The Running of the Bulls

I'm crazy for everything surrounding 'The Lost Generation': the booze, the art, the love affairs, Paris & all of the stories.  Hemingway is my favorite and The Sun Also Rises is my all-time favorite novel.  In the book, a group of ex-pats travel to Spain to experience the excitement of the infamous bullfighting. Jake Barnes and Lady Brett Ashley drink, fight and love their way through the festival and, despite all of the ugliness that ensues, I've never wanted to travel to a place or time, with a certain group, more. So when I heard that the running of the bulls in Pamplona starts on July 6th, I was inspired to throw a dinner party themed around the event.  The menu was about as far as I got into the theme (with plenty of booze and Spanish wines, of course!).  Summer is the perfect time for tapas because so little has to be done with fresh, ripe ingredients; plus, everything can be made in advance and served at room temperature.  Tortilla espanola is so delicious and I have no idea why I don't make it more often.  Grilling peaches is a total game changer and must be done again and again all summer long.  After an extensive assortment of small plates, we shared steaming dishes of seafood paella with plenty of chorizo, shellfish and saffron.  These 'dig on in' meals, served family-style, are my absolute favorites for entertaining.  This was actually my first time making paella but it will now go into my regular repertoire.  After paella, I served a selection of Spanish cheeses accompanied by quince paste and chili spiced chocolate. Hemingway wrote that bullfighting was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen, and I'd like to see it one day (though if my trip to the rodeo is any indication, I'm sure I'll be a mess).  But until I go, I love that cooking and eating can take us to different places by combining simple ingredients (eggs & potatoes) with simple techniques (frying in olive oil).  That really is a remarkable thing.  

 

 

The Menu

sips

cava & spanish wines

snacks

spanish corn nuts & spanish olives

padron peppers, sea salt & extra virgin olive oil

lemon cucumbers with paprika & lime

grilled peaches, iberico cheese & arugula

tortilla espagnol with romesco

honeydew melon & serrano ham

roasted cherry tomatoes, marcona almonds & boquerones on toast

roast peppers, grilled squid & sherry

grilled sardines with lemon, parsley & olives

to share

seafood paella with mussels, clams, scallops, shrimp & chorizo

lemony aioli

savory

spanish cheeses, quince paste, fig jam & grilled bread

sweet

chili spiced chocolate cookies

Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries

On a recent visit to the Wednesday Santa Monica farmers market, there was a mob scene in front of one of the stalls.  I'd never seen anything like it.  Was Jessica Simpson out and about with her new baby?  Have the Kardashians started selling eggs?  Neither.  People were freaking out because cherries are now in season.  There were six varietals to sample: some red, others yellow, with varying degrees of tart and sweet.  I knew I had to do something with this moment.  Hence, a 'Life is Just A Bowl of Cherries' dinner party.  A date was set, invitations were mailed and operation cherry was in motion.  Planning a menu with such a specific theme was very fun and it was a treat to be inspired.  I was genuinely tickled with myself each time I thought of another way to use a cherry.  My best food friend Erin turned me onto The Flavor Bible, which is an awesome book for food and flavor pairings--really, really helpful.  This particular group of ladies happen to love their tequila so a serrano cherry margarita was a no-brainer (though bourbon is another lovely compliment to cherries).  For appetizers, bing cherries were stuffed with ricotta & thyme.  And, after pickling some lapin cherries, I paired them with salty marcona almonds and duck prosciutto, which was a rich, fatty compliment. When we sat down to dinner, I bravely served a table of women messy baby back ribs with a sweet and smoky cherry chipotle bbq sauce; luckily, we all threw down.  The sides were simple and satisfying: roasted sweet onions and rainier cherries alongside a kale salad with dried cherries and cherrywood balsamic vinegar.  To end, cherry almond crisps baked in mason jars (what is the next mason jar?!) ala mode.  Pitting all of those cherries to make a real cherry crisp was, in fact, the pits, but the pay off was well worth the efforts.  (I did cheat with this fancy cherry pitter, which is well worth the investment for pies and jams).  It tasted really special, even to me, and I'm not a fruit dessert sort of gal.  Chocolate is another friend to the cherry, so guests left with a bag of cherry treats: chocolate covered cherries and sour cherry gummies, which are like crack to me.  Amy set a playful table with a small bowl of cherries at each place setting, serving as the place cards.  And printed menus, in red font, mentioned the various cherries in each dish.  While life isn't always a bowl of cherries (sometimes it's the pits), fun dinners with an out of the blue whimsical theme, can certainly help to raise the sweet to rotten ratio.

