Sunday, February 24, 2013

24 February 2013 – The Academy Awards








Tonight is the Academy Awards, and I am excited to see the winners and performers. It is one of my favorite Sunday Suppers of the year. This year, my menu was slightly influenced by best picture nominee, Life of Pi. I made Fish in Papillote (parchment) with asparagus and Indo Asian spices. In addition to being very tasty, it is also healthy, and we needed to eat a little lighter after our cruise vacation last week! We had a wonderful time on Royal Caribbean's "Jewel of the Seas" with our friends Sandy McGrew, Gary Mullet, Cory Wilson and John Clark! Our Caribbean cruise included stops in Key West and Cozumel. On Cozumel, we rented a van and driver for the day, and it was an amazing experience. If you visit Cozumel, I highly recommend Tours Plaza and our driver, Amir. The driver took us to the far side of the island, which is very natural and beautiful. This was an unexpected surprise, and I never new there were places like this in Cozumel. It makes me want to go back and explore the island for a longer period of time. For lunch, we stopped at one of my favorite restaurants in the world, Casa Mission. The restaurant and grounds are beautiful and calming, and I enjoyed introducing my friends to this amazing place. After we got off the boat, we stayed in Tampa for a couple of days. We enjoyed exploring Tampa and, especially, Ybor City. We especially enjoyed hanging out at the Ybor City Wine Bar, and we had a great dinner at The Columbia, a Spanish restaurant dating back to 1905. It had authentic, old world charm, and the food was delicious.

We had a bumpy flight home last night, so it's back to reality. Today has been filled with laundry, emails and errands, and the next few months will be very busy at Grant Design Collaborative. We have some large and very interesting projects in the works, and I am very thankful for the business. I hope everyone's week was filled with some good dramatic moments, and may your favorite movies and actors take home the gold tonight.

The Menu:

- Fresh Wild Cod and Asparagus in Papillote

- Indian Spiced Edamame

- Sesame Rice Timbales

- Molten Chocolate Lava Cake


The Gang in Cozumel:




Recipe – Molten Chocolate Lava Cake

Ingredients:

4 pieces (squares) Semi-sweet Baking Chocolate
½ cups Butter
1 cup Powdered Sugar
2 whole Eggs
2 whole Egg Yolks
6 Tablespoons Flour
2 cups Real Whipping Cream (seriously It's So Much Better!)
2 Tablespoons Sugar

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Spray 4 custard cups with Pam and place on cookie sheet.

Microwave chocolate and butter in large bowl on high for about 1 minute, until butter is melted. whisk until chocolate is also melted.

Stir in sugar until well blended. Whisk in eggs and egg yolks.
Stir in flour.

Divide between cups.

Bake 13-14 minutes until sides are firm and center is soft.
Let stand 1 minute.

Combine sugar and heavy cream and whip until stiff.

Invert cakes on dishes and top with whipped cream.

Sunday, February 10, 2013

10 February 2013 – Chinese New Year





My birthday celebration continued this weekend with a trip to Atlanta. Jeff's parents bought us tickets to Flashdance at the Fox for Christmas, so we went down on Friday night for the performance. We had dinner at Livingston before the show and after theater cocktails at one of our favorite spots, Empire State South. I discovered a great new drink, a Sazerac. It is a classic rye whiskey drink that originated in New Orleans, and it is very tasty.

On Saturday, Jeff had to return to Canton for a Cherokee County Historical Society Board Retreat. I stayed and played around in Atlanta for the day. It was fun to explore the city on a beautiful day. Jeff returned on Saturday afternoon, and we went to the Viking Cooking School for a class that Jeff parents had purchased for my birthday. We had a great time with ten others as we cooked beef tenderloin, fried shrimp and crab cakes. The class was fun, and I learned a few new tricks and knife skills. Afterward, we returned to our hotel and walked next door for cocktails at Proof & Provision in the basement of the Georgian Terrace Hotel. It is a great new restaurant and speakeasy, and the bar specializes in handcrafted Prohibition era cocktails. The food also looked good, so we will have to return sometime.

This morning, we slept in but stopped by the Silver Skillet for a late breakfast. It is a great Southern dive, and we sat at the counter and ate way too much food. After breakfast, we stopped by Harry's Farmers Market to get supplies for tonight's Sunday Supper. In honor of Chinese New Year, I decided to cook Chinese cuisine for dinner. I started with crab rangoon for an appetizer and followed it with hot and sour soup. For the entree, I prepared Cashew Chicken with asparagus and made almond cookies for dessert. It was all very good and much healthier than Chinese takeout. After dinner, we enjoyed the Grammy Awards and Downton Abbey, and so ended a very fun weekend.

We are off on a cruise next Saturday with our dear friends Sandy McGrew, Gary Mullet, Cory Wilson and John Clark. I'm sure it will be great fun, but I will miss a couple of weeks of Sunday Supper posts. So until next time, may your Chinese New Year be filled with great food, dear friends and memorable weekends.

The Menu:

- Crab Rangoon with Homemade Hot Mustard

- Hot and Sour Soup

- Cashew Chicken with Asparagus and Rice

- Chinese Almond Cookies


Recipe – Easy Crab Rangoon

1 brick (8 oz) Kraft Philadelphia Regular Cream Cheese, at room temperature
2 oz crab meat
1 tablespoon powdered sugar
Pinch of salt
20 wonton wrappers
Oil, for deep frying

Instructions:


1. Mix all the cream cheese, crab meat, sugar, and salt in a bowl. Stir to blend well.

2. Place about 1 tablespoon of the cream cheese filling in the middle of a wonton wrapper.

3. Fold the two ends of the wonton wrapper together. Fold the other two ends to make a tiny parcel.
Pinch to seal tight and make sure that there is no leakage. Use a little water to help sealing if needed.

4. Heat up a pot of oil for deep-frying and fry the crab rangoon until golden brown. Dish out with a strainer or
slotted spoon, draining the excess oil by laying the crab rangoon on a dish lined with paper towels. Let the
crab rangoon cools down a bit before serving them with sweet and sour sauce.