This weekend Jess and I hosted a baby shower for some good friends of ours. It was a relatively simple affair with a surprisingly large crowd of individuals and couples. I don’t know if Jess and I are missing a memo but it seems as though everyone we know is having a baby this year. I guess we are just getting to be the age where most people begin to feel the need to expand their families and begin this new chapter in their lives.

Everyone at the party seemed to be having a good time. Our friend Shanna wanted this to be a couples shower which to me was something I hadn’t heard of before. I was a bit apprehensive at first as not all of the guys who were invited were with someone but think that in the end it was a pretty neat idea. Even the single guys had fun especially when we broke out the string to guess how big her waist had gotten. While most people made a guess from their own waist however, these enterprising individuals thought the measurement of a bust line from one of our particularly busty single female guests was a better guess. Interestingly enough, they were the ones who came closest. Maybe they were onto something and I should have paid more attention?!

Since the shower we were hosting was for some really close friends of ours we wanted to make a cake for them that would be really special. We made this two tiered cake and separated each layer with a layer with vanilla buttercream frosting and strawberries. It was fantastically delicious! I also think that for amateur cake decorators we did a pretty darn good job with the fondant. It was a homemade fondant recipe that tasted way better then the stuff you pick up at the store! Tons cheaper too! I plan on sharing the recipe with yall once we master the art of decorating which I hope will be soon. The only thing that really disappointed me about the cake was that we didn’t make the royal icing stiff enough for the dirty icing, or we filled the layers with too much frosting which allowed the split layers to sag a little bit when the cake warmed up causing a little indentation. Other than that we were really pleased with how it turned out. But that’s one of the things I really enjoy about baking, sometimes you make mistakes and you learn from those mistakes allowing you to do better on the next one.

We also had the pleasure of making quite a few of the appetizers for this event as well. While all of the other appetizers we made were delicious I was particularly surprised and pleased with the recipe we used from the Taste of Home magazine that we had picked up the other month. I really love this magazine as they do a great job of putting together beautiful mouth watering pictures coupled with recipes that really taste great! Their recipe for Potato Salad Bites was fantastic. Submitted by Stephanie Sheridan, of Plainfield, Vermont, the potato salad bites were quick and easy to make and packed some really great flavor that basically made these reminiscent of deviled eggs only with baby red potatoes. This has definitely been cataloged for future reference!

Potato Salad Bites
Taste of Home Magazine
Stephanie Sheridan, Plainfield, Vermont

Ingredients:
10 small red potatoes
¼ cup chopped pimiento-stuffed olives
2 teaspoons minced fresh parsley
1 teaspoon finely chopped onion
½ cup mayonnaise
1 ¾ teaspoons Dijon mustard
1/8 teaspoon pepper
¼ teaspoon salt
Paprika
Parsley sprigs, optional

Directions:

1.Place potatoes in a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and cook for 12-15 minutes or until tender. Drain and immediately place potatoes in ice water; drain and pat dry.
2. Peel two potatoes; finely dice and place in a small bowl. Cut the remaining potatoes in half. With a melon baller, scoop out the pulp, leaving a 3/8 in. shell; set shells aside. Dice pulp and add to the bowl. Stir in the olives, parsley and onion,. Combine the mayonnaise, mustard and pepper; gently stir into potato mixture.
3. Sprinkle potato shells with salt; stuff with potato salad. Sprinkle with paprika. Chill for at least 1 hour before serving. Garnish with parsley in desired.

Here’s to a new year and new beginnings!

In my last post I couldn’t help but mourn the loss of my long standing good friend the point and shoot camera that I had used it to create many a good memories. So I feel is only fitting to write it’s obituary here.

