Holiday Gifts 2013: Just Add Vodka

by EP

This year, while I made plenty of cookies, I didn't give them away as formal holiday gifts, as I've done in the past. I wanted to do something a little different. I was inspired by my friend Ginger, who gave me a small bottle of homemade vanilla extract last year, which I used in all my baking until it was gone. I cleverly told everyone that whatever treat I'd made was made with "local vanilla."

It's Cookie Time, It's Cookie Time

by EP

I don't know about you, but whenever cookies are coming out of the oven, I sing "It's cookie time, it's cookie time" a la the great cinematic masterpiece that is "Troop Beverly Hills." 

Yes, that just happened.

Speaking of cookies coming out of the oven, our ovens have been working overtime this holiday season! We have been making some great treats - both classics and what we're calling "alterna-cookies": classic cookies with a special twist, like gingersnaps made with bacon fat, or sugar cookies made with goat cheese.

Magic New Year Muffins

By Xani

Halllooooooo out there, internet friends.  If anyone is still reading, I just wanted to take a moment to wish you a happy new year!  It's been a bit of a light year for BCD in 2013, perhaps we can pick up the posting pace in 2014? No promises...

For now, I wanted to share a little recipe I baked up the other day, and was able to share with EP, Dave, and some good BCD friends, George and Jamie. I baked them on a whim on a miserable, rainy day between Xmas and New Years, and if that isn't the perfect time to bake something, I don't know what is.  I had just defrosted some homemade applesauce I'd made in the fall, and was inspired to use it to create something delicious, but not quite as rich and decadent as most of the treats I've been surrounded by this holiday season.  I fiddled with a recipe I found online, adding cardmom and coconut oil and a bit of whole wheat flour, and they just came out so perfect, with the right amount of crunch outside, a moist inside from the applesauce, and the haunting flavor of cardamom throughout. They are sweet but not overly so, and excellent with a cup of black coffee (but Black Coffee and a Muffin just doesn't have the same ring to it).  My muffin testers agreed, describing them as magical and addictive.  And Dave ate five of them, so I guess he really liked them, too.  So I had to share this little recipe with all our readers, many of whom have been reading this little blog since the very beginning!  Perhaps you will want to bake up a batch of these today (they only take about half an hour, surely you can squeeze that in before midnight!) and maybe they will be the magic cure for any hangover symptoms tomorrow (but no promises)...

Whether you start your 2014 with muffins or not, we hope it begins brilliantly and just keeps getting better!

Love from the BCD girls,

X and EP

Cardamom-spiced Applesauce Muffins
based on this recipe from Epicurious.com. Recipe below includes my adjustments

Makes 12 muffinsingredients

For muffins:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour or whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 heaping teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar (or a little less if your applesauce is on the sweet side)
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, melted
• 3 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
• 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 cup toasted almonds (3 1/2 ounces), coarsely chopped

For topping:

• 3 tablespoons demerara sugar
• 3/4 cup sliced, slivered or chopped almonds

• Special equipment: a muffin pan with 12 (1/2-cup) muffin cups, Pam for Baking 
• preparation

Prepare muffins:
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 400°F. Grease muffin pan (I used Pam for Baking which worked perfectly).

Stir together flours, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt in a bowl. Whisk together eggs and brown sugar in a large bowl until combined well, then add butter and coconut oil, a little at a time, whisking until mixture is creamy. Stir in applesauce, then fold in flour mixture until flour is just moistened. Stir in nuts and divide batter among muffin cups.

Make topping and bake:
Stir together topping ingredients and sprinkle on top of muffins. Bake until muffins are puffed and golden, about 20 minutes. Cool in pan on a rack 5 minutes, then remove muffins from pan and cool slightly.

cooks' note:Muffins, cooled completely, keep in an airtight container at room temperature 1 day.

Thanksgivukkah 2013: Once in a Lifetime

by EP & Xani

You may have heard that this year, for the first time since 1899, Thanksgiving and Hanukkah overlapped. This rare occurrence was given an adorable name: Thanksgivukkah.

We decided to embrace this special occasion and convergence of two of our favorite holidays and create a fabulous menu, if we do say so ourselves. Although there won't be another Thanksgivukkah for a long time to come (some say 70,000 years!), we spent countless hours researching and preparing for this day, and we wanted to document this wonderful meal with friends and family.

