I think it could have literally been the weather - the storm made me do it. I woke up on Saturday morning with a domestic urge. I wanted to bake. While the music was pumping and the eggs were frying, I arranged a chocolate chip walnut banana bread. It smelled wonderful and came out of the oven just as the rain ended. While the four inches of water was perfect for our parched lawns, the bread was not. There were no eggs in the bread, though the ones served at breakfast were divine, the banana bread was a low fat recipe and tasted just like that. A touch of jam gave it back it's sweetness but that's about it.
Come Sunday and a brand new Van Morrison CD I heated up the kitchen again. Three hours later Magoo and I turned out a pretty rocking meal and invited the girls over to sample and witness Sarah Silverman in all her raunchy glory. The food was good and her jokes were over the top. I peeled all the recipes off the Food Network website - adapting some to our needs including using none of the fat that Paula suggests. Wow that woman loves butter. We dabbled in mixing our own ideas into the pre-cut recipes and tried our hardest to remember what kind of modifications we made and what a 1/2 of a 1/4 is.
- At dinner on Saturday night we ordered a cucumber salad that was just perfect - light and savory. Inspired, I picked out this recipe from Wolfgang Puck - with more of an Asian flavor it was still delightful. We munched on it while we waited for Ashley to bring over the wine. I probably could've made that my meal.
- We also had a bunch of organic asparagus that needed to be used up and Magoo was itching to try out the new grill - even offering to grill our cereal. I declined the grilled Cherri-o's offer and instead picked out a grilled asparagus recipe from the man who runs the grilling world - Bobby Flay. It turned out wonderful - crisp, clean and spring-y with slightly melted fresh mozzarella giving it a little substance. Even served cold it worked well as an elegant side.
- A few months back while laid up from gum surgery I tortured myself by watching hours of cooking shows. I couldn't eat so I figured the second best thing was to look at all the good food. Paula made this salad that looked absolutely ridiculous and the crunch of the Ramen noodles enticed me since at that point the most I was crunching was tomato soup. I finally had the chance and desire to sample the recipe. It really was good - the broccoli and dressing were cheerful and simple. You gotta cut out the butter, oil, and sugar - there is no need for them and honestly it is more flavorful if you sub in some garlic and other seasonings. But still a great accompaniment to a dinner or served by itself as a lunch.
- Finally the reason the dinner existed in the first place was the grilled chicken. I told Magoo he was in charge of le chicken but he still insisted I pick out a recipe. We also wanted softer refreshing flavors to go with the excessive heat of the day. While the coriander turned out to be a bold taste the lime evened it out and gave the chicken a tasteful kick. Plus we got to use the limes picked from the tree in our yard. This made us ridiculously giddy and gave us a sense of home grown pride. The recipe called for chicken legs but we made out just fine with fillets - if I must say.
Plus now Magoo feels he sufficiently broke in the grill - so we decided next up are pizzas. Yeah I saw it on the Food Network this weekend, okay you figured me out. The next time a storm approaches or I just feel like standing in the kitchen for hours and having good friends, great food, and perfect music - we will fire it up. All in all I would say it was well played and enjoyed - you can see some of the results here.
**Does anyone know how to get Blogger to cooperate when using bullet points? They are driving me to stick a bullet point into my eye...
Labels: Everyday Life, Friends/Family
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Mel said:
I don't think Blogger's parents were very clear when teaching it about cooperation and things of that nature. har har
When I get in a cooking mood it is always food rather than sweets. The other day I made a weeks worth of food for lunch and dinner (most of which will probably go bad before I eat it lol)just because I was bored. It's like i've replaced cooking with shoe shopping and I'm not so sure I like it!- 11:15 AM
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JustRun said:
Oh yum, yum and yum. When you said you'd invite people over, you forgot to include "blogging friends." I am so there for the grilled pizza. :)
- 11:41 AM
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anne said:
Well you know you are always welcome for dinner - that is the next time you make down to Tampa.
- 11:47 AM
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Bre said:
I figure I can make it to florida by tomorrow night's supper if I leave right now.... delicious! :)
- 1:14 PM
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said:
Way to go...isn't it kinda fun to play around in the kitchn...this coming from an undomestic goddess...
- 1:23 PM
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anne said:
bre- dinner is at 8, you bring the wine.
- 1:51 PM
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JustRun said:
Oh, believe you me, I can make it to Tampa. And I most definitely will have wine.
- 3:04 PM
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copasetic fish said:
if you don't already, you should definitely start reading smitten kitchen... www.smittenkitchen.com. i'm telling you, the woman is magic.
- 6:46 PM
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Pam said:
I saw the pizzas on the grill this weekend too, yet scared to attempt it. Anxious to hear if you tried it!
- 6:00 AM
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Unknown said:
You guys haven't cooked anything yet. Wait until old Tony gets to Tampa.
- 7:32 AM
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anne said:
We were thinking pizza for Tony.
But we were really thinking that Tony should be cooking for us!!!- 7:34 AM
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Unknown said:
I've done pizza on the Grill before, it's kind of tricky, but it can be great. I'll show you how.
- 8:05 AM
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said:
Tony, no need to teach us to fish (pizza). We are perfectly content with you just giving us the fish (pizza) and us eating for a day rather than a lifetime!
- 8:21 AM
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Accidentally Me said:
Grilled Cheerios...Magoo, you're brilliant!
- 8:30 AM
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said:
You didn't want grilled cherios? Whyever not?? Sounds like you made some good stuff though! I might steal a couple ideas...oh wait, what's that? You're sending me a plane ticket and you have an extra space at the table? I'm there!
- 10:07 AM
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anne said:
The more the merrier girls (and Tony) the more the merrier.
- 10:49 AM
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said:
I did the same thing - cooked my ass off all weekend. It was definitely the rain.
- 11:43 AM
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said:
Thanks for the grilled asparagus recipe... I'm making that tonight!!
And the green summer dress looks so great on you!! Made me want to go shopping so much... uh oh.- 1:37 PM
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megabrooke said:
sorry im late to the punch! sounds like a really good, and yummy, way to spend a rainy weekend.
as you know, i was experiencing my own "thunder" in mass. ha.- 6:23 PM
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said:
I like to think that even though I missed this dinner, the next time I swing by Florida you will whip up some of these delights for me! And seriously, I think you should be a writer for a food magazine. ANY time you talk about food, you do it in such a way that I feel like I'm eating along with you.
- 8:10 PM
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anne said:
brandy you made my day! anytime you make it to the States you get TWO dinners.
- 5:02 AM
