Succulent Sustenance - Dinner Party!

This is a couple weeks late. I have excuses: allergies, end of summer, packing to go back to school, leading a summer day camp for kids (ages 6-12, and just precocious enough to make me want to remove my uterus), Renaissance festival. But those are just that, excuses. So rather than blathering on and on, or making lists of the things I have been doing instead of blogging let's get right on to the good stuff.

So two Thursdays ago I had an End of Summer dinner party for several of my friends in the area. I had an entire menu planned out but since all the recipes were new I only wound up making one of them. That was probably a good thing since it took so much longer to get everything finished than I had planned. Of course the best laid plans get disrupted and all the careful list-making did nothing to prevent everything falling apart and me driving all over town trying to gather ingredients.

Since dinner was a little later than I planned I did a little appetizer. Sliced French bread toasted with goat cheese and sliced fresh basil. Unfortunately they never got pretty plating and thus no pictures.

For the main course I got a recipe from a weekly email called Tasting Table They send out two recipes a week. Any foodie who appreciates experimenting with new stuff should sign up for it. One of the recipes that showed up in my email was Grilled Lamb Skewers. Since this came at a time I was craving red meat, I was eager to try the recipe and foist it upon others. I made a few changes to the recipe. I doubled the recipe (11 dinner guests) and I cut the ground lamb with ground chuck. Since lamb is so flavorful the mutton overpowered the beef  and the fat in the chuck made the skewers extra juicy. I also made additional wine reduction and added about a tablespoon of honey and melted 2/3rds of a stick of unsalted butter in the reduction to make a sauce. For side dishes I made wilted spinach and sauteed red bell pepper salad and saffron flavored rice.

Prep work

The Skewers pre-grill

Ravishingly Red Bell Peppers

A dinner plate for one lucky guest

My sister played co-host for the evening and her major contribution was dessert. I don't have links to the recipe she used but as soon as I do I will post them. She made individual Raspberry Creme Brulees for each one of my guests.

It may look like a basic creme brulee but at the bottom of the ramekin was a layer of raspberry preserves and fresh raspberries.

The dinner was a hit! Even my friend who is a notorious picky eater cleared most of her plate (and all of her dessert). I love entertaining like this when everything gets to come together even though things were delayed.

PS. The Picky Eater is the reason the photos in this post look so amazing. She brought her giant camera and took all the pictures for the evening. Unfortunately most of the pictures of me are before I was able to shower so I am not posting any featuring me. I love her to death for making my food look amazing and plan to invite her and her camera every time I make a good meal.

Succulent Sustenance - Deep Fried

With the extra time to sleep in and/or work out the weekend is the best time to have awesome food. So here is Succulent Sustenance where I recount the best meal of the week (which usually occurs during the weekend) and indulge my illicit love of alliteration.

This weekend after a straight week of cravings this dish, my mother and I made her world famous Southern Fried Feast.  It seems to be a tradition below the Mason-Dixon Line that the Sunday dinner is the big one. As a reward for going to church that morning (and no offense to any Southern Baptists but I feel like I need some kind of payment for attending your services) the average Southern family starts their week by  indulging in the sin of gluttony. This saves the other six deadly sins for the remainder of the week.

While mom peeled and butterflied the shrimp I prepared the French fries. Though we have this dish about once a year this is the first time I remember using red potatoes for the fries.

Start with a potatoe:

Slice:

Chop into strips:

And they are ready for the oil!

For the rest of the meal we prepped chicken, shrimp and oysters in an seasoned egg-wash. It's no Colonel Sander's eleven herbs and spices but I find it delicious. (Could have used a pinch more cayenne in my opinion)

From Left to Right: Oysters, Shrimp, Chicken Tenders

The best part was when we finally had all the food cooking.

Left to Right: Fries, Chicken, Shrimp

Lured by the scent of the oysters and shrimp we had an extra helper. 

By "Helper" I mean: Tripping Hazard (aka Ollie)

Finally dinner was served:

Hot Sauce for the shrimp. Ketchup for the fries. Honey for the chicken.

Several servings later...

Nothing but the shrimp tails.

