A Wild Bite Night: Green-themed Potluck Dinner and Rockband

 

 

Not your usual themes of Mexican, Chinese, Japanese, kids, Italian.  I had this bright idea of having a green-themed potluck dinner.  We had a special guest on the table that evening.

 

No, it’s not Oscar the Grouch. 😀

 

I sent out the message to the group and got a flood of responses. 

 

“Green as in vegetables?”

“Do you follow no-meat Fridays?”

“Like all green food?”

“What meatless Fridays are you talking about?”

 

I said green would depend on their creativity or excuse.  Green-themed foods can vary anywhere from wasabi-flavored mashed potato, green leafy vegetables, green curry, only-in-DLSU-bought food (school color is green), wasabi-flavored ice cream, nori-wrapped sushi or food, Japanese green chicken, random food served on a green plate, stuffed green chilies, guacamole, avocado salad… there are actually a lot.

 

I was feeling under the weather Friday morning, March 12 and told the group that I might not be able to make it.  I felt a bit better after work and made it to dinner.  Thing is, half strayed off from the green theme while the other half was still on the plan.  Andrew, who hosted us that evening, actually cooked 3-cheese baked prawns but whipped up a green salad with Japanese dressing (when he knew I was coming) to veer back to the green-theme.

 

 

I walked to the door and caught Eric’s eye and exchanged knowing smiles.  He thought I wasn’t going to make it.  Buch, Mari, and Jim were already there when we arrived.  Ann and Andrew were still busy in the kitchen.  Alex and Nico were pretty late because Nico’s meeting took a long time.  There’s a space beside Eric that should be occupied by Made, who was missing in action because she had to attend something. 

 

On the Table

 

Andrew and Ann’s Green Salad with Kani and Japanese Dressing

 

 

Pasto Crostini, Chicken Liver Pate, Salsa, and Spinach Gorgonzola Dip

Bubba and I brought Spinach-gorgonzola dip and crostini chips from Pasto.  Excuse my being sick at that time, I wasn’t able to think of a more creative “green” anymore.  I actually planned to bring wasabi-mashed potato from Ninyo but due to time and travel constraints, decided to forego that idea.

 

 

Baked Prawns with Three Cheese

Andrew loves prawns and shrimps and I’m glad because Bubba doesn’t eat those so I don’t usually order them when we eat out and when it’s served at home, we usually dine out.

 

 

Fish Dish with Vegetables (I forget the name)

 

 

Beef Dish with Vegetables (I forget the name)

 

 

Jim said that he particularly asked the dishes to be served with vegetables (in this case, cabbage) to still be within the green theme.  Eric brought sisig sampler with three kinds of sisig.

 

 

Somebody brought this but I also forget now what dish this was.  Told you I wasn’t on my element that night.

 

 

Alex’s Pasta Puttanesca

Alex and Nico brought yummy Pasta Puttanesca with green noodles!  Yay! 

 

 

To add to the whole green-feel, Andrew brought out his favorite Schweppes Ginger Ale.

 

 

Amidst all the good food, the special guest on the table (literally) occupied the spotlight of the night.  Wild Bite green tea products!!!

 

 

Get into the bite

We did a round robin on the items and catch is, you can describe the item with only a word or a phrase/statement.  Nobody else can use the descriptive words already mentioned.  Quite tough but a bit of fun.  Since I was busy taking down notes, I forgot to track who made the most mistakes -so no consequence. 🙂

 

Wild Bite Clusters 

 

Wild Bite Clusters is a bunch of thin cornflakes coated in white chocolate and green tea.  There’s an earthy taste (probably the green tea) to it that’s very calming.  It has the right crunch on the outside and enough softness to enjoy snacking on these in delight!  It was the clear favorite on the table and the group kept looking for more. 

 

 

Wild Bite Chocolate

 

It’s white chocolate that strikes familiarity (a local chocolate you probably tried in childhood) but not quite because of the green tea taste.  People who don’t like overly sweet chocolate, like me, might go for this.  Packaging was pretty nice, perfect as a gift idea for folks who are into green tea or basically will try anything chocolate.  I wonder how dark chocolate will fare blended with green tea.  I love dark chocolates.

