March = Mocha Madness!

This month’s food was “Bad Bad (Leroy) Brown!!"

You may be confused by this intro. “Wasn’t March supposed to be ‘Magenta’?” Well – yes. Originally, this month was supposed to be a vibrant display of all pink foods. But in researching this fun food color, I got my heart set on an exotic beauty - a tropic delicacy called dragonfruit. 

© Ian Maguire UF/IFAS/TREC

http://trec.ifas.ufl.edu/tfphotos/012304.htm

I searched countless stores this month in hopes of finding this elusive delight. Knowing it's popularity across Eastern Asia, I even stopped at three markets in Chicago's Chinatown. No dragonfruits were available. Such a disappointment. But when I set my sights on something, there's no looking back! I will not give up hope! Sometime this year, I will find and try this intriguing fruit. 

In the meantime, I decided to swap my "Magenta - March" and "Mocha - May" themes. So March ended up being focused on a variety of rich, brown foods. 

Here’s what the meal involved:

Cocktails: Choice between a variety of Nick's home brews or a homemade root beer! The picture highlight's one of Nick's more recent beers - a dopplebock. 

  
Bread: Spent grain bread using the leftovers from Nick's latest brew batch!

Appetizer: Wild rice pilaf with wilted spinach. Note - I made this more in the style of a rice stuffing by removing the currants and adding bacon, celery, and crisp apples. 

Entrée: French style pot roast with homemade wheat noodles.

Dessert: Triple chocolate mousse cake.

After Dinner Drinks: Nutty irishman (Toasting  KU's Men's Basketball team!! While we may not have won the nationals, we had a great showing across the season! Rock Chalk! Go Jayhawks!)

So, while I switched from Magenta to Mocha a bit last minute, I can honestly say that Bad Bad Brown turned out So So Good!

Before closing  - let me share one of my all time favorite poems. It's an appropriately themed composition by my high-school friend, Jennifer Bulmash.

brown

when you are a kindergartenbaby,

happy-eyed and

your marker-free fingers are still smelling of dish soap and

there are bubbles in the in-betweens of your hands

from being washed and

they ask

what is your favorite color?

you do not take lightly such a question. 

you ponder over your crayons

like you are picking the color your skin will be

from this moment on.  and when you emerge with

purple [like cake icing and sweet] they smile at your choice but

ask why not blue or green or brown? and

it takes some thought to decide why

blue or

green are

not your favorites but you can

answer right away about brown, because

no one picks brown. it does not

fly or twist or grow or sing

but

there are days, like these,

when I think –

if I had

kindergarten to do all over again, I would

stop when I reached brown,

amidst the greenandblueandpurple, and

I would secretly smile.  I think I would know about the way

brown eyes are different from brown crayons, and

such dizzying brown eyes [like yours]

make a girl feel

the need for reevaluation of

her favorite color.  because

oh,

how brown

            is,

                        allofasudden, ly

                                    breathtaking.

Next month is going to be a challenge! My "Ash" or "Grey" meal!! Stay tuned for something....interesting :)

White Night! (February - Floral White)

True to form, I waited until the last weekend of February to prepare this month’s meal. I didn’t use to be this big of a procrastinator! Honest! J

So…February was WHITE NIGHT! Although not exactly a bright flash of color, white was a delicious theme. In literature and advertising, it often symbolizes innocence and perfection. When it came to this month’s food, white was a guilty pleasure! A high-cal, flavor-full smorgasbord! I was careful to include some vegetables, but honestly, that took some creativity. Plus, the meal would have been just as delicious without them. Here’s what was involved.

Appetizer: Charcuterie plate featuring 4 cheeses, 2 meats, and baby dill pickles (all available online through Zingermans!) Cheeses were: 1. Antique Gruyère, 2. Comté, from Fort St. Antoine, 3. Bridgewater (a soft “pepper” cheese), and 4. Raw Milk Stichelton. Meats were: 1. Crespone Salami and 2. La Quercia prosciutto

Pasta: Homemade Gnocchi with a gorgonzola cream sauce. I actually used recipes from www.cooksillustrated.com but that site is only available through a subscription. The above recipes seem like great alternatives.

Entrée: Roast chicken with a fresh white salad. Again, I used www.cooksillustrated.com for the chicken but you can search online for a recipe you like. The white salad was adapted from this: http://www.everydayhealth.com/health-recipe/red--white-salad.aspx. My version included white cabbage, celery, fennel, peeled radish, and peeled apple with a mustard vinaigrette.

Dessert: Pavlova! This Australian favorite is essentially a meringue cake. I topped mine with lemon flavored whipped cream, strawberry-rhubarb compote, and fresh kiwi!

Drinks: Nick’s homemade Riesling paired nicely throughout dinner. We capped off the evening with a round of “White Russians”.

Now before I let you go…I’ve gotten quite a few comments from friends about how fun but silly this little food experiment is. Touché. Truth is…I’m just a grown up geek... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9qYF9DZPdw

Please tell your food (or music) lovin’ friends about this little project! I’d love to have a few more followers!

See you in March!

