lately in the kitchen

A somewhat off-the-cuff dinner party on Tuesday mushroomed rapidly from five to fifteen people.  Luckily, they brought food.  I love it when people bring things that I've always been too intimidated to try making myself:

or when our fantastic downstairs neighbors bring up something tasty:

or when food starts moving towards the absurd, such as the jar-within-a-jar chutney:

Not pictured here but worthy of special mention: the people who brought wine.  You are essential.

The group ultimately was too big for the kitchen and we all spilled out into the backyard.  I finished up my beet gnocchi (tasty but not up to my aesthetic standards.  So, sorry, no photo) and joined the party.

Last night found an equally charming and motley group in the kitchen again, again more or less equally improvised.  Many lovely things, but far and away my top prize goes to this soup, whose creator insisted on dubbing "carrot carrot."