Day #354 - Office Holiday Party

Today was our office Holiday Party.  It was potluck style, with everyone contributing a food dish (or two).  And since it was the main meal of my day, it becomes the star of today's blog post.


The food portion of the party actually began mid-morning, when a variety of snacks/appetizers made their way into the office.   Cookies, candies, homemade corn puffs, cheese, crackers, sausage, canned marinated oysters, hot artichoke dip, and homemade egg rolls....just to name a few:

After everyone grazed over the snacks throughout the morning, we headed to the main event.  Lunch consisted of turkey, fresh cranberry sauce,  Pasta House salad, homemade bread, twice-baked potato casserole, broccoli & cauliflower casserole, and toasted ravioli:

Along with lunch, we enjoyed small "shots" of champagne:

Even though everyone stuffed their stomachs with the delicious lunch, everyone managed to find room for dessert.  We had 8-layer magic bars, a giant chocolate-covered fortune cookie, a large chocolate chip cookie cake, and a lemon-lime velvet pie:

I ate WAY TOO MUCH food today, but isn't that what holiday parties are for??


For those of you who were wondering which dishes I brought...  I did two of the desserts pictured above.  The giant fortune cookie (from Fancy Fortune Cookies®) and the Lemon-Lime Velvet Pie (http://life-as-a-lofthouse.blogspot.com/2011/11/lemon-velvet-pie.html).   The recipe for the pie called for 1/2 cup lemon juice, but I didn't have enough so I used some key lime juice in addition to the lemon. Other than that, I followed the recipe.  The pie was lighter than a traditional cheesecake, but denser than a Milnot cheesecake.  It was smooth and light and delicious.


This evening, after my stomach finally settled from all that food, I did my nightly workout and drank a meal-replacement protein shake for dinner.   I didn't deem that exciting enough for a photo.