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.

1 comment:

Jennifer Dunn said...

The Columbia? I'll have to try that one next time I visit my freelance writing mentor in Tampa. Thanks for the recommendation. Supper looks scrumptious as always, Billy!