Monday Lust - Corsets

Like so many others I have a problem. I long for items I cannot afford. Fortunately, my upbringing has hobbled me when it comes to impulse buys. When I spend money it's when I go out with the purpose to shop for a specific item or I limit my budget severely. For example my spring break shopping trip this year was limited to 100$ (not including my swimsuit).  While this keeps my wallet happy I fall into the occasional puddle of lust.

The point of this is to bring you Monday Lust. Where I post the items that are clogging my shopping list in the hopes that confession is good for the soul (and wallet).

Today (and for the past five years) I have been looking at corsets. Once upon a time corsets were required for women to appear beautiful (and faint at the appropriate dramatic moments), and because no-one had taken the time to invent the bra.* In more modern times the corset was considered fetish or wedding night wear. But recently the "corset top" has become more popular. Is it bad I want to say I was wearing a corset before it was cool? It's true.

Working at the Renaissance festival led to my first expensive purchase. I laid down a good 300$ (a fortune to 17 year old me) for a gorgeous satin corset in black and gold.

Me with Mike from Tartanic

I fell in love with corsets. Suddenly my boy-ish figure looked like a woman. I had curves and cleavage dammit! Since then I have been craving to purchase additional corsets. Next on my list is a simple over-bust corset in black leather (insert dominatrix joke here).  I think with the right jacket I can wear it out in "normal situations" (though I think I will avoid wearing it to church).  One such corset can be found HERE

The other corset I am currently lusting for is an under-bust corset to complete my steam punk costume. Yes I am that much of a nerd and I love it. The problem with the under-bust corsets is that I cannot decide which one I want. Today I stumbled across a company called Dracula Clothing that has really nice corsets for really good prices.  So if anyone wants to help me make a decision for a new corset you can vote for:

A. The Leather Over bust

B.  The Pointed Under bust (Which I would get in black of course)

C. The Military Inspired Corset

Please vote by writing your choice on a memo line of a check (suggested donation is ten dollars). Or remove the choice from my hands completely by purchasing any of the above corsets for me (I wear a size 18).


*Fun fact: in the early to mid 1800's it was thought that a corset was a medical necessity. The reasoning was that women were the weaker sex and despite having been fine for the past 1800 years they needed the support to stand. (Eve didn't wear a corset) Since girls were forced into corsets as early as 4 years old and were unable to develop the back muscles to keep themselves standing by the time the average girl reached her teen years it became a self-fulfilling prophesy.

Wednesday Movies!

The movie theater in my home town has 5 dollar tickets all day on Tuesday. Since I eventually want to work in th movie industry I have decided that (when I can afford it) I will see a new release and review it.

Tonight's entry:

This is about to be my easiest review ever. Go see it! My faith in the creativity of Hollywood has been completely restored. The acting was on par, the special effects were minimal (which was surprising considering the material), the costuming was subtle, but for me the crowning achievement was the story and the telling of it.
The story was completely unique to me. And I know that there is nothing new under the sun but this is the first movie I have seen in a long time that didn't have blatantly obvious source material. Christopher Nolan is one of my favorite directors, Batman Begins was done so well and The Dark Knight was a satisfactory follow-up. He did wonders with this story the whole film felt so weirdly paced, fast fast slow fast slow, there was a distinct lack of pattern. It felt like dreaming. The tension was there the whole time and by 20 minutes into the film I felt such empathy for Leonardo DiCaprio's character. The climax had myself and my two friends literally on the edges of our seats.
So go see Inception and see it in the theater the visual effects are worth the immersion of the big screen.

PS. Speaking as a red-blooded woman Joseph Gorden Levitt was scrumptious in this movie.

Yummmm

(Photos from FilmoFilia and Reel Movie News)

Slice of Life: Flavors of the Weekend

I love food. That will quickly become apparent provided I keep working on this blog. But the whole sensual experience of shopping, preparing, and eating can be more satisfying than a relationship. (Sorry Boyfriend). Even if a dish eventually turns on you and results in some quality time with the porcelain god it was totally worth it about 95% of the time. 


This past weekend cemented my love for being home for the summer because I have eaten oh so well.


