Southern/Southern Indian Party

In case you are just tuning in, I am in the process of moving back to Florida. I have a to-do list on my wall with all the things I need to get done before I go: call Goodwill, finish my book review, renew my passport... and at the bottom, a few of the fun things that I want to do in Boston over the next few weeks. Near the top of the list is to have my friend SusieGee cook dinner at my house. Friday night, I got my wish! Susie made a delicious pink slime beef curry and potato cutlets. I decided to make some Southern favorites to go with.

The curry had the usual suspects: jalapeno, red onion, tomato, garlic, masala, etc.

...chili powder, red peppers, and ground beef. And some other stuff too.

I made some stewed tomatoes with okra. One of my faaavorites growing up.

 Rajiv explains the importance of vitamin C to NJ.

For the cutlets, Susie boiled some red potatoes, skinned and mashed them and mixed them with cilantro, onion and some spicy spices.

Then, Sanne breaded them and they got fried up.

these were especially delicious for breakfast the next morning.

The cornbread, I'm told, was one of my Granny's favorite versions of this southern classic. It is:

2 boxes jiffy mix
1/4t salt
1/2 canola oil
1 8oz can cream corn
8oz sour cream
4 eggs
2t sugar

Bake in a greased 9x13" pan at 350 for 30-40 minutes.

For the tomatoes, just heat 2 cans whole or crushed tomatoes, 1lb. chopped okra, a slice or two of chopped bacon, salt and pepper over medium heat.

The fried chicken recipe can be found here.

Then we decided that we needed to compare Sanne and Rajiv's leg lengths.

Conclusion: Sanne's are shorter.

 And then we started dancing...

newest dance craze

On an unrelated note, for the past few days, this purple blanket muppet has been hanging out outside my bedroom. It makes me smile every time I see it. Who knew dirty laundry could be so entertaining? Jim Henson, that's who!

So Sunday, we had all this leftover chicken. I decided to spare my skin (and thighs) and bake it this time around. So I s+p'ed it, rolled it in some breadcrumbs and baked it at 350 for about 45 minutes.

And served it with some leftover cornbread and tomatoes and rice.

So, what else should I do before I go? More importantly, what should I eat? Are there any restaurants I have to try? 

m

sushi and slobbages

My Christmas vacation felt especially long this year. I think it probably had something to do with the fact that I had a hand in 4+ parties. I gave you a glimpse at a couple of them, and intended on moving on from there. But then I went back and looked at all the pictures and decided that there is no way I can't share them, even if they are crappy cell phone pictures.

My sister's birthday is right after Christmas, and I wanted to do something different and special for her this year. So I bought her some sushi-making tools, and my mom and I put together a menu and went to the grocery store. We decided to make lettuce wraps, stir fry and salmon and crab sushi. I had done this once before, so I was somewhat confident in my sushi-making ability. This tricky part is the rice. But with my $22 rice cooker I scored on Amazon, we were all set.

The lettuce wrap recipe I found claimed to be P.F. Chang's, and they might have been telling the truth. It was pretty good, and super easy.

you will need:

3 tablespoons oil

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 cup water chestnut

2/3 cup mushroom

3 tablespoons chopped onions

1 teaspoon minced garlic

4 -5 leaves iceberg lettuce

*Because it is physically impossible for me to follow a recipe precisely, I omitted the mushrooms and added bean sprouts toward the end.

sauce:

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon rice wine vinegar

Directions:

Bring oil to high heat in a wok or large frying pan.

Saute chicken breasts for 4 to 5 minutes per side or done.

Remove chicken from the pan and cool.

Keep oil in the pan, keep hot.

As chicken cools mince water chestnuts and mushrooms to about the size of small peas.

Prepare the stir fry sauce by mixing the soy sauce, brown sugar, and rice vinegar together in a small bowl.

When chicken is cool, mince it as the mushrooms and water chestnuts are.

With the pan still on high heat, add another Tbsp of vegetable oil.

Add chicken, garlic, onions, water chestnuts and mushrooms to the pan.

Add the stir fry sauce to the pan and saute the mixture for a couple minutes then serve it in the lettuce cups

We also made some of P.F. Chang's "special sauce" by mixing red chili paste (which I will forevermore keep in my pantry, it was so good!) with soy sauce.

I will definitely be making these again. Chinese New Year, anyone?