Here was the menu:

Happy Hanukkah and Merry Christmas!

by EP

Hanukkah is over and Christmas is upon us, but before I head up to Plympton, Mass. to celebrate Christmas with Xani and Dave and Dave's family (and eat, and drink, and eat), I wanted to share two Hanukkah meals that I'll be sure to remember for years to come:

DGS Delicatessen: During Hanukkah, I was able to visit a new restaurant in Dupont Circle called DGS Delicatessen.  I heard about its recent opening via Twitter (of course) and after one look at the menu, I knew I had to go.  The menu featured old-school Jewish goodies like kasha varniskas, chopped liver, flanken, kreplach, and knishes, but taken to a unique and/or classed-up level.  For example, the knishes are made with lamb merguez and lentils; the kreplach are filled with bacalao (salt cod); and the chopped liver is topped with gribenes (fried chicken skin leftover from rendering chicken fat - schmaltz!*)).

Is that a baby in my cake or are you just happy to see me?

by EP & X

Xani and I have been cooking for a long time.  Almost our entire lives.  And we feel pretty confident in our ability to pick a great recipe (or make one up), execute it, navigate around any snafus, and serve it with a smile.  In recent years, we have delved more deeply into the more complicated but arguably more glamorous cousin of cooking: baking.  Xani has been baking breads a lot recently (remember her birthday brunch??), but I am more of a cookie girl.  Give me a party and I'll give you some cookies/bars/treats of some sort.  Maybe this is the only reason I get invited to parties...?

As you might recall, a few weeks ago it was Mardi Gras down in New Orleans, for which we have a great affinity.  I told Xani I wanted to make a King Cake, the traditional sweet danish-like cake associated with Mardi Gras, as a baking adventure.  In truth, I had never had a homemade, authentic King Cake myself - I had only had crappy grocery store versions when I was visiting the New Orleans area to do post-Katrina rebuilding projects.  I wanted a taste of New Orleans and I figured we could handle the semi-complicated task.

Feeling Thankful

by Xani

Hello out there!  If you are still reading, thank you for sticking with us through yet another long blogging hiatus.  No excuses this time.

Thanksgiving is fast approaching and if you think BCD isn't knee-deep in planning and prep already, you don't know us very well!  The turkey stock has been made, the pie dough prepped, and ridiculous ingredient and shopping lists have been circulated. It's just a small gathering this year, but because we're not feeding too many folks, we're able to mix up the menu and do things a little differently.

When you cook a traditional Thanksgiving dinner for only five people, the amount of food is RIDICULOUS.  We've done it the last couple years and there's just no way around it-- if you want to serve all the classic dishes (turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, vegetables, cranberry sauce, rolls, etc) you are going to end up with WAY too much food. The leftovers are endless.  We didn't want to do that this year.  First, we thought about skipping turkey-dinner all together and just eating giant lobsters, but I was hesitant-- I LIKE Thanksgiving dinner, and I didn't want to miss it!  Finally, we settled on an interesting concept: we decided to create a meal that you might be served if you were enjoying Thanksgiving at a five-star restaurant or resort!  No massive piles of stuffing and sweet potatoes-- everything will be refined and fancy, but still incorporate all the traditional flavors.  No family-style giant platters around the table-- each course will be individually plated and garnished.  Fun, right?  The final menu looks like this:

• Sparkling Apple Cocktail
• Amuse Bouche of Raw Local Oyster with Pomegranate Mignonette
• First course: Sweet Potato Fuji Apple Bisque with Lobster and Maple Butter Drizzle
• Salad of Mixed Greens, Apple, Bacon, Cornbread Croutons and Buttermilk-Herb Dressing
• Main Course: Turkey Thigh Roulade with Chestnut Stuffing, Irma's Potato Puree, Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Capers, Walnuts, and Anchovies, Cranberry Conserve, Gravy
• Dessert: Trio of Tartlettes- Parsnip-Buttermilk Pie, Frangipane Tart with Pears, and Pumpkin-Apple Butter Pie with Cranberry Glaze (those last two recipes are courtesy of the fabulous Bistro Poplar, where we were lucky enough to enjoy a wonderful baking demo a few weeks ago.)

