Since it’s the week before Christmas, I went to work-related holiday parties the last two nights. The first was at the home of two of the younger faculty members in my department, so it was a collection of mostly 30- and 40-something professional people, some in their 20s, a fair number of kids in the 6 – 12 range, a few toddlers, and one 3 1/2 month old baby. There was a smattering of us 50-somethings, and one of the professor’s moms was there, so there was at least one representative of an even older bracket.
Last night, I went to the associate director’s annual cocktail and dessert buffet. She had it earlier in the evening this year; usually it’s really a kind of drinks and desserts party starting around 8:00. This year it started at 5:00, instead. I was the youngster at this gathering, but not by much, a few to 5 to 10 years younger than the others there. The talk was of adult children’s careers, travel, politics, and elderly pets.
I made the leftover artichoke pastry filling into quichettes. I think I have arrived at my perfect quiche crust – 1/2 cup vegetable shortening (I like Earth Balance even though their website is chirping at me as I write), 10 TBLS butter, 3 cups of flour, a pinch of salt unless you used salted butter, and 3 – 4 TBLS cold water. I liked it so well that I decided to line my square loose bottom tart tin with it, and make a bacon & leek quiche for Mark and I to eat after the party. But I didn’t have enough crust, and I think I almost ruined the tin, by cooking the leaked egg onto it. I left it soaking overnight, and scrubbed it again this morning – seems to be OK now.
Scrubbed tart tin
