Dress Floozy Anonymous: food

Showing posts with label food. Show all posts

Monday, June 6, 2011

The Middle

You might think I’m referring to being the middle child, or being in the middle of family conflicts, or that television show The Middle. Or that Jimmy Eat World song The Middle. Or, the middle finger. But I’m not.

I’m referring to something much, much more important than any of those things. And something much more near and dear to my heart.

I’m referring to….The Middle Brownie!

Image via Divine Baking

People have very strong opinions about their brownies. Apparently, a lot of people like their brownies with edges. There are entire specialty cake pans devoted to baking a whole batch of brownies so that each brownie, when cut, has a crispy edge.

Baker's Edge Brownie Pan via Shop.com

Slice Solutions Pan via And Another Thing

I just don’t understand the point of this. I hate those tough, chewy edges. I want my brownie cakey (or fudgy) and completely edgeless. So what if it’s a bit more messy? It’s DELICIOUS. I want someone to make a brownie pan that only bakes middle brownies. No edges. (I realize this might be impossible, but I like to dream big.)

Here’s a story for you. I was a senior in college and baked some brownies in the dorm kitchen, which was all the way down the hall from my room. I pulled the brownies out of the oven, left them to cool, and walked back to my room. Ten minutes later I walked back to get my heavenly brownies, following the delicious scent wafting down the hallway, and what did I find?

The entire middle was missing from my brownies!!! I thought this was a practical joke, and that perhaps my friends had cut the middle out of my brownies, but of course not eaten it because that would be way cruel. But no, apparently some Neanderthal punk ate the entire middle out of my brownies. I guess I can’t blame him too much…I mean, it is the best part.

[Um, Magic? What does this have to do with weddings?]

Oh, sorry, my bad. See, we’re having cake, and s’mores, but we are also having brownies! So I’m looking for the best brownie recipes in the whole entire world! Normally I use a coupon and buy what brownie mix is on sale, and Dr. Bridesmaid swears by the Ghiradelli brownies which are quite delicious.

Image via My Brands

But I’m betting with all these women in The Hive, there are some awesome brownie recipes out there! So, do you have a favorite brownie mix or recipe? Also, let’s settle this once and for all….

Poll:

Preach it, Magic, middle brownies are da bomb!

You crazy girl, edge brownies are the way to go!

I can’t believe you spend so much time thinking about brownies. Just eat them and enjoy!

I can’t believe you just said “da bomb.”

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Back in the Saddle Again

Even though (when I wrote this) our wedding is, like, 408 days away, we are beginning to kick our planning into high gear. Part of this is because wedding planning is more fun than gardening, paying bills, grocery shopping, or working. And part of this is because my job situation is gonna get a little crazy in about six months to a year, with budget cuts and mergers and all kinds of potentially stressful things happening. My big plan is to get the majority of our vendors locked down now, so I can worry about other silly things like employment and finances when I need to. Good plan, huh?

Recently, I picked myself up, dusted my jeans off, and got back on the horse. And by that I mean, I psyched myself up to look into some more caterers. Remember that time I freaked out? Yeah. I buried my head in the sand for awhile but now I have pulled it out of the sand, I'm back in the saddle again, and I am riding into the sunset on my trusty steed. Yippie ki yi yay!

Gene Autry's Back in the Saddle Again

Sufficiently cowgirled up with spurs on my boots and my sharp shooter at the ready, I contacted the General Store Cafe located in Pittsboro, North Carolina.

General Store Cafe

I first discovered this restaurant in the summer of 2000 when I worked as a camp counselor at Camp Royall, a camp for folks with autism spectrum disorder. Then, it was one of the few places in the small by awesome town of Pittsboro (the PBO, for short) that had internet. Now, it still retains it's small town vibe but is a community hub for news, art, music, and film. The food is delicious and they just started catering two years ago! Woo frickin hoo, y'all!

The good folks over at the General Store Cafe immediately invited us out for a tasting. Uh, yes please! We chose to taste their Italian Buffet menu, and they said they would make us some select dishes from it. We were quickly brought out some delicious and lovely starters...

Caesar salad and Caprese Display
(photos from my iPhone, lame I know)

The Caesar salad tasted pretty regular to me, but the Caprese Display was super yummy. And, the presentation is pretty badass too.

Next came the entrees!

On this enormous platter (you can't tell how big it is, but trust me, it was huge!) was:
-Pork Picatta
-Goat Cheese Risotto Cakes
-Eggplant Parmesean
-Pesto Portabello and Zucchini
-Chicken Marsala

And then...

Penne Puttanesca and Rosemary and Garlic Focaccia

Basically, I shoved my mouth full of food and the women trying to ask me questions about our wedding plans and hopes for our menu had to deal with barely coherent answers between me chewing and my gasps of "ohmygodthisissogooooooooddddddddd."

I really loved the eggplant Parmesan (and I am a total meat and potatoes girl, so that says a lot). It was so cheesy and just slightly crispy on the outside - total yum. Also the pesto grilled veggies were delicious. The chicken marsala was good but nothing to freak out over, and the pork was good too...maybe a bit salty.

And guess what? Mr. Magic, the world's pickiest eater, enjoyed the items as well. He even ate some tomatoes out of the Caprese salad. It was like ~~a miracle~~ magic!

We decided our buffet will look something like this:

-Caesar salad
-Caprese display
-Grilled Pesto Portabello and Zucchini
-A Pasta bar! Couple types of pasts with various sauces...yum!
-Eggplant Parm
-Chicken Parm

We got the quote, and it is definitely affordable. I mean, as affordable as a yummy Italian buffet could possibly be, I think. So, we are totally going for it! It feels so amazing to have such a huge item locked down and crossed off the list!

Do you think all the pasta will put everyone in a food coma? :-)

Saturday, July 3, 2010

British Shower: Eatin' and Drankin'

Yes, I said "drankin'." It was a, um, southern England party.

I thought I'd let you in on some of the thinkin' behind throwing a British shower. You know, in case you have a Britophile freak for a friend and need to throw a shower in this style. As I said before, the theme was chosen because the bride, Pumpkin, loves England! The idea for a British tea was passed around, but that was a bit too stuffy for our group of gals so we stuck with the British theme but made it more fun.

The food and drinks were a bit of a challenge, because, as you may have heard, British food is not all that delish (sorry British bees...maybe we just aren't cultured enough to appreciate it!). Plus, BM Pumpkin is a vegetarian, so having "bangers and mash" was out.

source

In the end, we decided to do half semi-authentic British food, and half regular party food with made up British names. We kept it vegetarian because we are so freakin' thoughtful (although having chicken wings did cross my mind, I'm not gonna lie. We could have called them, um, "Big Ben's Chick-en." Haha, I'm so (not) clever).

For the drinks we had Liverpool Punch and Pimms Cup, which is the Official Drink of Wimbeldon.

Left: Pimm's Cup prepared by Bridesmaid Bunny. She used Pimms liquor, sprite, strawberries, cucumbers, and lemons. Right: Liverpool Punch (sherbert punch) made by Matron of Honor M.

Next, we had cheese and crackers...but not just any crackers! Recently, I was just in Ireland, and my hotel was in walking distance from a Tesco. I was chatting with BM Pumpkin and asked, under the pretense of being hungry, what I should get from Tesco. She immediately responded with "Jacob's Cream Crackers and Cadbury Double Decker candy bars." I know, she's crazy. I lied to her and told her I could never get to the Tesco, but in my luggage I brought back two packages of Jacob's Cream Crackers (below) and 25 Double Decker candy bars (you'll see those later).