I could not be more excited about this menu!  I love that we were able to bring in many traditional flavors while also including our family's favorites (oysters and lobsters-- hey, the pilgrims ate them at the first Thanksgiving!).  Plus, I bet there will still be SOME leftovers with which to make the all-important Thanksgiving Sandwich...

So for the next couple days, we hunker down at Blackacre, strap on our Crocs and aprons, and do we what we love-- cook, eat, and spend time with family.  I feel especially thankful this year for my health, my wonderful family and friends, for my job and financial stability when so many others are struggling, and for the newest additional to the family, who has already brought us so much joy:

Eddie, our 2 month old Cocker Spaniel

Wishing all of our readers and Happy and Tasty Thanksgiving.  Enjoy!

X

Double Double, Toil and Trouble...

by EP & X

Last weekend, we did something we've wanted to do for a LONG time.  No, not rent a Tuscan villa for the summer (fingers crossed though!).  No, we hosted a Haunted Halloween Dinner Party!  We've been wanting to do a seated dinner for a long time, Halloween-themed or otherwise, but we always struggled with the guest list limitations associated with dinner parties.  You see, we're quite popular, and have trouble only selecting 10 or so guests to join us. (Okay, we're really not that popular, but surely between the 2 of us there are more than 10 people we want to feed and pelt with cocktails- and even squeezing 10 people into Xani's dining room was a challenge.) We figured if it went well (and it did!), we could invite a different group the next time, so we wouldn't feel so guilty. Love that Jewish guilt!

As with all of our parties, we love a theme. This year, we were inspired by a Martha Stewart recipe called Cauldron Curry, that referenced the famous "double double, toil and trouble" witches of Macbeth. We decided we would throw a Witch's Dinner! Here's the witchy recap:

A Grandmother's Recipe for Hamantaschen

by EP

Readers should note that the title of this post is not "MY grandmother's recipe for hamantaschen," but rather "A grandmother's recipe."  Our grandmothers didn't make hamantaschen (ruggelach is another story), so when I decided I wanted to make hamantaschen for Purim a few weeks ago, I had to find someone else's family recipe.  I found this NY Times recipe, which won me over with the author's sweet story about her grandmother and the adaptations she made to the recipe after WWII (the heaping tablespoons of lemon zest in the dough didn't hurt either).

So, while visiting the BCD parents out at Blackacre, BCD Mom and I set to making these three-pointed cookies made to resemble the hat of Haman, the bad guy in the Purim story who tried to kill all the Jews (what else is new?).

A Lid for Every Pot: Ginger Lemon Sandwich Cookies

by EP

I realize it's the first week of the year, when everyone is cookied-out from the holidays, cutting the carbs and hitting the gym, and the last thing you want to read about is cookies.  Or perhaps because you are off carbs (as we are for the moment...we miss you, potatoes), you are interested in living vicariously through cookie-baking tales like this one.

I sort of created the recipe for my Ginger Lemon Sandwich Cookies, which was inspired by both a ginger-lime sandwich cookie served at a cooking class I attended earlier in December, and some really wonderful ginger molasses spice cookies that were the favor at my friends Peter and Natatia's wedding in October (you might remember, I ate Korean Fried Chicken shortly before they walked down the aisle. Romantic!).  Amazingly, Natatia made approximately 1,200 cookies for all of her guests - thanks, Tash!

Thanks fans!

by EP & X

Well the results of the Mobbies are in, folks: BCD is the fourth favorite food blog in all of Baltimore!  Although it's not a winning title, we are so grateful and overwhelmed by the number of friends who voted for us, it's better than a win! (But perhaps not as good as a cookie.)  Congrats to our fellow food (and other) bloggers on their nominations and wins; we are really glad to be part of the food blogger community in our beloved Charm City.

Meanwhile, we are busily planning our Thanksgiving feast (the recipe/shopping/ingredient spreadsheet has been created) which by our calculations, will include at least 5 types of fat (turkey, chicken, pork, olive oil, butter).  If that doesn't make your mouth water, and stop your heart, I don't know what will!

Happy eating, and more new content coming soon! 

