A Taste of Bunco

Last night was Bunco night and I can't tell you how excited I am to be joining my Bunco Babes once again.  Every woman should have a Bunco group, there is eating, drinking, laughing, an occasional tear, and if you are lucky you can go home with an extra 5 bucks in your pocket.  I think I may have mentioned before that only the very intelligent and highly developed brainy women can participate in this game.....HA, if you believe that I have a bridge to sell you.  It is a very simple dice game,  I think someone (some woman) must have thought it up so we women could/would have an excuse to get together to eat, drink, laugh etc etc  The only rule is, you CANNOT take your pencil with you when you move from table to table, finger pointing will occur and shame will be brought upon you.  (giggle, giggle)

One of the highlights of the evening is the first course, and that would be the food.  There are 12 of us which means we each take a month to host, providing the eats, drinks, and those extra 5 bucks I mentioned earlier.  The very first night I came, I mistakenly ate dinner before arriving...never did that again.  There is enough food that if you leave hungry, it's your own da#@! fault.  I took my camera last night to practice food photography and I sure wasn't disappointed in the quantity or the quality of the food.  The only trick was keeping the Bunco Babes away from the food while I took photos.  They were not used to someone saying, "stop, don't pick that up yet", or "so what if it gets cold, I need 10 more shots with different angles."  They humored me last night, but not sure if I can keep this up (err, keep them away from the food) month after month. 

The dice were ready, the pencils were sharpened and ready to keep our scores....

The table was adorned with flowers picked from the hostess' garden....(I added a Kim Klassen texture to this, it now reminds me of a piece of fabric) 

Pretty napkins and plates were set just waiting for us......

And now, the parade of food....first (and these are in no particular order) there was the pumpernickle bread topped with sliced apples, and a couple of cheeses, bubbly hot (well, not really, remember I wouldn't let anybody eat until I had taken a bajillion pictures)

Meatballs with a mother-lode of flavor....

A crab concoction on cucumber with (oh for crying out-loud, I have suddenly had a brain freeze and cannot for the life of me think of the name of those little green balls on top.  I really like them too. If it comes to me later I'll let you know). 

A homemade Hummus that was really quite tasty (and that is something coming from me who is not really a fan of Hummus) with crackers, pretzels and good-for-you celery and carrots. 

A Three Cheese Tart with fresh tomatoes and basil that was intensely flavored and palate perfect.

And a Southwest flavored pasta salad with black beans, corn, onions, tomatoes, zucchini and probably more, just can't remember everything, but pure yumness!!

But my absolute favorite of the evening were these pomegranate wine frozen drinks that went down soooo smooth.  Now, you gotta know that I am not much of a drinker, a glass of wine (usually with a spash of Sprite) is about all I ever drink and that is rare these days, since I am not particularly fond of drinking alone.  When I went back for seconds it was gone, it was obvious I wasn't the only one that enjoyed this sweetly fermented drink. 

After partaking of these highly delectable treats I was ready to go night-night, but no, we play 3 rounds of Bunco and then......dessert.  I failed to take a picture of the dessert, trust me, it was pure bliss, apple cake with a cream-cheese frosting, a culinary classic.  More talk, more laughter and then I say my goodbyes and thank-you's for a wonderful evening and ROLL home.  Now you know why I love my Bunco Babes.

"I've been on a diet for two weeks and all I've lost is 14 days."  ~  Totie Fields

Until next time.....