Happy Halloween

Grapes? On a Sandwich?

So as I mentioned a few weeks ago, my BFF Anne and I are catering/beautifying our friend's 50th birthday bash. The party is next Saturday, so basically the mad rush to the finish line has begun. You know what I learned this week? You can freeze cookies after you bake them. You know what else I learned? It improves the texture of a chocolate chip cookie. No joke.

Anyway, we've got a couple things on the menu I haven't made before, so this week has also been about shoving food in Anne's husband's mouth because he has the most amazing palate ever. Seriously, he can taste the subtlest of things and always knows when something needs more pepper. So, yes, yes, this all leads me to grapes on sandwiches.

The photo above comes from a VT recipe for what is basically an open faced sandwich - which we concluded yesterday would be very, very messy. I'm doing them more like a crostini (I liberally use that word to mean food on top of little toasted breads) and made a couple changes, but WOW these were good.

First up, I went with fontina cheese, because (A) I went to three grocery stores before I could find taleggio and (B) when I did I discovered it was about $6/lb more than the fontina. Next, I used the multiest-grainiest bread I could find because again, trying to track down a decent walnut bread was becoming a problem. Last, I used honey instead of agave, because, I don't know, I just have this thing with agave.

Anne's husband's mouth said: a little more honey, don't go overboard with the watercress, and (you knew this was coming): needs more pepper. Overall a big hit, and the smaller size made them way easier to shove in your mouth without getting watercress down the front of your shirt.

Now my main concern is to not stroke out before next weekend!

A day late and a dollar short (aka: music edition)

You may have seen this Brandt Brauer Frick video make the blog rounds last week; I did but, I don't know, I was busy picking lint out of my belly button or something because I didn't get around to watching/listening til today. OMGWOW. Acoustic Techno. No, seriously.

Go here: Buy Now. Thank me later.

(Or, tell me I'm an idiot because you watched, bought and listened last week.)

10 top tips to end rape! (brilliant edition)

From Rape Crisis Scotland. Someone should send this to the NYPD.

Straight Outta Dunwoody

Sexy

Seriously, is that not the sexiest ice cream cone you have ever seen in your life?

Apparently, it's from The Icecreamists, you know the people that made the breast milk ice cream? I don't actually know what all is in this, I found it on reddit where it was described as Red Velvet ice cream, which is good enough for me. Red velvet anything is good enough for me.

In other news...my BFF Anne and I just got hired to cater and beautify our friends 50th birthday bash this November. So it's very likely the next 30-ish days will be filled with food and flower pr0n. Just a heads up!

Modern Kado

So, remember I told you about my BFF Anne, the Ikebana wizard? Well, we finally launched her website, Modern Kado, and this weekend I gave her a hand with some flowers she did for a wedding. And by helped I mean I crinkled the tissue paper, put peppermint in the boxes, and tried not to stick myself with corsage pins. Surprisingly, I was successful.

In any case, Anne is awesome, and if you're in the PHX area you should totally have her do flowers for your next party. And if you're not in PHX you should read her blog because she has good flower tips and really cute dogs.