And the dessert was cascading cassata

There were six of us for dinner. We asked a passerby for a theme and she said Italian. So there was a Perfect Pasta Sauce and Cascading Cassata. Janice made the pasta sauce: 500 gm prime beef mince, 500 gm good preservative free bacon, three onions, one huge clove garlic, 3 large portabella mushrooms, two handfuls of chopped celery, and four cans of tomato (2 x basil and 2 x chilli). The first five ingredients were fried in bacon fat and added to the last two ingredients. This was all stewed for a couple of hours until thick and tasty. It was served with penne and gluten free penne and lots of grated parmesan.

There was also a salad of celery, capsicum, pumpkin seeds, tomatoes, avocado and carrot. And vinagrette of balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

Jennifer made the Cascading Cassata by softening vanilla soy icecream and adding sliced mango and ginger to half of it and chocolate flake, cinnamon and chopped almonds to the other half. This was layered in a bowl with a third layer made from softened berry soy icecream with razz cherries and fresh rasberries added to it. When it was turned out the bottom chocolate layer melted and made a sauce that cascaded over the outside of the icecream cake.

The icecream was accompanied by the second harvest of strawberries from Terry's strawberry patch.

The meal was accompanied by Mission Estage Winery 2009 Hawke's Bay Cabernet Sauvignon and Giesen Marlborough Riesling 2010 provided by Alex.

The first game of crib was won by the guests: Chris and Alex.