Saturday, January 10, 2009

Bring a plate.






I had a dinner party at my friends D. and J. place. They always have us over for a pot luck dinner, or in the Kiwi 's term,"Bring a plate."

Manynew comers to New Zealand get confused when their host asks them to bring a plate to their dinner party. Some wonder why the host doesn't have enough plates. I was told when I first arrived in New Zealand by a elderly lady who took me around as she orientated me to Kiwi life. She said, some guests even brought an empty plate.

"Bring a plate" means bring something on top of the plate or a plate of food. I think because of this confusion, the term pot luck is more frequently used.  Also bring a plate doesn't mean just one plate, you may bring one or two ot three.

***Here's the pot luck dinner, I didn't snap all the dishes. Curried Veg, kebabs, butter chicken, fish pie, Thai salad, lamb shanks, saffron rice, stewed chinese mushroom and fungus.

For dessert or pudding, there were apple pie, icecream and a healthy chocolate cake that J had made without butter. She got the cake recipe from the Epsom Girl School.

To finished off, we have a refreshing Green Chinese Tea.

To finished off, we have a refreshing Green Chinese Tea.

***

1 comment:

Deb said...

Wow food looks great.

Some minor editorial points:
1. You want to proofread your draft before publishing: "Many (new)comers to NZ..."

2. Syntax error at "healthy chocolate cake made without butter, apple pie and icrecream."
The clause that is extended, ie 'healthy chocolate cake made without butter', should go at the end of the list sentence.

So:
"apple pie, ice cream and healthy chocolate cake made without butter."

or clearer:
"healthy chocolate cake, which was made without butter, as well as apple pie and ice cream."

unless you meant to say the apple pie was served with the ice cream:
"healthy chocolate cake, which was made without butter, as well as apple pie with ice cream."