I don't feel like I need to give instructions on the sushi, except to say that if you want to try this on your own, buy a rice cooker!

momsie

birthday girl

sushi spread

Happy B-Day, middle sis!

The last soiree was a Roald Dahl-themed baby shower for my nearest and dearest Madaline, who is expecting twin boys any second now. It was a very small group of very close friends, which was perfect. Everyone brought something appropriately named, and we just sat around and talked and showered our Mad Dog with gifts and food and love.  I looked through some Revolting Recipes and decided to make some Plushnuggets and, of course, Bruce Bogtrotter's Cake. We also had Snozzcumbers, Glob Gobblers, Purple Slobbages, and even some of Augustus Gloop's Favorite Goop!

I've never made Plushnuggets before... have you? They were pretty tasty!
In a bowl, mix 2 mashed bananas, 2T maple syrup, 1T olive oil, and, just for the heck of it, I added a dash of cinnamon.

Cut 3 inch circles from a pastry sheet. I didn't have a pastry/biscuit cutter, so I used a drinking glass. I use a drinking glass to cut holes in my toast, too. Maybe I should invest in a pastry cutter?

Fill the center of each circle with a tiny spoonful of the banana mixture and pinch closed.

cute lil bundle

Brush with egg wash and bake at 400 for about 10 minutes.

Ta-da! Plushnuggets!

These guys are good for breakfast, too.

Augustus Gloop's Favorite Goop was a yummy spinach artichoke dish from Lindsay, Glob Gobblers was Maro's turkey and stuffing, and Purple Slobbages was apple cider cabbage. Other Lindsay and Sara brought Snozzcumbers (from The BFG). Everything was Dahl-icious! (budum chhhhh) There is a picture of all of us at the shower floating around. When I get it, I'll add it here, so check back!
In other news, say hello to our new roommate, Shamus!

m

eat meat repeat

I'm finally getting back into the routine, and enjoying a quiet Saturday morning at home. I had some leftover quiche and toast with homemade plum jam, a Christmas gift from one of the doctors I work with.

In other news, I made a cooking-related New Year's Resolution. I want to learn how to cook Moroccan food. I have been scouting tagines on the internet and came across this beauty from Williams Sonoma.

Gorgeous, right? I was talking to the guy who makes my favorite sandwich at work, and come to find out, he's from Morocco and is a great cook! He's been giving me some tips, and I told him I'd bring a sample of something once I get cooking. Although I'm a little nervous to have a real Moroccan taste my sad Moroccan food. Hopefully this pretty tagine will boost my confidence and make everything taste better.

In other, other news: MEAT WEEK IS COMING TO BOSTON Y'ALL! For those of you who have never heard of it, Meat Week is just what it sounds like-- a week of eating delicious Southern-style BBQ all week long. Since its humble beginnings in 2005, Meat Week has spread like hot sauce to 20+ cities, and finally, Boston! Lucky us! For more information, check out the website, where you can learn more about the "holiday that time forgot", get a full schedule of Meat Week activities near you, and buy an official t-shirt. I hope to see all of my Massholes there in T-15 days!

m

the moon is right, the spirit's up...

what'sthatfrom?

Most of you who know me well know that I have a strict "no Christmas between January 1 and Thanksgiving" policy. I know this is probably because growing up, we would wake up on December 26th and there would be no sign of Christmas whatsoever in our house. It could've been July for all we knew. Obviously, this has carried over into adulthood, although I allow it a little longer than my mom did. But now that Christmastime is here, I have shifted from autumn-themed recipes to holiday roasting and baking. I am helping co-host a party next weekend, so this week between finals and papers, I will be looking for some impressive party treats. Any ideas?

I know I promised you a cranberry bread recipe today, but Sanne's got the funk that's been going around. Hopefully she will get to feeling better soon, and it won't continue making the rounds in our house. Susie is still here, however, and he has made us his specialty.

don'tcha wish your roommate was Indian like mine...

our nameless tree

every time a bell rings

Later, I decided to make the apple cheddar bites that I didn't have time for Thanksgiving weekend. Silly me, they took 15 minutes, start to finish. You probably have an apple lying around, some leftover cheese bits from T-day and perhaps some crescent rolls or pastry crust of some sort. Here's what you do with it:

Bam. Leftover recipe #2.

Have you started decorating yet? Any holiday baking plans?

m