) frozen chopped spinach." So I had some of a package of spinach in the freezer and got another one, before I realized that my packages were 500 grams. Two times 10 ounces is 20 ounces, which is a bit more than a pound, which is a package + a bit. Frozen spinach used to be in blocks, but now each package holds a bunch of spinach pucks. I just cooked what I thought was about enough. 

Tasty, if you like that sort of heavy egg and cheese, almost-quiche, texture, which I do. It could have been a whole meal in itself, but we had a bit of pork with it. It might be good for a potluck dinner but it is probably not going to end up in my favourites list. 

Perhaps the next thing I try from this book will be some meatballs. There are several salad recipes, but so many slightly odd ingredients, like frozen melon balls in syrup, and MSG. Lots of boozy recipes, but I don't feel like leaving open bottles around when we are not here all the time. (Although, we have bottles at home which have sat on the shelf for ages after we opened them!) Someone else needs to invite me to a party! 

Meanwhile, spring is coming! I saw this on the sidewalk by the beach the other day. 

A sunny Sunday, and the whole city was out enjoying the day. 

Today it is a bit cloudy, but still warmish and pleasant! I have pretty well decided to go on my walk in England in May, so must start getting up my strength! Last time I did this I walked a half-marathon in October! Now I have ten weeks to get so that I can walk about a half-marathon each day for four days. Hmm.