Mother's Day Luncheon

After stuffing my face with sweet and savoury treats over high tea the previous day, I was all ready to take on Mother's Day lunch back at our place. 

Given that people fill up really easily these days (effects of aging), a simple spread was prepared. 

To kick things off, a tuna, sweet corn and cucumber salad, which, quite frankly, was a clear-out-the-kitchen-cabinet salad. 

It has been a hot and muddy May so we kept things light with another side dish, roasted brocolini and peppers.

KW has been trying to perfect ribs, which explains why he has been doing it so often. We experienced the Meatwave, on top of the heatwave that afternoon. 

When it comes to meat, there are very few things more satisfying than picking up a bone with your fingers and going at it with little care for civility.

I might be biased but these ribs were finger-licking good and they sure stuck to my ribs throughout the rest of the day. 

Oh, almost forgot - we had some foie gras and rosemary crackers too.

After polishing off most of the savouries, it was time to tackle desserts. Another reason why we kept savouries light was that there was going to be lots of dessert! It was Mother's Day after all. 

My sister baked a behemoth of a pound cake. Seriously, doesn't it remind you of this pug loaf? 

A little gritty, sweet and puckerish, this was one jazzed-up pound cake. She took some of it back for her collegues but not before I stole a slice for teatime breakfast the next morning.

My in-laws brought a couple of cakes from The Patissier, one of which was Ai, a Mother's Day special.   Layers of raspberry jelly and milk chocolate mousse encased within a blanket of white chocolate mousse.

To be brutally honest, the appeal of creamy moosh is lost on me and I sorely missed the presence of a crispy or crunchy element. It certainly wasn't inedible but I know for a fact there are alternatives from The Patissier that could easily outshine this cake. 

For example, the fruit tart. This, my friend, was sublime. The thinnest of tart shells barely holds in molten custard and behemoth pile of fruits. I very shamelessly swooped in for the last slice. 

I'm sure you know by now that I would pick a tart over a slice of cake anyday - unless the cake comes with a tart shell like Patisserie Glace's Strawberry Hill; in that case, I'll have another slice please, thank you very much.

Hope all of you had a joyous Mother's Day! My brain is tinkering with ideas for Father's Day now...