Potluck Dinner and Poker Night 4/14/09

March 16, 2009 by Janey

The Berks group got together again for an evening of great food and great company.

We arrived a little late because we did underwater hockey earlier that afternoon and had to go back home to put together all the dishes I prepared for the potluck dinner. We catch them by the grill grilling lobsters and trying to figure out if it’s already cooked or not. We shared with them our Underwater Hockey intro-lesson adventure that afternoon that piqued their interests. Among the girls, it was only Anne who can actually swim. Marie and Made are like me, who can just wade but cannot really swim.

Our Menu:

From Eric and Made

Rock Lobster

Elephant Clams

Faster than speeding sports cars, the Rock Lobsters were gone in 60 seconds. It was our first time to try Elephant Clams, whose taste didn’t differ much from regular clams, but the meat is gargantuan. The Elephant “nose” is quite scary to eat though. It is by far the biggest clam I’ve seen.

From Andrew and Anne

Shrimp with Green Chilies

Kaldereta

Andrew likes shrimps (and so do I) and Anne tells me that he has a lot of recipes for his favorite seafood. The Shrimp with Green Chilies had a very strong garlicky taste while the green chilies add a different spunk to the entire dish. This dish reminds me of Bicol Express without the coconut milk, pork and oiliness. I love Kaldereta but I missed to try it during dinner because I was so full from the double patty burger we ate at Burger Avenue right after Underwater Hockey.

From Chris and Jane

Taco Salad and Tostitos Tortilla Chips with Lime

Curry Rice and Cajun Chicken

Cheesy Pasta Al Tonno

Capellini ala Sardenelli

I think next time I should cut my dishes to one or two. There were just too much food on the table that it was difficult to keep track of all the food one wants to taste.

From Jim

Maki Mi

From Butch and Marie

Mango Brava

After dinner, Eric toyed around with his camera and we took some photo shots. Eric and the guys asked the girls to pose by this huge column with spotlights. The girls were timid. Later on, the girls found themselves behind the camera while the guys kept posing by the column. Anne and I couldn’t stop laughing hysterically.

After the photo op, it was poker time. It was 70:30 sharing between the first place and second place. I was impressed that Bubba was able to hold his fort and placed third. Bubba is learning the game! He re-raised a few times and folded his cards when beat. This was really the surprise of the night. Too bad I knocked his pocket of Kings with an Ace on the river. But his card game skill now makes me proud.