A Gilt Nutmeg

On Saturday I had the honor of making the food for the bridal shower of my dear friend’s sister.  I learned a very important lesson this weekend: catering is EXHAUSTING.  I also learned that you should NOT leave something as finicky as Swiss Meringue Buttercream Frosting to the very last minute because you will be literally running on foot to the closest mini-mart for butter to start a backup American style Buttercream that will have you leaving 2 hours later for San Diego than planned.

Since the party was for 2pm on a gorgeous spring day, I had planned out a menu that would be very light and all non-fork foods for the guests to snack on.  Would you believe that out of all of the different items, the hit of the party were the cucumbers?  Also, a green and red theme inadvertently emerged and yet the table somehow didn’t look like Christmas, which is a miracle–instead all the green just reminded you that Spring was getting underway.  I’ll be posting the recipes throughout the week; any one of them would be a great appetizer to a Spring dinner.

While tiring, the experience was very rewarding and I’m so proud and happy to have been able to do this for my friend’s family.  I wish nothing but the best for Amanda and Christian!

Menu

• Herbed Cucumber Bites
• Strawberry Basil Bruschetta with Lemon Goat Cheese
• Shaved Asparagus, Prosciutto & Parmesan Tea Sandwiches
• Margarita Cupcakes (it was Cinco de Mayo, after all)
• Watermelon Gin Fizz

Since I don’t have a great photo of the drink, I’ll post the recipe here and save the other recipes for their own posts.  It is going to be perfect for a hot summer’s day with friends and I can’t wait to drink it all season long.

Watermelon Gin Fizz
Adapted from Eating Well

• 1 medium sized watermelon (the melons a little bigger than a soccer ball)
• 2 bottles (2 liter size) of ginger ale
• about 1/2 a  bottle of gin (you can, of course, adjust this to taste)
• Juice of 3 limes
• extra limes to cut for garnish, if you wish

1. Cut the watermelon into large chunks.  If you wish (and I highly suggest it) set aside about 1/3 of the melon and neatly cut those slices into 1″ cubes.  Put the cubes in a bag and put them in the freezer to act as edible ice cubes later.
2. Puree the remaining watermelon in a blender or food processor (although the processor isn’t liquid proof so it may make a bit of a mess) and strain the watermelon puree in a sieve; discard the fibers and seeds left behind in the sieve.  You should end up with about 12 cups of juice.  This step can be done a few days ahead of time; refrigerate until needed.
3. When ready to serve, combine the watermelon juice, ginger ale, gin, and lime juice.  Stir, add the watermelon “ice cubes”, and enjoy!

Another great hostess tip: In addition to the watermelon ice cubes, fill a cupcake pan with one round slice of lime (or lemon) in each of the 12 cupcake wells, then fill each well about half way with boiling water (boiling the water means the ice will freeze clear instead of looking white).  Put the tray in the freezer and voila!  Some of the cutest decorative ice cubes ever for your punch.  If you have trouble getting them out of the cupcake pan, run some warm water over the pan to loosen them.

For most cooks, these first few weeks in November are the calm before the storm, the last relaxed period before the holidays really kick in and you’re required to put large amounts of food on the table for large numbers of guests.

For me, however, it’s the last storm before the skies clear–right now I’m strangely busy, amongst other obstacles (flat tire!  sliced finger!–can’t cook with that, anyway) and I’m so looking forward to getting through this week because after that, the clouds part, the sun shines through and…it’s Thanksgiving.  The week before Thanksgiving I go into zen mode and am in pure bliss making grocery lists and time tables and scheduling how far ahead to start one dish before another (confession: I may have started some of that already).

This year I’ll be joining my great aunt and uncle at my cousin’s lovely house in Anaheim and I couldn’t be more excited to be sharing Thanksgiving with them.  I always hope to take as much pressure off the hostess as possible on the Big Day and am always happy to contribute as much as I can bring to the table.

Since this is my first Thanksgiving in Anaheim, I’m bringing all of my Turkey Day Specialties:

• Caramelized Onion Cornbread Stuffing
• Candied Sweet Potatoes
• Buttered Green Beans with Dill
• Pumpkin Pie
• Southern Comfort Apple Pie
• Emily’s Famous Pecan Pie

I’ll also be making some homemade turkey stock the week before so that I have plenty for gravy making, since there is nothing more upsetting to me than a shortage of gravy for leftovers!

