This is a fruity, summery cocktail, not too sweet and just in time for election fever!
<<<<Watch the video instructions>>>>
A few craft store supplies can seriously elevate your entertaining ‘game’. White tape and sticker numbers transform a green tablecloth. Diamond-shapes cut from construction paper, folded in half and glued over yarn, make an impressive pennant banner. Brown felt, white paint, and hot glue are that’s necessary to create these DIY football koozies.
I love these Super Bowl Bingo cards from Play.Party.Pin!
I’m just beginning to feel winter in the air, but I’m already longing for hot summer days. Here’s a throwback to a job I did a couple months ago illustrating the step-by-step process of making ice cream sandwiches.
tzatziki
sheep’s milk yogurt, cucumber, olive oil, vinegar, dill, garlic, salt
taramosalata
carp fish roe, potato, olive oil, lemon juice
melitzanosalata
eggplant, olive oil, vinegar, garlic, salt, parsley
Tsoureki, a sweet bread similar to brioche, is traditionally topped with red-dyed eggs for Easter.
Whisk the vinegar, salt+pepper, and olive oil together. Toss with the watermelon, feta, olives, onion, and mint.
Beer float? Strange, yes – but interesting enough to be worth the risk. Really.
This version uses Guinness and coffee ice cream; neither are crowd-pleasers, so experiment with flavors and brews to your heart’s content.
This concoction barely calls for instruction, but here goes:
I’ll go-ahead and admit it: before I moved to NYC, the only Jewish holiday I could name was Hanukkah.
As an attempt at some justification of this inexcusable ignorance, .03% of the population of North Carolina (where I spent a decade of my formative years) is Jewish.
Side effect: I lived a Hamantaschen-deprived life.
Hamantachen are cakey sugar dough cookies with a filling, most traditionally poppy seeds or prune butter made & eaten to celebrate Purim. Purim is a holiday similar to Mardi Gras in that it is celebrated with lots of heavy drinking and masquerading. It celebrates the story of Esther, whose bravery saved the Persian Jews 2,500 years ago.
The hamantaschen recipe below is my friend Jill’s, by way of her Jewish boyfriend’s grandmother. Those are her hands in the photos, too!
Makes 4 dozen. Hamantaschen freeze well.
Keeps in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks and also freezes well.
My apologies to the easily offended. Candy solutions to off-color problems must be shared.
In my defense, lest I be judged a total lech, these cupcakes weren’t my idea. These naughty cakes were a special request from a friend, a gift to her husband at his birthday party.
If there is ever another occasion calling for such an inappropriate dessert, here is the method:
I used plain vanilla frosting, but chocolate would work just as well, or vanilla with a little food coloring to achieve a more realistic flesh-tone.
This fantastic bowl of food was made using this Nigella Lawson recipe as inspiration. It’s from the “TV Dinners” episode of her show, and although it is overall a fairly simple dish to prepare, any dish that involves shelling and deveining shrimp isn’t in on my list of quick & easy. I’ll try pumpkin instead of butternut squash next time for a more carb heavy, filling wintry main.
1 (14-ounce) can coconut milk (about 1 2/3 cups)
1 tbsp red Thai curry paste
1 1/2 cups fish stock (I used broth from boiling the shrimp shells for about an hour)
3 tbsps fish sauce
2 tbsps sugar (I left this out)
3 lemongrass stalks, each cut into 1/3’s and bruised with the flat of a knife (I used a tsp of ground lemongrass)
3 lime leaves, stalked and cut into strips (I couldn’t find this in my grocery store)
1/2 tsp turmeric (I forgot this)
2 1/4 lbs butternut squash, peeled and cut into large, bite-sized chunks
1 lb salmon fillet, skinned and cut into bite-sized chunks
1 lb peeled raw shrimp
bok choy or any other green vegetables of your choice (I used peas)
juice of 1 lime
cilantro
I added:
1 tbsp finely chopped fresh ginger
4 finely chopped garlic cloves
1 medium white onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, julienned
Skim the thick creamy top off the can of coconut milk and put it into a large saucepan with the curry paste, over medium heat. Beat the cream and paste together until combined. (Here I added the onion, then the garlic and ginger). Stir in the rest of the coconut milk, fish stock, fish sauce, and lemongrass. Bring to a boil and then add the squash (and red pepper). Cook on a fast simmer until the squash is tender, anywhere from 5-15 minutes.
You can cook the curry up until this part in advance, maybe leaving the squash with a tiny bit of bite to it (it will soften and cook as the pan cools). Either way, when you’re about 5 minutes from wanting to eat, get ready to cook the seafood.
So, to the robustly simmering pan, add the salmon and shrimp (if you’re using frozen shrimp they’ll need to go in before the salmon). When the salmon and shrimp have cooked through, which shouldn’t take more than 3 to 4 minutes, stir in any green vegetable you’re using – sliced, chopped or shredded as suits – and tamp down with a wood spoon. When the bok choy is wilted, or other green vegetable is cooked, squeeze in the juice of half a lime, stir and taste and add the juice of the remaining half if you feel it needs it. Take the pan off the heat and pour the curry into a large bowl, and sprinkle over the cilantro; the point is that the cilantro goes in just before serving. Serve with more chopped cilantro for people to add their own bowls as they eat, and some plain Thai or basmati rice (I used brown rice).
Pour your favorite brownie batter into a greased pan. Fill a piping bag with cream cheese mix (for a 9″ square pan: 8oz box of cream cheese, an egg, sugar and perhaps a flavoring or extract). Pipe thick lines of cream cheese filling across the length of the pan. Drag a knife through each line of cream cheese, alternating direction with each stroke. Voila!
In between cramming cardboard boxes full of my belongings, I made a big pot of chili and a double batch of pico de gallo the day before moving. After the long day that followed, I threw a housewarming party that featured a homemade meal. Hearty, satisfying, and personal, it was the perfect way to feed my the friends who volunteered to help and introduce myself to my new roommates. And it doesn’t get more PRACTICAL: easy to make, the flavor only improves after a night in the fridge, economical, vegetarian, gluten-free, and interactive (bowls of mix-ins like cheese, sour cream, and bacon pieces allow every palate to be satisfied). Another bit of gold: mix pico de gallo into some mashed avocado and presto, fresh guacamole.
Flash In a Pan 