EP & X

New Years Day Pizza Party

by Erin



Happy New Year, folks! It's been a busy holiday season for both of us and our beloved blog has fallen to the bottom of the "to do" list, but we have resolved to be better about it! Starting RIGHT NOW.

Personally I prefer New Years Day far and above New Years Eve. While I had a lovely New Years Eve this year (thanks to Xani and Dave for including me in part of their wonderful multi-course meal (post coming soon) and to Sarah and Brian for having me at their party), I have always loved NYD and this year was no exception.

The day began with a tradition where Xani and I wander aimlessly throughout our neighborhood looking for somewhere to get brunch/lunch. Per the tradition, everywhere we wanted to go was either closed or so crowded we couldn't stand it. After several strike outs, we made our way to Ledo Pizza, a Maryland classic, for a pie, a sub, and some calzone. No pics but it really hit the spot!


Then in the evening, I got together with a group of friends from law school and work and we went duckpin bowling! For those of you not from the Baltimore area, duckpin is a local pastime with smaller pins and balls, and 3 chances to knock down the pins. At Patterson Lanes, where we went bowling, it's BYOB and BYOS (snacks!) so we had an awesome spread of goodies to enjoy while bowling.

I brought the marshmallows :)

Mmm fancy beers....

After bowling, we continued the party over at Matthew's Pizza for some dinner (yes, this was the second time in one day I had pizza. Happy new year!). Matthew's is famous in Baltimore and claims to be the city's first pizzeria, established in 1943. They serve deep dish pizza, which is atypical 'round these parts, and I had never been so I was extra excited to finally go on NYD.



We got 4 kinds of pizza: Traditional, 4 Seasons, Great White, Margherita.

The Traditional was one of my favorites. It was just tomatoes and hand-grated reggianito cheese (we didn't get any toppings) but it was really satisfying and delicious. The crust was thick and chewy but still very different from Chicago-style deep dish.

Pizza pictures courtesy of Cezar - thanks hun!

Thick crust makes Matthew's great!

The Great White was made with mozzarella and reggianito cheeses (no tomato sauce) and caramelized sweet onions on top. I love white pizza and this was one of the better ones I've had recently, due to the onions and the nice thick crust.



The Margherita had basil, tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, and extra virgin olive oil and was also very good. We added Margherita at the last minute because our waitress told us 3 pizzas wouldn't have been enough for our big group, so it was a game-time decision that ended up being a good choice.



Finally, there was the 4 Seasons pizza, which had mozzarella, artichoke hearts, black olives, anchovies, mushrooms, and proscuitto on top. The gentlemen at the table nicknamed this pizza "man pizza" because they weren't afraid of the anchovies. At this point I am only into white anchovies, so I passed on the 4 Seasons. The others were so good, I didn't feel like I was missing out.



I will definitely go back to Matthew's to try more of their pizza - it was excellent and so Baltimore! Plus they have cannoli from Vaccaro's and gelato which looked delicious (I couldn't bring myself to eat ice cream when it was so cold out!).

What a great New Years Day! I had so much fun with my friends and family, couldn't have asked for a better day. Happy 2010 - it's gonna be a great year!

Cheers,
EP

T-Day 09 Post Mortem

by Xani

While we didn't do too many (read: any) pre-Thanksgiving postings, we're about to make that all up to you. Here is a down and dirty run-down of Thanksgiving 2009 at the BCD house. It was another one for the books....

Just to set the mood of the ridiculousness, I'll start off by saying that the night BEFORE Thanksgiving, we just "whipped up" an EIGHT POUND, bone-in, wet-aged prime rib roast for dinner. And Yorkshire pudding. My Dad claimed it was necessary to "make room in the freezer." Yeah.... gluttony, here we come!

Because we had a grand total of five people at Thanksgiving this year, we decided it was imperative we have TWO turkeys, lest we might starve. OK, the actual reason for the two-turkey plan was to allow us to use two very different, and somewhat experimental, preparations (in case one failed miserably, we'd have an emergency backup turkey!)

Turkey #1
Turkey #1 (a fresh, 12-lb, additive-free bird) was prepared by awesome boyfriend and meat-smoker extraordinaire, David. He started the process many days in advance by rearranging all the contents of my fridge to accommodate the giant bucket he needed to brine the turkey. The brine included apple juice, ginger, cloves, oranges, and, of course, salt. After a 24 hour soak, it came out of the brine and air-dried for a day in the fridge. Then, into the smoker, and David worked his magic...

there's magic in that smoke...

beautiful bird!

omg, it worked!

with amazing results!! Have you ever seen a more gorgeous bird!? When we carved it it was amazingly juicy, with a sweet-and-smoky flavor. Well done David!

Turkey # 2
Turkey #2 was the smallest turkey I've ever seen. At only 7 lbs, we started calling it a "turk-lette." Not that I'm complaining, as we're already up to 19 pounds of turkey, or almost four pounds per person, if you're keeping track. It was an all-natural bird my parents picked up fresh from the Amish market in Easton, Md. They dry-brined it using a revised dry-brine method from the LA times (you might recall we used this LA Times method last year.) By including black pepper and bay in the dry-brine mixture, they infused lots of flavor into the bird. But the true genius move in the preparation of Turkey #2 came from BCD Dad. We were running out of precious fridge space on the big day, and the turkey, while small, was still taking up more than its share as it was drying out (after we removed it from the brine). Dad suggested the weather on Taylor's island that day was a perfect "mock fridge"-- about 40 degrees, dry, and 35 knot winds! Moments later #2 was perched on the deck, skin flapping in the breeze, enjoying his last moments of glory. The fridge was suddenly that much roomier, and all we had to do was make sure no one let the dog onto the deck... and keep a lookout for hungry eagles. In the end, the air-drying worked PERFECTLY-- the bird was totally transformed after a few hours out there. We roasted it up, and aside from a few timing issues (tiny turkeys cook WAY fast, who knew?), it came out with super-crispy skin, and moist, flavorful meat. Success!

fly, turkey, fly!

into the great blue yonder...

Dad's hand for scale

Turkey was clearly the star of the show, but we had plenty (and I mean plenty) of other great dishes. Our family starts every Thanksgiving with some traditional nibbles- crudite, blue cheese dressing, olives- and this year we added BCD Mom's fantastic chopped chicken liver, dressing it up with some pickled red onions to make a fabulous little crostini.

Alongside of the turkey, we enjoyed a lovely bacon, onion, and rye bread stuffing, goat cheese twice-baked potatoes, cranberry sauce, glazed brussels sprouts and apples in browned butter and cream, and two kinds of rolls (yeast rolls and sweet potato rolls). These were all brand-new recipes, with lots of new and interesting flavors. Maybe we'll go back to traditional recipes next year, but this year was all about trying new things!

the Thanksgiving plate-- never a pretty sight

The rolls were from a local vendor, but everything else we cranked out from scratch over a day or so before Thanksgiving. And they were all big successes! I especially liked the stuffing and the cranberry (which had a very deep, spicy flavor to it), but the brussels were SO rich and delicious... and who doesn't like a twice bakes potato?? No friend of mine! What can I say, I liked it all!

The sweet finale was a sweet-potato pie with marshmallow meringue. I was making sweet potato pie for the first time and little worried-- first, that it might not come together correctly, and second, even if it did, that I might not like it (I'm not a fan of pumpkin pie). Turns out I didn't need to worry on either front-- it was delicious. Buttery graham cracker crust, rich, sweet, and earthy filling, and marshmallow-y soft topping. YUM!

Another delicious Thanksgiving has come and gone, and even the leftovers are dwindling (ok, that part is only partly true- still LOTS of turkey in the fridge). Guess that means its time to start planning yummy holiday meals. Plus, EP and I have a super-special, like, once-in-a-lifetime experience coming up very soon that will MOST DEFINITELY be a blog post. Coming soon...

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday and celebrated all you have to be thankful for. I know I did!

X

update/P.S. OMG, I forgot the gravy! After a life-long struggle (?) to create a delicious, rich gravy, this year, I finally achieved my goal. The secret? Make turkey stock a day or two BEFORE Thanksgiving. To make the stock, we roasted up some turkey wings until they were nice and brown, then threw them in a pot and barely simmered them for about 6 hours. Then added carrot, celery stalk, onion, garlic, a bay leaf and a few peppercorns. An hour later, strained, cooled and chilled. On Thanksgiving, I added this glorious stock to a roux made from 50% chicken fat, 50% butter, and flour, and voila! Gorgeous gravy. A drop of apple cider vinegar was the perfect finishing touch.

Cover girls!

by Erin

Wow, it's been a long time since we've talked. How have you been, Dear Reader? Xani and I have been busy with work and play (including slaughtering 80 oysters and 15 lbs of lobster last weekend for BCD Dad's birthday -- and note that there were only 2 lobsters!) and are working on some posts that will be coming soon - we promise!!

Today I write because our second article for the Federal Hill South Free News (our neighborhood newsletter) came out last night! And guess what else: we're on the front page!

See the PDFs here and here for our article about fun tips for Halloween. We wrote about our old favorites like Haunted Gingerbread Houses and Caramel Apple Ghosts, and also added an idea to have a pumpkin-carving party at home or at a local park.

We hope everyone is enjoying the fall weather and is gearing up for Halloween! Happy Halloween everyone!

Cheers,

EP

ps. For those of you who haven't heard, we unfortunately did not win the title for Best Foodie Blog in the Mobbies :( But, we were in 1st or 2nd place the whole time thanks to the overwhelming response from all of our wonderful fans! Thanks everyone for your support!!

I Feel Spooky-Coziness in the Air....

by Xani

Regular readers, or anyone who has ever met EP or myself, know that Halloween is our favorite holiday. No question. Even the slight chill of fall, a rust-colored leaf, or writing a "10" in front of the date on a check gets me in the Halloween mood. So if you are anything like us, you're starting to feel that itch to get your Halloween on. I thought I'd go through the archives and dig up some of our old seasonal posts to start getting things all kinds of spooky up in here!

Going waaay back into the x-files, here's a post about a fabulous party where we invited our guests to make their own Haunted Gingerbread Houses! Making that much gingerbread was a terrifying ordeal but the party was a blast!

We made a LOT of gingerbread

Spook-tacular!

Another scaaaary Halloween memory was the caramel lady-apple ghosts we made as seasonal treats for our friends and co-workers. Things really got ominous when we almost burned down Mom and Dad's house with a caramel boil-over. Luckily the spirits took pity on us and the apples came out great!

Almost boil over-- the horror!

Boo!

Finally, we remember back to last year, when we threw a truly over-the-top Seven Deadly Sins Halloween Soiree. The costumes were fierce, the decorations were creepy, and the food was out of this world. The only thing scarier than the costume fashion show was the giant mess to clean up the next day-- but it was worth it!

Clementine all spooked-out

Halloween isn't complete without costumes

Themed food? Sounds like us...

So what do those crazy BCD girls have in store for THIS Halloween?? Only one way to find out, keep reading! And don't forget to vote for BCD in the Mobbies, everyday through Oct 9. We need your help!

Keep it scary,

X

Blackacre Blowout!

by Erin and Xani



Last weekend we finally had our long-awaited Housewarming for Blackacre! Disguised as a Labor Day party, we were able to get lots of our friends and a few family (and near-family) members out to the shore to eat, drink, swim, and bask in the sun.

As is typical for the BCD family, we started planning this shindig weeks - nay, months? - before the big day. Of course the party had to be elaborately themed, and BCD Dad thought a South of France them would be most appropriate considering the surroundings. We did a lot of menu research and had several family conference calls (yes, seriously) to plan the party.

Finally, we decided on a menu:

• Chilled zucchini soup with arugula oil


• Gruyere and caramelized onion tart


• Mediterranean relish with pita chips


• Open faced ratatouille sandwiches


• Ham, gruyere, and apple sandwiches


• Watermelon and feta salad


• Green bean and tomato salad with herbs
  
• Fresh fruit


• Olives and cornichons
  

We had a great time putting this menu together and cooking everything throughout the weekend. Some of the recipes are old favorites (e.g., mediterranean relish, ham/gruyere/apple sandwich) while others were new for us. In either case, we did many, MANY calculations to determine how much of each dish we should make. We were expecting around 80 people for a lunchtime party, so we knew people were going to eat and drink a lot, we just weren't sure how much. Let's just say we spent a decent amount of time calculating how many ounces of watermelon we would get out of a 10lb watermelon for the watermelon/feta salad, and calculators and pi were involved. Mmm pi....

