African Themed Dinner Party

We were going to have friends over for the first time since we were back from South Africa to share some of the pictures and stories of the trip.  So I thought to cook some African dishes.  The gathering coincided with A's 6th birthday so we made it a celebratory African themed dinner party: I put the African table runner I had bought from a lady in the market in Cape Town and the matching napkins on the dinner table; Changed the covers of the pillows on the sofa to the covers I had bought from another lady in Cape Town; used my African teapot cover in making the tea; and served the nachos in the ebony bowl I had bought from a local lady at The Cape of Penguins.  It was fun!

It felt very exiting looking for different African recipes to make; there were ingredients I didn't have like Madras Curry Paste and there were some I didn't even know what they were like Cloves. From a week before I selected a few dishes; then a day prior spent four hours shopping for my parties (A had another birthday party on Sunday geared toward the kids) including from International Food Bazaar for the different ingredients needed.

On Saturday, the day of the party, I started working on my dishes. It was indeed fun to make all the dishes for the first time. All the new smells in the house and the new textures in my pots.  I thought to continue trying new themes for future gatherings too. Thankfully, based on the feedbacks all, the dishes turned out deliciously.

Below are the African Recipes I tried:
Avocado Peach Salad
http://www.the-foodist.com/recipes/african-avocado-peach-salad-recipe/

Jollof
http://chefinyou.com/2009/10/african-jollof-rice-recipe/

Bobotie SA traditional dish
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/5109/bobotie

African Chicken
http://www.chickenrecipes.com.ar/

African Desert
http://ww-recipes.net/2008/06/weight-watchers-african-dessert-recipe-4-points/