icebrrrg.com

Deep fried, of course.

This year’s Hunter College Pre-Health Post-Bacc club End-of-Year party was something else. No bar, no skee-ball, no me cooking everything … our very own Derrick hosted, and he hosted a Fry Party. Basically, we all brought what we wanted to see put into boiling hot oil, and he did the honors.

In no particular order, we had: Jamaican beef patties (yum), pickles, okra (cool), pizza, grilled cheese sandwiches, a big cupcake from Crumbs (effing awesome), a breadbowl pasta deal from Domino’s, Twix bars (the tastiest), Reese’s peanut butter cups (not bad) … and more. All deep-fried and served up hot, of course. Michela and I didn’t stay for the whole thing; I’m sure someone put John’s playlist in there before the night was over. =P

Oh yeah. Then there’s the sweatshirt (see left). See, people were hatin’ John’s playlist a bit, and Derrick convinced John that he could remain in charge of the music as long as he wore this big kitteh sweatshirt. Now, I’m not judging, but (a) John looked super-cute in this, and (b) I have to question why Derrick owns this particular article of clothing.

So a super fun night, and as this may have been my last chance to hang with some of these post-bacc kids, some good memories. Have a great summer everyone, and good luck getting in when it’s your turn! All of the pics (including plenty more with the kitteh shirt) are up here.

I’m a big fan of this one:

It’s someone’s birthday this weekend … which means it’s time to bake a cake! Sorry, Paulie, it’s not for you, but I’ll do what I can to save you a piece. This is what I plan to make: a sweet German Chocolate Cake. I used to go to FoodNetwork.com all the time for recipes, but I’m liking AllRecipes.com more and more. Especially since they have a nifty iPhone app so I can look up recipes while out in the world (and clearly cannot cook them).

Don’t tell her what I’m making! Let it be a surprise.

There are two things I want to talk about tonight. And one’s pretty heavy, so I’ll start with something a bit more upbeat. Last weekend I had the privilege of  cooking some more recipes from The Splendid Table’s How to Eat Supper, for my own Valentine … we made a simple pan-rasted salmon on a bed of fresh greens, which looked a little something like this:

Alongside it went the almond-turmeric potatoes, which were tasty, but I failed to brown the onions enough beforehand so I wasn’t 100% satisfied. I’m going to have to make this side dish again to see if I can get it right. But it was an excellent, quick, easy and very healthy entree, and it seemed to go over well.

And since I had a special request from the principessa for a chocolate-based dessert, we had whipped up some gooey chocolatey cinnamon-tinged mini cakes. I served them with vanilla bean ice cream and fresh strawberries, and it went a little something like this:

Of course, it looked better on the 14th than this recreation I made on the 19th did, and apparently I need to work on my presentation, but with all of the flavors of the bittersweet chocolate, the tart and sweet berries, and the smooth, cool cream, well … let’s just say it was a good Valentine’s Day.

Buon appetito!

Wow. Major yums on this one. This past Duck, at the white elephant gift exchange, I stole and fiercely defended a copy of The Splendid Table’s How to Eat Supper. It’s ostensibly a cookbook, but with wonderful stories from the chefs, easy alternates for each recipe, great information on how to select and buy whatever (canned tomatoes, chicken broth, etc), and much more. This book is a definite WANT for any foodie, I love it and I love the person who brought it to the gift swap.

I’ve been wanting to try some of these recipes for a month now, and yesterday I finally did. I made a garden-in-a-pot soup adjusted into a farmhouse minestrone. Basically chicken stock added to aromatic veggies, with tomatoes and beans added along with more veggies like spinach and cabbage and zucchini (and I hate zucchini). Wow. I tasted it before I left for class and it was wonderful. It was even better when me and my dinner date got home and ate it for reals. Hearty, with a lot of complex flavors, lightly seasoned … perfect for a cold night.

The real surprise was the panna cotta, though. I’d never made it before, but this recipe was as easy as the Splendid Table folks said. 5 minutes prep, and a few hours to set, and sweet vanilla creamy goodness on the tongue. There’s so much … come over and help me eat it!

Maybe I should take some pics of the food before it’s all gone …

UPDATE: I found the recipe online at the Splendid Table’s website, so I won’t be getting into any trouble by posting it online. It really is all that, and then some.