The main course, made by Mum and the birthday girl, was a dish called “Sunday Dolmades”. It consists of “forcemeat” (fancy name for meatballs made with mince and finely chopped mushrooms), wrapped in bacon and baked in the oven, sitting on layers of seasoned potatoes, with tomatoes, cheese and cream. The baked tomatoes were really sweet. The potatoes were deliciously soft and meat-flavoured (I suppose you can see why this dish is a family favourite).

Look at the tasty juice in the dish.

Jac and I brought the garden salad, made with the usual garden salady things, plus a few extra bits: two kinds of lettuce (cos and iceberg), grape tomatoes (which were really sweet!), cucumber (hidden underneath everything else), avocado (which I actually can’t stand), mushrooms, hard boiled eggs and semi-sundried tomatoes.

Potato salad, made by my eldest sister. It was really good. The dressing was sour-cream based. I like its bacony-ness.

My plate, with a bit of everything.