International Feast Party

Sitting within the confines of my work cubicle one day, I was suffering extreme bouts of hunger that couldn’t be satisfied. It was actually brought on after looking at photos of deliciousness from my trip to Philippines! As I humbly hunkered down on a boring sandwich for lunch whilst watching my colleagues eat pretty much the same damn thing, a light bulb moment had struck me. I thought why not have an International Feast Party at work homeboy! I mean, who wouldn’t love having piles of food at an arms reach from your desk. You feel me?

So I drummed up an enticing email containing pictures of Willi Wonka’s Chocolate factory and sent it to the whole department. Of course, everyone was in 🙂 . The only challenge I had was coordinating the Sydney and Melbourne office concurrently on the day.

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Thank you to my happy helpers in the Sydney office – Ash who helped coordinate the team, organised the room and music as well as Jax who was my remote photographer – amazing food porn shots buddy!

Zee Menu.

Mains

Tender Roast Lemon & Herb chicken drumsticks

Chef: Simon

Beef Madras Curry

Chef: Matt

Savoury Crepes with Mauritian chutney

Chef: Sabina

Slow Cooked Penne Bolognese with Fresh Parmesan

Chef: Donna Talbot

Empanadas

Chef: Fred

Freshly baked Burek

Chef: Vanya

‘A Summer Fruit Salad’

Prepared by Penny & Bernie

‘A Kiwi Selection of Savouries’

Chef: Rowan

Ross il-Forn (tasted like a Lasagne but with rice)

Chef: Nathan

Filo Wraps….Spinach and Cheese wrapped in pastry

Chef: Andrew

Dessert

Banofee Pie!

Chef: Celine

Scones

Chef: Anthony

Cassava Drop Flan with Young Coconut

Chef: Adrian

Aussie Chocolate Crackles

Chef: Kristie

Homemade Butter Cupcakes with sprinkles

Chef: Dave

Chocolate Devil Cupcakes

Chef: Adrian

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Tender Roast Lemon & Herb chicken drumsticks Chef Simon

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Beef Madras Curry Chef Matt

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Savoury Crepes with Mauritian chutney Chef Sabina

The above Savoury Crepes were my favourite. The crepes were still warm and delicate. I found myself combining the chutney with the Madras Curry which seemed to work quite well.

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Ross il-Forn Chef Nathan

The Ross il-forn was a traditional recipe from Nathan’s grandma. It tasted like a cross between a lasagne and a moussaka but with rice. I loved the crunchy bits reminding me of those burnt rice bits you get in a claypot dish.

And the amazing desserts…

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Banofee Pie Chef Celine

The talented Celine made this gem and was definitely the overall winner as voted by the department. Gaaawd…the cream, the cream!

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Sinful Chocolate Cupcakes Chef Adrian Isoldi
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The Tarts are here
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Aussie Chocolate Crackles Chef Kristie Lawrence

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Homemade Butter Cupcakes with sprinkles Chef Dave Sky

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Date Scones Chef Anthony Saines

It was such an enjoyable day where the whole team sat around eating all day whilst swapping recipes and talking about each others heritage. Why couldn’t everyday be like this! Fortunately, there is such a diverse range of nationalities within the team so the day was very much like taking a round trip around the world!

I would encourage you all to do this at your workplace. And don’t worry, I’m well prepared to cop some blame regarding possible weight gains! This party actually took place a few months back so I have no excuse not to do it again…and again.

I’m planning another one soon to raise funds for Japan. Join me?!

If you’re not already signed up for updates from Food Rehab, get on the list and I’ll do my best to keep us learning about none-other than glorious, GLORIOUS food!

Keep eating,

Adrian

43 thoughts on “International Feast Party

  1. Well, now I’m starving and feeling cranky because dinner is hours away! 😛 Definitely going to have to get up for some chocolate after commenting here. I’m absolutely swooning over the banoffee pie – as someone who has just come around to bananas but has always loved thick, rich caramel, it looks amazing!

  2. Woah, great job! I’m inspired to do this at work now. We already have cake every Friday, so it’s not like anyone’s going to be worried about weight gain 😉

    1. I didn’t realize that either until the day. I was afraid people were gonna cheat and bring something from the supermarket!

  3. Yay, we did this at our work too! We have such a diverse background that I thought it would be a great idea so for my 30th last year they did it for me! It was also a great success.

  4. Such a brilliant idea! It’s so heartwarming seeing fellow work compatriots coming together and preparing a dish that means something to them. Especially in such a multicultural country like Australia! 🙂 Totally rocks! You should do it more often. 🙂

  5. I LOVE these types of meals! We had a fantastic international one in my corridor when I was living in Sweden. So much fun.

    We also had one in my department at work last year – so many different cultures in our building – but I was sick and missed it, boo! Well done on doing this, it looks so awesome. Bet everyone was high fiving you.

  6. Nice post!

    I’d love to take a bite on each dessert. They’re absolutely mouth-watering. It’s funny because we just celebrated the birthday of our colleagues yesterday and I must say that the chocolate muffins look exactly the same with what was served. We had a blast!

    Thanks for sharing!

    1. I did! I had a toothache and still had a dinner to attend to that night! Choc muffins were really good and moist.

  7. Dear Sir or Madam,
    My name is Leticia Avierkiieva and I am a contributor at http://www.mycitycuisine.org, a wiki project. I am currently working on an article about Ross il-Forn for the project, and am in need of a photo for the article.
    I wanted to inquire in regards to your photo:
    http://foodrehab.com.au/2011/04/03/international-feast-party/
    The photo would be perfect for the article. Would you be willing to give mycitycuisine.org permission to use your photo for the project?
    If you agree to let mycitycuisine.org to use the photo, please specify the terms of permission in your reply so I can upload this photo with the correct license terms.
    1.) I certify that I am the owner of this photo. I grant mycitycuisine.org and its owner to use this photo for any purpose with attribution to me as the photo owner.

    OR
    2.) I certify that I am the owner of this photo. I release all rights of this photo and place this photo in the public domain.
    I thank you in advance and look forward to hearing from you.
    Best regards,
    Leticia Avierkiieva (gourmand86@yahoo.com)
    PS: mycitycuisine.org is a wiki project so you are encouraged to contribute to it by sharing your knowledge of your local cuisine. Thank you.

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