Halloween Food!

October 25th was our "Witch Burning and BBQ" or Ghoulish Grillout - which ever you prefer.

Where the food was located:

The food table:

Brian's iced sugar cookies (My favorite is the Frankenstein!):

Chocolate Peanut Butter Coffins:

Brian's Graveyard Cake with sugar cookie tombstones:
Brian also made Rotel Dip, Chili Dip, and Grilled Brauts. I made Mac and Cheese with halloween pasta. We also mixed up some Hallowtinis and Brian made Sangria.

Thanks to everyone that showed up to eat our food!

Hallowtini

Brian made these peach martinis for Halloween. To make one, just follow the recipe for the Pomegranate Martini on the Too Many Syllables For Me post, but substitute peach nectar for pomegranate juice (and use a little more than that recipes calls for). He rimmed the glass with granulated sugar mixed with black decorative sugar.

Moscow Mojito and Grilled Salmon, Wasabi Mashed Potatoes, and Sugar Snap Peas

Since the weather was perfect tonight, Brian and I decided to grill salmon steaks. While Brian we heating up the grill, I put together some cocktails. I cannot take credit for the name. I put together this drink (per Brian's direction, honestly), and he gave it the name of Moscow Mojito, or just now as I was typing this he re-named it the "Soviet Summer Special." So, here you go:

Moscow Mojito AKA Soviet Summer Special

To a rocks glass filled with ice, add:
1 oz Vodka
1 oz Limoncello
splash (about 1/4 oz) Lime Juice
3-4 mint leaves

Fill to the to the top with seltzer. Garnish with a twist of lemon.

(Darn - the photo was blurry!)

Brian marinated the salmon steaks with Soy Vey, lemon pepper, garlic granules, and salt. They were super-duper yummy!!!

For sides I made Wasabi Mashed Potatoes and Sugar Snap peas.

Wasabi Mashed Potatoes

For 2 servings, boil 3 medium to large red potatoes. Cook until soft (I usually chop them up in chunks to make them boil quicker). Once you are able to stick a fork through them and pull it out easily, drain, and place in mixer bowl. Add 3 pats of butter and a little less than 1/4 cup half and half (or milk), about 1 and 1/2 tsp wasabi powder, salt and pepper. Mix until blended. Taste and adjust flavor.

The snap peas are super easy!

Sesame Snap Peas

Add desired amount of frozen snap peas to microwave bowl. Cook until fully cooked. Drain excess liquid. Toss with toasted sesame oil and toasted sesame seeds.

Too many syllables for me

Blogging 101: Keep Blogging. If someone points out you haven't blogged in a while, then that's not good. So this is for Karyn!

I do have a good excuse. I got a bad upper respiratory infection. Then Brian did. Then Brian and I went to New York. With URIs. Fun. Then we came back. And we still had URIs. 2 weeks after i exhibited the first symptoms, I still have some symptoms, but I managed to make some food (other than soup).

In New York, Brian and I went to a cute Greek restaurant (Greek Kitchen on 10th Ave.) for lunch. For an appetizer we got the eggplant dip. I was telling a co-worker who is half-Greek about it, because we always talk about Greek food. I couldn't remember what it was called and neither could she, so she looked it up, and it is called melintzanosalata. She kept saying it over and over again to learn to the word: "Mel - in -tzan - o - sa - la - ta. Mel - in - tzan - o - sa - la - ta." That's just too many syllables for me. I said that I do make
melintzanosalata, but I think what I make it is more like baba ganouj.

Here's what I make:

Baba Ganouj

1 medium eggplant
2 cloves garlic
1 TBSP tahini
Salt, Pepper, Coriander, and Cumin to taste
juice from 1 lemon
about 2 TBSP Olive Oil
1/2 tsp. toasted sesame oil
Toasted sesame seeds

Put eggplant on a cookie sheet or roasting pan. Place on top rack of oven. Place rack as close to heat source in oven as possible without the eggplant touching. Heat oven on Broil. Broil for about 8 to 10 minutes, until one side burns. Turn, and broil until skin burns. After 4 turns, remove from oven, wrap in foil to steam. Steam for about 20 to 30 minutes, and then unwrap and allow to cool. Remove all skin.

In a food processor, chop garlic. Scape sides, and add roasted eggplant, tahini, salt, pepper, coriander, cumin, and lemon juice. blend until mixed. Slowly drizzle in 1 TBSP of olive oil and the toasted sesame oil. Blend until smooth.

