Dining with Pals

On Saturday morning we were up early to mow the lawn, straighten up the house, and prep some dishes for the evening.  We had friends Colin and Erica over for for dinner.  The boys had been talking for a while about doing a weird meat night, so we found a couple of weird meats to go along with some more regular dishes.

We started with bruschetta, and bacon wrapped stuffed jalapenos.

Our other appetizer was fried, popcorn-style Australian crocodile.

For the main course we had BBQd ribs, coleslaw, mac and cheese, and baked beans.

Annnnnnd, to make it a little more exciting, Christopher grilled some Australian kangaroo loin for us all to try.  It was perfectly cooked, and tasted almost exactly like a beef steak.

For dessert we enjoyed a dish called burnt grapes (caramely, creamy, and crunchy!), and s'more pie!

Let's go in for a closeup on that chocolate!!

We'll be eating leftovers for the first half of this week ... life is tough.

How was your weekend?  Did you do anything exciting?

What was the best thing you ate all weekend?

Dinner Guests

We spent most of yesterday morning cooking and prepping, because last night Mel and Steve came over for dinner. 

They came bearing pretty flowers:

We started with some appetizers, including cheese/meat/crackers, Korean rice pockets, and homemade shrimp fresh rolls.

Easy Peanut Sauce for Fresh Rolls

1/4 cup hoisin 

2 T peanut butter

1 tsp rice vinegar

1/2 tsp sesame oil

Mix.  Enjoy.

Next we enjoyed a warm lobster salad:

You can find the recipe here.

The third course was clam chowder soup:

 

For the main course we ate creamy parmesan fusilli:

Bread with oil and vinegar on the side ...

Christopher got to try out his baking skills ... he made sopapilla cheesecake pie, and it turned out perfectly.

We also had chocolate & vanilla bean, pear crumble.

I love these people! 

We had a fun, late night with plenty of laughs.

How was your weekend?  What did you do?

5 Tastes in 5 Courses

Last night I hosted a Foodbuzz 24x24 dinner.  Each month Foodbuzz holds a contest for its Featured Publishers called 24x24 in which 24 special meals take place within the same 24 hours.  In order to enter the contest a Featured Publisher needs to create a proposal for a meal that will be made and enjoyed on a specific day of the month.  The winners are given $250 to make the proposal come to life.  I was lucky enough to be chosen for my proposal "5 Tastes in 5 Courses."  I was also selected a couple years ago for my dinner "A Little Feast on the Prairies."

5 Tastes in 5 Courses

My vision for this dinner was to create five courses, each celebrating one of the five basic tastes of sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami.  Four of our close friends joined us for this fun foodie evening.

Salty

We began with a selection of salty munchies including caviar, rice crackers with sea vegetables, sea weed, veggie straws, soft cheese and pretzels stuffed with peanut butter.

 

 

We enjoyed the appetizers with red wine.  

I was a paparazzo while my friends nibbled and sipped.

 

Bitter

Kale salad with lemon tahini dressing and walnuts.  This course was enjoyed with beer.

  

Sour

Ciorba (Romanian sour soup) with sour dough bread and whipped butter.

Umami  

Ultimate umami burger and french fries with truffle salt and homemade curry ketchup.

Ultimate Umami Burger

2 lbs lean ground beef

2 tablespoons Taste No. 5 Umami Paste (optional - fish sauce or soy sauce would work too)

Season with fresh ground pepper and truffle salt.

Mix the above ingredients.  Form into patties and then BBQ.  Top with bacon, Gruyere cheese, caramelized onions, mushrooms and Parmesan crisps.

 

 

 

Homemade Curried Ketchup 

2 pounds tomatoes (unpeeled and quartered)

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 T apple cider vinegar

1 T fresh ginger, chopped

3 cardamom pods

2 star anise

4 cloves

1 tsp onion powder

2 T curry powder

salt and pepper to taste

Put everything in a pot.  Simmer for about an hour (or more) until broken down and reduced.  Strain, discarding peels and spices.  Refrigerate. 

 

The truffle salt is quite potent so we put it on the table so our guest could adjust the seasoning on the fries to their liking. We also put regular ketchup, mayo and mustard out.

 

Sweet

There were three sweet desserts including red velvet coconut donuts:

Double chocolate merlot cookies:

 

Jumbo rainbow cookies:

I sent my guests home with little goodie bags - 5 Tastes to Try at Home.

Included: Pack of Smoothie Blend Jelly Bellies (Sweet), Dark Chocolate (Bitter), Dried Porcini Mushrooms (Umami), Sour Skittles (Sour), Pop Corners (Salty)

It turned out to be a great evening with yummy eats and great friends - Thanks Foodbuzz!  This dinner was the highlight of my weekend.

What was the highlight of your weekend?

What is your favourite of the 5 tastes?