 

Wild Bite Cookies

 

The group found the Wild Bite Cookies quite the enigma.  The mild taste of green tea is there –which was just right for me because too much green tea flavor might be overwhelming.  As one describes it, the cookie had an identity crisis –some parts were like soft-batch cookies while the other parts were tough like it’s been aired out in the open for too long.

 

 

Wild Bite Crisps

 

It reminded the group of buttery Danish cookies –to some, it had a hint of green tea flavor, to others, GT flavor wasn’t that evident.  Crumbly texture dusted with sugar crystals.  Both Alex and Nico liked it a lot and tagged it at the top of their list.  Alex enjoyed its toasty taste –similar to burnt flavor (I suspect the light bitter flavor comes from the green tea leaves) when you bite into it and then there’s sweetness it releases when you get to the inside.

 

 

 

 

The Wild Bite Green Tea items were welcomed on the table with different levels of interest.  Big thanks to Chris Chan for letting us try his Wild Bite product line, which started only as a surprise gift for his girlfriend.

 

Wild Bite offers a variety of green tea products to suit your craving for green tea confections.  For order inquiries, contact Chris Chan of Wild Bite at +63917 3276559.

 

Wild Bite

(63) 917 3276559

http://wildbite.multiply.com/

 

 

After dinner, we headed to Andrew’s attic where their audio/video room is located.  Of course, another Rockband session happened until past midnight. 

 

 

After Rockband, Eric and Andrew taught Alex, Nico, Bubba and I how to play mahjong.  It’s quite interesting but I’m yet to get the hang of it.  I already know the basics though, yay!!!

 

 

One Fun Saturday Night

 

Saturday, Bubba spent most of the day attending his medical appointments –one was with his ortho doctor in Cardinal Santos and the other with his allergologist in Makati Med.  I spent my afternoon cooking for the potluck dinner with the “berks.”  That dinner idea started when we attended Ann and Made’s surprise birthday party for Dru and Eric last September 13.  Since Bubba and I have been attending pua tiong chiu dinners lately, we suggested that we do one with friends.  They were game with it so the Saturday dice-throwing get-together happened.

 

 

I cooked pasta (I’m sure Bubba is so sick of), curry rice and choco crisp.  I need to extend my menu list or else I’d be cooking the same stuff over and over again.  Ann cooked Buffalo wings, which were delicious and had crispy skin on it.  There were a lot of food on the table –Heaven’s pork bbq with a delish sauce, lumpia shanghai, king prawns with cheese and herbs, and Razon’s halo halo.

 

 

I asked everyone on the table if they’re interested to play Laser Tag.  Eric played the game at Market Market and we are planning a Laser Tag get-together this coming weekend.  I cannot wait!  Dinner made everyone full.  While the table is still being fixed for the dice-throwing game, Eric shared their photo activity at Bohol that we tried to duplicate.  It was really fun.  Each couple had their idea of the “double” shot.

 

 

Around 9pm, the dice-throwing game ensued and this was where everyone was laughing hysterically.  From the onset where Made had to call her mom to verify the rules of the game to Eric calling his mom to revalidate.  That was so cute.  Made, Buch and Marie gathered a lot of ang paos (red money envelope).  Buch actually started slow with no wins but came out as the biggest winner of the night.  Dru had to check the rules on pc, 2 flights of stairs up, twice.  Jim got 4 (fours), which qualified him the top prize.  Jim had to go up two deck of stairs to check too.  We played a joke on him, faking that Buch actually got 6 (six) thus snatching the top prize from him.  Everyone had to act and Buch had to roll one dice to make the sound.  Jim believed it.  I really doubled over laughing –my mascara making a mess on my face.

 

 

 

 

The dice-throwing game finished past 10pm.  A poker game followed afterwards and boy was I happy!  I haven’t played in 2 years!!!  With 9 of us playing, with 4 re-buys, we finished around 2am.  Eric won first place, with Dru playing the last hour on Eric’s behalf.  Placed a few bad calls and folds, but I won second place by a hairline.

 

 

Saturday Night with Berks Album: