Zimbabwe (Happy Zimbabwean Ugly UN Xmas Sweater Dinner Party!)

And a Happy New Year!  Last Dinner of the year is dedicated to Zimbabwe.  Joined August 25th, 1980.  First country since Switzerland that I've been to!  Embarrassed to say, while we were there we mostly ate burgers and pizza...

Per Jenny's suggestion, I focused on finding a dessert recipe... or 3.  Needless to say, I had a lot of baking to do Saturday morning, and more than I had anticipated.  Cookies went as expected.  Glaze is like crack it's so good.  Mapopo ended up okay, though not the consistency I expected.  If you had any loose cavities they would be gone after eating that sticky deliciousness.  Candy cake however, was the bane of my existence.

First time I mixed the batter a did a giant baking no-no (I know better!) and I tried to mix cold butter in with the liquids.  What a chunky disaster.  I kept adding sugar and flour thinking it would smooth out.  It didn't.

Second time I mixed the batter I misread the recipe and added the sugar for the frosting to he batter as well.  It was dense, but I was also getting fed up so I tried to bake it anyway...

... unsuccessfully.

So I mixed it for a 3rd time.  The bake went well, right up until I burnt them again.

When I arrived at Amber's I was overwhelmed by the festive sweaters.  Though I did not get the memo about them being dog themed...

"Dachshund Through the Snow"

"Pugly Xmas Sweater"

 As you would expect, many of our African main courses were full of peanut butter and delicious.

In order to help digestion, Jenny and Amber had the forethought to print out some Christmas Charades.  Turns out most of us had never even played any sort of charades.  How to charades candy cane without making a lewd jesture, I do not know.

Then, dessert!  If you are choosing one of the recipes, the sweet potato cookies are the real winner of the evening.  (And that glaze!)

The only thing left to say is Happy Zimbabwean Ugly UN Xmas Sweater Dinner Party!

(Celebrated December 8th, 2018)