 

 

 

 

The Menu

sips

serrano cherry margarita

cloudline oregon pinot noir, 2009

deep cherry, black fruits & earth

snacks

ricotta & thyme stuffed bing cherries

pickled lapin cherries, marcona almonds & duck prosciutto

to share

baby baby ribs with tart michigan cherry & chipotle bbq sauce

kale, arugula & dried cherry salad with cherrywood balsamic vinaigrette

roasted sweet onions & rainier cherries

rosemary corn bread with honey

sweet

flavor giant cherry almond crisp ala mode

favor

cherry treats: sour cherry gummies, cherry balls & chocolate covered cherries

Happy Father's Day

Almost to the point of being creepy, this entire blog has been an homage to my mom.  There have been constant references to her recipes, her ways of doing things, her sense of timing, style and organization. My dad, on the other hand, has been ignored.  Uncredited.  But my dad certainly deserves a shout out for his culinary influences.  After all, I grew up with Thai food, plenty of pot stickers and hot & sour soup, sushi, Mexican and all things spicy because those were the foods my dad thought worthy of dining out for.  Furthermore, we got to have 'fun dinners' like popcorn, cheese and apples due to my dad's lack of cooking skills, which taught me that it's okay to mix things up.  In fact, mixing things up is the best.  And, more importantly, my dad has always encouraged me to pursue my dreams, so without him, I wouldn't have made my love of food into a job I love.  Thanks Dad!!  Even though I wasn't with my dad this Father's Day, I did plan a manly menu to celebrate the holiday.  Burgers and beer-battered onion rings seemed just right.  Plating the assembled burgers alongside family style sides elevated the everyday BBQ experience.  For the burger, I used Thomas Keller's beef blend ( 1.5 parts beef sirloin to 3/4 parts each beef brisket and beef chuck) and kept the accoutrement All-American: lettuce, tomato, raw onion, dill pickles and a thousand island ketchup-mayo hybrid.  Other 'man food' highlights: jalapeno poppers, pulled pork sliders & BLT stuffed cherry tomatoes.  And for dessert, what is more fatherly than using Dad's root beer for floats?  I followed some recipes to a T for this menu so I've linked to a few below...the macaroni salad is an enjoyable must-try!  Happy Father's Day to dads everywhere and to mine--the greatest dad of all.  

 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 The Menu

sips

arnold palmers

bottled beer

snacks

blt stuffed cherry tomatoes

jalapeno poppers

pulled pork sliders with buttermilk coleslaw

to share

beef bacon cheeseburgers on brioche buns with thousand island dressing

beer battered onion rings

macaroni salad

tomato, corn & arugula salad

grilled peaches

sweet

cherry pie ala mode

root beer floats with dad's root beer

strawberry chiffon cake

The Speakeasy: A Prohibition Cocktail Party

      

Last year's Roaring 20's party was so much fun that we wanted to do it again this year but invite more friends.  So as magical as the sit-down Gatsby-esque dinner was, we switched things up and focused on the cocktails and snacks for a Speakeasy-themed cocktail party.  Fact: this is a party designed to get drunk, making it a lively one.  Of all the prohibition cocktails we made, The Penicillin (scotch, lemon, ginger, honey, laphroaig, angostura bitters) was my favorite and definitely gets one feeling all warm & fuzzy.  Snacks were salty and filling, enough to sop up some of the booze.  And we really went for it with the 1920s themed desserts.  Both rice krispies and hostess cupcakes were invented in the 1920s, so we made homemade versions of the marshmallow filled cakes and browned our butter for extra special rice krispy treats.  The 20's are also known for a boom of new candies: Charleston Chews, Charms Sweet & Sour Pops, peanut cups and many more!  Old Time Candy is an amazing on-line source for old-fashioned sweets and made our colorful candy bar very festive. Their retro candies, organized by decade, makes me want to throw an 80's party just so I can have Hubba Bubba Bubble Tape, Crybabies, gummy worms & Nerds: my childhood!

The Menu

sips

prohibition cocktail menu

ramos gin fizz

gin, lemon, lime, orange, orange blossom water, egg white

new old fashioned

bourbon, fee brother's cherry bitters, orange peel

penicillin 

scotch, lemon, ginger, honey, laphroaig, angostura bitters

mary pickford

white rum, pineapple, grenadine, maraschino liqueur

dirty martini

vodka or gin, dirty sue premium olive juice

snacks

peanuts & pretzels

crudites & relish platter with green goddess dressing

potato chips & onion dip

bloody mary shrimp cocktails

caesar salad on romaine spears

curried deviled eggs

grilled cheese squares with tomato soup

mini pastrami & sauerkraut finger sandwiches with thousand island dressing

sweets

homemade hostess cupcakes

brown butter rice krispy treats

1920s candy bar:

charleston chews, charms sweet & sour pops, mexican hats, big hunk, big cherry, stick candy, candy buttons, necco wafers, peanut butter cups, twizzlers & candy cigarettes