International Potluck

We thought it would be nice to celebrate Christmas at the office with a Secret Santa and if everyone brought a dish from their native country. However, this plan went to pot after a few "shifts" were made, and our happy family was very sadly broken up. Those of us left behind decided to forgo Secret Santa, but we decided to go ahead and do the potluck anyway.

Since most of the people in the room had never had pumpkin pie before, I decided to bake one for the office. It was a good thing I had made an extra pie crust when I was baking for Thanksgiving! J looked so pitiful this morning as he watched me prepare the pie for its journey to the office that I couldn't help but cut out a piece for him and cross my fingers that no one at the office would notice that my pie was missing a slice! =)

Anyway, we had quite the array for our Christmas lunch! The two Spaniards had a cook-off, where both of them made a Spanish tortilla (omelette) but with a few different ingredients. We got to be the judges, and I much preferred the one with the onions. Yum!

The Japanese girl brought sushi, and the Italians brought fresh mozzarella and carpaccio. The Aussies brought Lamingtons, which is a sponge cake with a cream/ jam filled center and covered with a chocolatey sauce and shredded pineapple. Also excellent, despite the fact that I hate coconut.

The English girl brought mince pies (a pastry with a sweet fruit filling) and Christmas cake (a fancy fruit cake with icing and marzipan).

The Kiwis were meant to bring a lolly cake (I still don't know what that is, exactly), but their care package from New Zealand didn't arrive in time, so I'll find out what it is once the parcel arrives!

One of the nicest things about London is the international community that's here. I'm always discovering new things, and it's not always just about the UK. I feel like I'm always learning something new about people all around the world, and it makes me curiouser and curiouser every day!