Friday: Mom had to run a 5k race Saturday morning so she wanted to eat something nice and light. I was fighting a monthly battle against the red army so I was more than happy to eat light. At the call for dinner I crawled up the stairs and my weary spirits were perked by the subtle scents that assailed my nostrils. Mom had made sautéed tilapia fillets with a lime/herb/red onion butter. It wasn't fancy or mind blowing but it was good clean food. The kind of food you could bring home to mother, wears argyle socks, has a stock portfolio, and comes from a good family. 

Saturday: Post race for mom, post tae kwon do for me. I was working on a couple sewing projects all afternoon since my sister was visiting a friend's lake house for the weekend granting me unrestricted access to her machine. I learned at about 4pm that my grandfather would be joining us for an early dinner at 6. (6 is early for my family since dinner is usually on the table about 8:00pm -ish) For this occasion my mother made grilled salmon with a lemon-butter sauce. Unfortunately the salmon from the local meat market that day was rather wimpy and mushy, however the flavor was good and fishy. Our cat gave his portion rave reviews. To go along with the salmon I made a salad with tomato, avocado, red leaf lettuce, and corn. Fairly simple stuff but given a distinct pizazz by the home-made lime vinaigrette. (Lime is the new black, at least for food). So while the salmon was good, the salad turned out divine.


Sunday: Sunday afternoons are for NAPS! Instead of a nap I went shopping with my mom which is an expedition to find the thing that is "just right." These trek takes us to every store that could possibly carry "The Thing." So by Sunday night everyone who would cook was exhausted, and no one wanted to run to the store to replenish our sorely bare cupboards. Luckily there was some venison in the freezer gifted to us by one of our hunter friends this past winter. After some searching on the internet for a good dish my mother and I wound up modifying  this http://www.yummly.com/recipe/6EEE2908-E35C-4EE0-01E854C2987E7D9D?print=true and creating this:

We didn't do any pretty plating. But believe me it tasted way better than it looks.


Even though Monday does not count as part of the weekend it gets an honorable mention because my  sister made the most delicious toffee sauce for ice cream. The recipe is soooo simple and it can be found below. But the best part about this sauce is the nuttiness of the flavor and the sticky sweetness that haunts your taste-buds. Even now the ghost of that sauce is whispering "there's left overs in the fridge, come eeeaatt meeeeee!"


Frankly, food is one of my prime passions and this weekend has reawakened my lust for quality kitchen time. Look forward to something I created myself by the end of the week!


Sticky Toffee Sauce:

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon soft dark brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons dark corn syrup
• 3/4 stick unsalted butter
• 2/3 cup heavy cream
• Serving suggestion: Vanilla ice cream

Directions

Put the sugar, syrup and butter in a pan and slowly bring to the boil, allowing the butter to melt and the sugar to dissolve. Let the mixture bubble for a couple of minutes before carefully adding the cream. Cook for another 2 to 3 minutes or until the sauce is thick, sticky and glossy.

Serve with a couple of scoops of vanilla ice cream and sliced bananas

Storms and Stomaches

I love thunderstorms, especially during the summer. The warm weather combined with the amazing displays of nature is like an invitation to sit out on the porch and enjoy. The one thing I dislike about them is when it is stormy in the morning and becomes sunny later in the day. I get into that cloudy day mood, ready to do things that mostly entail being inside then the weather changes and my plans feel all askew.
This morning's thunderstorm through the Mid-Michigan region was one of those good, curl-up-and-read-a-book ones. Not awe-inspiring and loud, but the occasional rumble of thunder punctuating the sound of rainfall. Very pleasant to listen to since I was woken up this morning around 5:30am by a very very upset stomach. Luckily my brother was sleeping on the couch just outside my room so I could yell just loud enough for him to get me a damn bucket.
The thunderstorm was just a little reminder that God does not hate me, even though my stomach was punishing me for something. (Frankly I think it was my 1am snack that did it. The ice cream tasted a little off.) Any ways. I have all my indoor plans laid out and the weather man assures me it will be dreary and humid all day long, two good reasons to stay inside and relax.