So west philly people… If you wanted to host a dinner party, let me know. I actually have two additional 5-course-type vegetarian dinners sketched out.
And I would love to find a host for one in April to benefit the Mazzoni Center for their Night of a Thousand Friends.
If you know of anyone interested, please let me know.
So I cooked lots.
I was scarily organized.
I made a time line, and almost everything happened to or ahead of schedule – scary, I tell you.
And everything was labeled.
Also, I hear it was pretty tasty.
The carrot soup had a little bit more peanut butter than I wanted, but no one else knew that – and the rice turned out a bit overcooked, but that’s because it was a gas stove and it’s brutal trying to cook rice on a gas range (plus I forgot to time it and kept having to take it off the heat and put it back on again because the stove was working best for me with only one live burner).
The desserts I persuaded my co-worker and Sara Strickland to make were amazing!
Thank you to Laura for the loan of a hand blender with which to make whipped cream.
And I was even able to suavely pretend there was no such thing as a last minute vegetable stock crisis because Jude was online and able to supply all of my last minute stock needs with only an hour’s notice. Seriously, we were arranging pick up just as I was finishing loading my car to relocate my entire kitchen to lxbean‘s. MY HERO!
Oh, and the lovely two people who staying until midnight to make sure all of the dishes were washed that night! I didn’t wash a single dish, and it was pure luxury.
I got the general impression that everyone thought the food was awesome.
And we raised a bunch of money to help kitties.
And there were fun conversations
Because some of the guests were kind enough to do the dishes, I was able to go over this morning for coffee tea and pick up everything that needed to be schlepped over to my house.
Even the aftermath was surprisingly painless. By the time I left for work, everything was put away and tidy. Well, in the kitchen, at least. Now I have to put my laundry into drawers and vacuum the carpet, but that doesn’t count for this gloating post.
So I am calling it 100% successful.
And I want to do another one.
They said it could couldn’t be done! (Okay, so it was just my friend Meghan who said it couldn’t be done – these other people seemed fairly confident. But I rely on her advice on food matters. Constantly. I trust this woman… but I don’t always take her advice… because I am a bad friend. Yes, Meghan, I did go out and buy more tortillas anyway, too.)
But, anyway. I have made what I am calling apple salsa! Actually, add some nuts, and it would make a kick ass charoset.
Pour 1/6 cup white balsamic vinegar into the bowl, too.
Quarter, Core, Peel, and dice finely – 2 apples. Ad you dice each quarter, immediately transfer it into the bowl and stir to coat. Every 2 or 3 quarters, remove the pieces into a separate container, leaving as much of the acidic liquid behind as possible.
Add 2 dashes of cinnamon and an equal quantity of crushed chipotle pepper to the apples. Mix in.
When all of the apples have been move to a separate container, pout the remaining liquid into a small saucepan. Add 1/4 cup water, 2 Tablespoons apricot jelly, 1 Tablespoon sweet red wine (Manischewitz) , 2 tsp brown sugar, and the crumbles head of 1 clove. Bring to a boil and stir until the jelly is completely dissolved and the liquid has reduced.
Turn off the heat, and wait until there are no more bubbles. Toss apples quickly in the saucepan, just until thoroughly coated and mixed, and then pour back into a container and refrigerate immediately to stop further cooking.
The people attending Cooking for Catladies will get to meet this adorable cat (ETA: I lied. You’d only get to meet his sister, Lucy, also CH. Cav was adopted to a forever home – still cute, though):
Awww! The head bob with the hat at 1:14… *flail*
Note from original poster, lxbean:
It’s Cav and his new buddy, Ollie.
(Cav, for those of you who are new to the story, was born with cerebellar hypoplasia, which means he’s missing the part of his brain that smooths motor coordination. It doesn’t affect anything else, and as you can see, he’s wringing every last bit of fun out of life. And don’t worry: he doesn’t care if you laugh at him. In fact, there’s a good chance he’s laughing at you.)
ETA: More Caverly videos from when he was just a wee CHitten being fostered:
Cav’s sister twirl walks
CHittens playing with tinfoil
Cav and the leaf
Breakfast of the CHittens
Cav demonstrated progress
So I bought a pineapple and a couple magoes with plans to experiment with possible salsas to make for the Cooking with Catladies dinner this coming weekend. I put it off for a bit, and then the fruit was perfectly ripe and making it clear that it would not wait for the 15th.
So here were my experimental salsas:
Pineapple/Grape Salsa
This one is designed to be light a fresh and perky, and it succeeded admirably.
Cut 2/3rds of a pineapple into 1cm dice. Slice seedless red grapes in half until the quantities of pinapple and grapes are equal.
Peel ginger and cut several paper thin slices against the grain. Then stack those slices and cut them into strips. Add to the fruit.
Slice the flesh off of 1 jalepeno pepper, and cut that into thin strips. Add to fruit.
Mix everything together and put into a jar.
Make a syrup of 1 tsp honey, 1 tsp sugar, 1/4 cup water, 1/4 cup rice vinegar. Reduce by 1/3 or until bored, whichever comes first.
Pour in enough to make the salsa wet, but not drippy – maybe halfway up a tightly-packed jar. Close the lid, and let sit overnight.
Pineapple Habanero
This one was meant to be just a bit too strong for my tastes, just in case someone particularly macho came by. Therefore, I didn’t make a lot of it. But also, it annoys me when very spicy food is only spicy, so I was trying to get a bit of layering to the flavor. The end result is delicious, but not hot enough at all.
Finely mince 1/3 of a pineapple
Cut the flesh off of
13 habanero peppers, and slice it as finely as possible.In a mortar and pestle, crush together 2 clove heads, 6 allspice berries, and some nutmeg.
Stir all together.
Make a syrup of: the juice of 2 limes, 1 tsp buckwheat honey, 2 tsp brown sugar, and 1/4 cup white balsamic. Boil until it thickens a bit, and then pour sparingly over the salsa.
Let sit overnight. (Hoping this one might last a week)
Mango and Green Pepper SalsaOddly, this one ended up being the hottest of the lot, but that’ll depend on the next jalepeno I buy. I like the crisp texture of the green pepper here.
Dice a ripe mango as best you can, but it’s better for the mango to be ripe and sweet than to have a perfect dice
Cut the flesh off the seeds of the bell pepper in about 5 passes, and then cut those strips into narrow strips (so you end up with pieces about 2mm x 4cm) – this will make the width of the bite about the same, the pieces still large enough to be crunchy, and yet it will still fold into everything smoothly as salsa should.
Thinly slice 1/2 of a jalepeno all the way through. Then mince those slices and add them, including seeds.
Add the zest of 1 lime.
Stir all together, and pack it into a jar.
Pour white vinegar into the tightly-packed jar until it comes about halfway up the fruit. Let sit overnight.
Now to see if they can be replicated. *grin*