P.S. After posting this, I remembered an old poem I wrote ... Ironically, it's both "white" and "dinner" themed : )

A Napkin’s Niche

1

A white dove

Gracefully floating in the air

As the careless litter bug zooms past

2

A quick kleenex

For the runny noses of small children

Too excited about their deformed snowman

To run for the fancy Puffs

3

Laying next to the bloodstained soldiers

The only survivor after Sloppy Joe’s War

Trusty sword by his side

4

Last minute love messages

Scribbled by the hand of a teenage boy

Too shy to express his love in person

5

Best friend to the vain school girl

Praying the boys won’t see

She’s only a size A

January - Jaune (Yellow)

In conjunction with this month’s theme, please listen to the following song while reading this post. Take this request seriously. It will make your day!  J

My first month is drawing to an end. I’m excited to share that I had several outlets for exploring the creative beauty and flavor of yellow food this month! First, I discovered a new (and dare I say AWESOME) yellow fruit.

There I was, calming picking out oranges, when….WHAT! It was the strangest citron I had ever seen. Bright yellow with long, spiny fingers jutting in all directions. As if a baby octopus had somehow bread with a lemon! I picked it up and was hit by a wave of sweet, lemony fragrance. A flash of memory. This tentacled anomaly was recently featured on Iron Chef. They had called it a “Buddha Hand”. I quickly googled on my phone – ahh… confirmation:

http://www.watchonepiecepoint.com/2011/05/the-heaven-fruit-of-buddhas-hand/

http://www.cafleurebon.com/new-fragrance-review-dsh-perfume-vanille-botanique-the-hand-of-buddah-and-ruba’iyat-botanical-bliss-10ml-reader’s-choice-draw/

http://www.babyluxdesign.com/babyblog/?tag=cooking

With "yellow" on the mind, I couldn't resist buying one! But what to do with it? More googling revealed that, unlike it's basic lemon cousin, the "Buddha Hand" has no pulp. It's all pith and peel, which can be used like zest for countless culinary creations, including everything from cupcakes and creams to sauces and sorbets. I settled on candied "Buddha Hand". The gummy goodness has been a tasty treat for the last several days. And as an extra bonus, I ended up with nearly a quart of "Buddha" favored simple syrup. It's perfect for flavoring teas and mixing in cocktails. Though with so much of it, I think I'll end up repurposing it as a lemon-rosemary sorbet!

Now...on to my Sunshine Supper! I can’t promise this for every color, but really – there are LOTS of yellow foods. It was surprising simple to come up with an entire dinner themed around yellow ingredients. And without even using my “go-to” curry recipes! Here’s what the meal involved (note – linked recipes are just a start; I did a lot of personal tweaking).


APPETIZER: Cheddar Corn Chowder
ENTREE: Panko crusted chicken cutlets with a lemon pan sauce and a side of sautéed yellow squash, yellow pepper, and yellow onion. 
DESSERT: Lemon Soufflé – my first soufflé ever!

So – I’d say this experiment is off to a fabulous start. In January, I discovered 1 totally new fruit and 1 totally new technique! Plus, the overall meal was still familiar/safe enough to be enjoyed alongside a 3 year old and a 5 year old. Next time I meet a kid who’s “anti-veg”, I’ll remember to camouflage the food in a shade of happy, yellow sunshine!

How it began...

It's 2012! A new year! A fresh start! And let's face it - I'm a sap for Resolutions. I've always been a goal-driven person. If I want something, I make it a goal. A formal goal. A step-by-step, implementable, measurable goal. Set up (of course) with lots of accountability. Nerdy, I know. But it's the truth! So I started pondering..."what do I really want to do in 2012..."


Well  - I definitely wanted to start exercising more. Doctors recommend at least 150 minutes a week for a girly like me. I could accomplish that with 22 minutes, 7 days a week. Or maybe 30 minutes, 5 days a week. But man, that's hard. I needed a way to keep myself in check. So...I started paying myself as an incentive! If I do 150 minutes a week, I'll get $10. If I make it the whole month, I get a $10 bonus.


A few weeks into 2012, the exercising was going well. But - geez! It was just.... so.... boring! Of course, I'd still do it. A goal is a goal. That said, I wanted something more. Something that wouldn't require motivating incentives or accountability checks. Something interesting. Something F-U-N!


There was only one answer.


FOOD.


I love food. I mean - I really, really LOVE food. It's thrilling to make, beautiful to behold, satisfying to eat. Flavorful, colorful, seductive. Ubiquitous across time and circumstance. Both the center of wholesome events and the catalyst for wanton nights. If I wanted a 2012 goal to be interesting and fun, it had to be about -  food.


Thus, the "Year of the Food Rainbow" was born. Here's what my goal involves:

1. First, I listed the top 12 stand-alone colors
• Red, green, yellow, blue, orange, purple, black, white, brown, gray, pink, gold
2. Next, I assigned a color to each month. But rather than just doing a blanket assignment, I came up with fun ways to say these colors that also started with the first letter of each month. Took a bit of creativity, but totally worth it!
• January - Jaune
• February - Floral white
• March - Magenta
• April - Ash grey
• May - Mocha
• June - Jungle green
• July - Jet black
• August - Amethyst
• September - Scarlet
• October - Orange
• November - Navy
• December - Dorado
3. Each month, I will cook something I've never attempted before that highlights the month's color.

So - that's how it all began. Now that's it's nearly the end of January, I've only got a week and a half to come up with a killer yellow dish! Something daring that I've never tried to cook before.

http://www.yorkvision.co.uk/lifestyle/eating-the-rainbow/attachment/food-rainbow-300x262/

Stay tuned to see what I create!