Once we had finally determined how much of each dish to make, we got to cookin'. Xani was in charge of the Gruyere and Caramelized Onion Tart. She is a master at making pie dough (just like our Grandma Irma!) and uses a special rolling out technique that gives the dough a puff pastry-like quality when baked. When paired with uber-caramelized onions, shredded gruyere, and a bit of dijon mustard, the tart was one of the major hits of the party! SO delicious with wonderfully strong flavors.

BCD Dad had the task of cararmelizing the onions until they were practically onion jam. Here is a photo montage:

Ta da!

Erin made the mediterranean relish (we calculated that we should make SEVEN times the recipe - we were a little conservative, meaning we ended up with mucho leftovers), a classic in our hors d'oeuvres arsenal. It was a hit, as usual!

BCD Mom was in charge of the chilled zucchini soup, which was surprisingly good considering it was VEGAN. We served the soup in little dixie cups so people could have a 1-2 sip serving, as opposed to serving the soup in bowls, and we kept the soup cold by putting the tray of cups in a hotel pan filled with ice. The system worked beautifully! We wanted to add a no-fuss garnish to the soup (meaning easy to be eaten in one sip), so we made an arugula oil to put on top via squeeze bottle. Normal! In addition, we made some delicious homemade croutons that guests could add if they wanted.

Zo much zucchini

The two sandwiches were hits as well. We wanted to serve a vegetarian "main dish" and ratatouille seemed like the perfect dish. Instead of making ratatouille sandwiches, which we feared would get soggy over time, we opted for an "open-face" format where we served toasted slices of baguette that had been drizzled with olive oil and salt and pepper, and guests could compose their own sandwiches. We were told that it was some of the best ratatouille our guests had ever had!

The ham and gruyere sandwich was a repeat from our Bastille Day party back in '05 (pre-blog!). The sandwich includes ham, sliced gruyere, and sliced golden delicious apples on baguette, with a sour cream-bleu cheese spread. A-mazing. Xani had the cute idea to leave the butcher paper on the outside of each sandwich, so it was like the sandwich was from a bistro!

Our two salads were delicious and refreshing. The green bean-tomato salad used lots of fresh herbs and a simple vinaigrette.

Xani made up the recipe for the watermelon-feta salad, which includes only 4 ingredients: watermelon, feta cheese, mint, and black pepper. Yum!

In addition to everything, we served a bowl of fresh stone fruit from Emily's, the farmstand down the road (and by "down the road," I mean 20 minutes away), a plate of olives and cornichon, and peanuts in the shell.

As for booze, we served a chilled Rosé (Costiére de Nimes), and we got a keg of Stella Artois. We also had the fixings for a campari cocktail (campari, soda, twist of lemon). Many drinks were drank :)

We did not do a dessert (except the fresh fruit) because we told our friends if they wanted to bring something, bring a dessert - and they did! We had many yummy desserts on hand from friends including Emily, who made raspberry and chocolate macarons from scratch!



As you can tell from the pictures, in addition to all the cooking we did, we also had red, white, and blue decorations, French music (including but not limited to Edith Piaf, Maurice Chevalier, Carla Bruni, Charles Trenet, and Brigitte Bardot) and we OF COURSE made signs for the party. Dad bought some plastic menu holders for us so we printed out the signs (in French and English) and then decorated with red and blue stickers of all shapes and sizes. We may or may not have spent half an hour looking for appropriate stickers in the craft store (esp. the sale bins - only one dollar!).

In addition to lots of eating and drinking, our friends and family enjoyed the pool, the kayak, a few friendly games of petanque (bocce ball), and many hours sitting by the Bay and enjoying the sunshine. What a great way to say goodbye to the summer! We're so glad so many of our friends could make it all the way out to Blackacre (and sorry to our guests who got caught in the Bridge traffic!) - thanks everyone!

Special thanks to Michael, Cookie, and Lynn, our helpers for the day - we couldn't have had such a successful, organized party without you! And of course, a million thanks to our wonderful parents who let us throw parties at their gorgeous home. Thanks Mom and Dad! We love you!!



So long summer,

E & X