In the meantime, I’m going to be spending this weekend in a “stay-cation” of sorts–the International Food Bloggers Conference will be in Santa Monica!  With great thanks to the generous event sponsors who awarded me a scholarship, I’ll be in lectures and tutorials, wine-tastings, and mingling with other food bloggers, learning all I possibly can for three straight days.  I hope that it will bring me and my blog to the next level for you to enjoy!

Countdown to Thanksgiving: 15 Days!

Emily here, with a special announcement!

I’m pleased to be taking part in the “$5 Challenge”–an event taking place across the country because (as they so perfectly worded it): “slow food shouldn’t have to cost more than fast food.”

I will be hosting the event at a lovely little park in Santa Monica and encourage anyone in the LA area to join me.  I’ve capped the attendance at 15 people, so hurry up and RSVP already!

Each person should bring a dish that cost them $5 or less to prepare.  We know it’s possible; just use your noggin!  The good news is, this is one challenge that is really worth thinking through, as I know I’m guilty of occasionally grabbing a drive-thru taco because it costs less than a dollar and then trying to convince myself that I hit all the proper food groups: veggies (unripe tomatoes and pathetic lettuce), dairy (sour cream, processed cheese), protein (mystery meat), whole grains (the taco shell LOOKS like whole grain, right?).  Let’s prove to ourselves that we can eat a lot healthier than this for just as cheap!

To join me on September 17th for my $5 Challenge Pot Luck, RSVP at this link: http://donate.slowfoodusa.org/goto/emilyb

If you can’t join me, host your own dinner!  It can be a pot luck like mine, you can make a big dinner for a church group or school group and charge people $5 at the door, or you can just pledge to cook your family a healthy dinner that night that costs $5 or less per person.  Or hold cooking lessons and teach a healthy menu for less than $5 a person!  What ever you choose to do, PLEDGE HERE that you’ll take the challenge even just for yourself one night, or register your event (publicly, so others can join you or privately, for just your friends or family) on the $5 Challenge registration website.

So this first post this morning isn’t a recipe; I couldn’t let the day pass without sharing the wonderful box of goodies that showed up on my doorstep yesterday afternoon!

I signed up for Farm Fresh To You, a service that delivers a box of organic local produce to your home.  Now, for months I searched for exactly this, but only found services that were too expensive and gave more produce more frequently than I would be able to eat before the next delivery.  Farm Fresh To You, however, has a LOT of things going for it:

• You can choose to get deliveries every week, every other week, or every 3 or 4 weeks.
• You can choose the size and variety of your box–small, regular, large sizes and you can choose to get just fruits, just veggies, both, or even options beyond those, like only “grab and go” fruits and veggies that you can pick up on the way out the door and eat just with your hands.
• You can choose what exactly comes in your box.  I know some people might think this is cheating since, after all, part of the fun is figuring out how to use the produce that week.  But there are some people with allergies (I should have said no apples, since I am indeed allergic to apples, but I love cooking with them and giving the treats away) and there are some people who don’t want to let food go to waste if they already know they will not eat them (I, admittedly, said no beets and no celery).

So back to the first box:  it was a bumper crop!  1 head of green leaf lettuce, 3 stalks of broccoli, 2 slicing tomatoes, 1 yellow onion, 1 pound of yellow squash, 1 avocado, 1 cantaloupe, 2 doughnut peaches, and 1 pound of lemon cucumbers.

If any of you out there have ever had a lemon cucumber, then you had me beat.  I’d never even heard of them!  Turns out they look like a small yellow tennis ball, but taste exactly like your average every day cucumber.  The only difference is that the skin is just ever so slightly tougher–but we ate the skins anyway and only barely noticed them.  What an experience!

I absolutely suggest you find a service like this in your area.  You may be surprised to find that they do exist in your area, especially since the locavorism trend has begun to take off in popularity.  I can say this much…you guys will definitely benefit from these produce deliveries.  My head is already churning with recipe ideas for how to use everything!  Except the peaches–those will be a delightful little breakfast on the way to the office tomorrow.

Bonus–if you live in California, check out the Farm Fresh to You website and see if they deliver to your zip code.  If you want to give Farm Fresh to You a try, use code “6164″ for $5 off your first box. Mention my name and I get a treat too!

Spicy...Chewy...Yum!

Coming Soon: musings on my small yet hopefully delicious contributions to the world.