Winter Term, Day Thirty One: Sometimes Good Things End

A final trip to West Side Market and Trader Joe's today, to get all the ingredients for our last final delicious meal.

On the menu:
Hummus by me (topped with sambal and sriracha OR za'atar and olive oil)
Oregano flatbread by Daniel
Terra chips brought by Carolyn
French onion soup with Gruyere toast by Michael
Greek salad with lemon vinaigrette by Amanda
Grilled asparagus, zucchini and red peppers by Daniel
Penne alla vodka with pancetta by me
Spaghetti with mushrooms, garlic, and olive oil by me











Dessert:
Nainamo bars by Eli
Chocolate espresso scones by Daniel
Lime-coconut macaroons with haupia (coconut pudding) filling and chili chocolate dipping sauce by Daniel
Grapefruit cupcakes with grapefruit curd, whipped cream, and spun sugar by Eliza
















In addition to all this great food, we had lots of great people around: Mike, Hana, Carolyn, Yoshi, Chris, Sneha, Tevi, Daniel, Michael, Eliza, Amanda, Eli and Matt. Thank you all who came and brought plates. It was an incredible end to the month of food.

Winter Term, Day Nineteen: Julia Child's Kitchen

Despite its perceived difficulty, I decided to make coq a vin tonight. The recipes, at least that I found online, aren't that consistent, so I went with a logical flow:

Rendered the pancetta, took the pancetta out, sauteed the onions, added butter since there wasn't enough fat from the pancetta, took the onions out, cooked the mushrooms, added more butter because mushrooms drink butter, took the mushrooms out, cooked chicken legs (still connected to the thighs) until golden, tossed the cooked veggies plus carrots with flour, added the veggies to the chicken, added two cups of chicken stock and a cup of merlot. I added bay leaves, thyme, salt and pepper, and cooked until the chicken was falling off the bone. I then added a bit more flour to thicken the sauce and served it over egg noodles topped with chopped parsley.

My house will smell like this for at least another day, but that's a-okay by me. It's absolutely delicious.




Then later Lady Jamie came over to unload some cinnamon rolls... she apologized for the toasty bottoms but honestly, the burnt sugar tasted like campfire marshmallows. Delightful.

Winter Term, Day Eleven: Tongue Thai'd

Starting to tone down the crazy cooking and decided to make Thai food: prep, minimal cooking, tasty results with lots of leftovers.

Daniel and I watched the season one finale of Burn Notice on the projector, with some small intermissions of finishing up dinner: yellow shrimp curry, chicken pad Thai (from my previously posted pad Thai recipe), and coconut creme caramel for dessert. Yoshi showed up with perfect timing, about ten minutes after the food was done.

(The last two photos are courtesy of Daniel. Thank you.)

Winter Term, Day Ten: Classy Pasta Coma

Another trip to West Side Market, though a rather speedy one since Sean had to get back by 1.30. I took a photo of my lunch, though, a delicious bratwurst sandwich on a hard roll with sauerkraut and mustard.

We stopped by Trader Joe's for some weekly ingredients too, and took photos with their posable sign outside.



Then we all went our seperate ways to make our hearty dishes, and we regrouped at my house a few hours later for an Italian feast.

Chris also managed to check out a video projector, making our living room amazingly technological... and awesome.


The menu included:

Baked brie with grape, strawberry, and raspberry jam by Chris
Rigatoni with fresh tomato sauce by Michael
A veggie-cheesy lasagna with zuchinni, eggplant, and spinach by Eliza (plus a single-serve vegan veggie lasagna for Eli)
A meaty-cheese lasagna by me
Salad with Italian vinegrette by Amanda and Bryan
Bread with a tomato dip, a bean dip, and pesto by Eli and Sean
A citrus-and-other-fruits blend iced tea by Sean
Homemade tiramisu (with homemade ladyfingers) by Daniel
Vegan date and cashew truffles by Daniel
Carob and walnut biscotti by Daniel
Candied walnuts by Eli and Sean

And Yoshi is our favoritest and best dishwasher ever.