This Point and shoot camera having passed on Christmas Day 2009 was well into its fifth year of service and had become obsolete by today’s camera standards. In a world full of DLSR’s and high resolution photos this point and shoot camera struggled to make an honest living shooting food porn. Despite its short comings in megapixels, ISO and Aperture ratings, it had been known to be able to hold its own on a good day against many DSLR’s when it came to photographing its favorite subject of all; Food Porn. While many other cameras would shutter upon gaining such information as to its profession; this point and shoot was proud of its work and didn’t mind long hours of monotonously shooting food in the nude. This well known camera had been known to say many a nights “it’s a dirty job but somebody has to do and it might as well be me”. Survived by none, missed by many a food porn subjects past, the world will forever be a little less nude.

Well now that that is out of the way… Say hello to the new hotness!

This is my new baby! I finally decided that it was time to cough up the dough and get myself a camera that is truly worthy of continuing my food porn legacy. While I know my shots of the bistro salad are not 100 percent up to par with what one would expect from a DSLR. I must say I can already see a noticeable difference and cannot wait to learn all the fine tuning options that are now available at my fingertips.

I wanted to share one of my favorite salads with you because it is a time for new beginnings and I’m pretty sure many of you made a New Year’s resolution to eat a little healthier and possibly lose some weight over the next year. At least I know that was part of my New Year’s resolution and the bistro salad will probably be a big player in that effort. While I know this salad is not the healthiest of salad options out there (probably because we use the bacon fat in the dressing) it is a lot better for you then say a croquet monsieur (which is sounding pretty tasty right now).

The Bistro salad is quick and easy to make and comes directly from one of my all time favorite cook books, The Joy of Cooking. The Joy of Cooking Cook Book is full wisdom and recipes and should be an essential part of every cooks cook book arsenal. It is fresh and delicious and tastes like my favorite of all time foods…. bacon! …. Mmmm…. Bacon…..

Bistro Salad
From The Joy of Cooking

Ingredients:

8oz thick cut bacon, cut crosswise into ½ inch strips
Enough extra virgin olive oil to make ½ cup total
2 shallots, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tblespoon minced parsley
1 teaspoon thyme leaves
Salt and black pepper to taste
2 heads large frisee, torn into bite-sized pieces
Courtons
6 poached eggs well drained and trimmed

Directions:

Cook bacon in large skillet until crisp. Drain on paper towels. Pour the fat into a glass measuring cup and add olive oil until ½ cup reached. Set aside.
Cook shallots until softened, about 2 minutes. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute until softened and fragrant.
Add red wine vinegar scraping up the browned bits in the pan for 30 seconds.
Whisk in the reserved bacon fat mixture and stir in parsley, thyme, salt and pepper to taste. Meanwhile, place in a salad bowl frisee.
Toss with bacon and croutons. Top with poached eggs.

I love California sushi rolls! The only problem is making a bunch of small sushi rolls is a pain! Especially when it comes to getting the sticky rice just right! Mine never seems to have the right amount of “sticky” quality. So I wanted to make a salad recipe (because those are a lot easier to not f* up and are a heck of a lot faster to make) that tastes just like one of my favorite sushi rolls.

I must admit that I was really surprised, and pleased, with my creation as it definitely contains all of the great qualities of a California sushi roll. The creaminess of the avocado meshes perfectly with the sweet tang of the tequila lime crab meat. If you top it off with a sesame ginger dressing you won’t be able to tell the difference between the California rolls and the salad (with the exception of the neat little bite sized rolls and rice factor). So pour a shot of sake, put on your favorite sushi shop music and slip into your Zen meditation as you enjoy this great salad!

Tequila Lime Crab Salad

Ingredients:

• 16 oz fresh crab meat
• 1/2 cup tequila lime marinade
• 1 bag fresh spinach salad
• 1 avocado pitted peeled and sliced
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes
• 1/4 cup scallions minced
• 1 cup sliced pitted Greek olives
• 1/2 cucumber sliced
• 1/4 cup shredded Colby jack cheese

Directions:

In a medium sized Pyrex dish combine tequila lime marinade and crab meat. Let marinate for 1 hour in fridge.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
Bake crab meat in marinade for 12 minutes.
While crab meat is baking, fill plate with remaining ingredients. Top with cooked crab meat and cheese.