Plate. Then drizzle with remaining olive oil and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Serve with warm pita.

I also made a Greek Salad to go with it, with store-bought dolmas on top. Brian made hummus, and pomegranate martinis. I have been trying to get him to write out dip recipes, but he finally wrote out the martini recipe:

Pomegranate Martini


Fill a shaker with ice, then add:

2 jiggers (2oz) vodka
1 jigger (1oz) Bauchant- orange liqueur
1 jigger (1oz) Pomegranate juice
squeeze of lime

shake contents vigorously.

use the squeezed lime-half to rim the martini glass, then dust with sugar

Pour contents of shaker & enjoy!

She Cooks to Conquer

Back Story

One day, one of my favorite patrons, Emma, said she wanted to give me a cookbook, but "it's kind of dorky" she said. It's called She Cooks to Conquer, and she made a strawberry pie from the book for her husband on their second date. It seemed to do the trick.

She said that he just bought a brand new Porsche, and he drove her to see Goldfinger (or some other James Bond flick) at a theatre in downtown Dallas (she said she thought it was the Majestic). When they came out of the theatre, the Porsche was gone. She said, "Doc, the car's gone!" in a panic. She said he never got into a tizzy about it, and that impressed her so much. She said, "He was sooooo cool. If that description was even in use at the time." So the police drove Doc and Emma back to her house, and they ate the pie, and she drove Doc home.

Emma is an awesome lady. She's in her late 70s, and she is an inspiration. She was a career girl. She lived in what is now Uptown, so she could walk to work (she was a graphic designer) in Downtown Dallas. She married, Doc, a Porsche-aficionado lawyer, but not until she was into her 30s. Now she's an artist and is a member of an experimental artist society, she plays golf, and goes to museums, plays, and symphonies all the time. She's one of the neatest ladies I've ever met.

Emma came in a month later and gave me the book. She said she couldn't find the Strawberry pie recipe in it, and said it must have been from Gourmet magazine, because she was taking that at the time. However, she said if I really wanted to impress someone, I needed to make a Robert E. Lee Cake. She had it once about 40 years ago, and she never forgot about it. However, I don't suppose it would be impressive to anyone from a Union state. But I digress....

She Cooks to Conquer, published in 1952, was written to counter the other cookbooks written at the time designed for the women that were happy housewives cooking away for the men while they were at work. The housewife-type of women were called "Eves" in the book, because Eve had one man, and that's all she needed. The career/party girl type (the type of women the book was designed for were called "Circes." Chapter One is titled "Eve Only Had Adam but Circe Really Had'em," and the first paragraph reads:

Remember Circe? Perhaps not. Eve? Of course. She was the first in everything. The first woman. The first gal born fully equipped with a husband - dropped right into the arms of Adam, matrimony, and monogamy - no lure, no chase, no capture.

But Circe. Ah! There was a gal of a different vamp. Born on an island in the Mediterranean which is lush in vegetation but devoid of males, she was the first female in recorded history...to use the art of cooking as lure for enticing, trapping,and domesticating the male animal.

The book is chock full of 50s style recipes and cute illustrations (which are what I used for the blog. If I'm violating any copyright, I'll take them off, but I don't think I am.).

My Goal

I suppose I don't really need to "conquer" the male animal. But I'd like to keep him from getting bored. I like sharing my recipes, and it also a way for me to record when I can "conquer" a recipe. Brian likes to cook too, so I will more than likely be sharing his triumphs too. I have been collecting recipes for years, and I tend to make the same things over and over again. My goal in having in a blog is that I will try at least one new recipe a week.

The Way I Cook

When baking, I always try to follow the recipe exactly. For non-baked goods, I follow the recipes sometimes, but mainly I just use them for general guideline. On things I make up, I don't measure, so many recipes on here will not have exact measurements, so please take that into account if you decide you want to try it too!

The Start

I'll start this venture off the same way I start every day, with Cafe con Leche. Here's mine:

Easy Cafe con Leche

Milk
Stong Coffee (I use a French Press)
Cinnamon
Sugar

Fill 1/2 a mug with milk. Microwave for 1 minute.Add desired amount of sugar
and a couple dashes of cinnamon.
While stirring milk, pour coffee into mug.
Enjoy!