Hosting a Book Club Party?

I'm up next for hosting book club and if you don't know, I love planning parties. 

I thought it would be fun to coordinate snacks with the titles of the books we've read so far.  

John and I brainstormed a bit last night in bed (which admittedly went on longer than it should have, knowing that we were losing precious minutes of sleep because this baby of ours is up by 7 am every day) and then today I took some of my favourites and edited pictures.

Yes, this is what I've been doing in my spare time today.

Sorry household chores. 

Mama's getting creative.

To be slapped onto the outside of a bucket filled with ice, keeping our vino chilled.

To be put on a baguette. Ride that grain, girl.

(This one is also my favourite, editing wise).

I couldn't find the proper font to match and couldn't space out the letters to make it a perfect fit but I think I can be forgiven in the name of goat cheese.

I also like this one. I was going to flip around 'GIRL' to 'GRIL' but... too much work. 

Again, I can be forgiven in the name of sweet, sweet grilled pineapple.

Bear Paws and Teddy Grahams. Deeeelish.

Also contenders: 'I am Malollipops', 'Stilton Alice' (for the cheese plate), 'Eleanor & Pork'

Choux Pastry for cream puffs // profiteroles // eclairs // etc

Ah, days off.

After working this past weekend, I'm happy that I only have 3 shifts to work this week. 

I started off the day by making responsibly adult decisions, namely eating Doritos for my immediate breakfast (because if I take my multivitamin on an empty stomach I get really nauseous... is how I justified that). Then I watched Let's Make a Deal, followed by the Price is Right while cuddling with Reese on the couch because the dog and I needed to thaw our toes from our walk in the park. 

Then I remembered that I had found some interesting new chocolate bars at Shoppers Drug Mart that I wanted to sample.

One is filled with red velvet cake ganache, the other with bits of potato chips and bacon. Imitation bacon, yes, but I'm sure that's for health purposes.

Neither disappointed.

Feeling in the mood for something French I decided to whip up some choux pastry for either cream puffs or profiteroles (still to be decided).

Choux pastry is the base for all things delicious: the cream puff, the profiterole, the croquembouche, the eclair, the gougere, the beignet, the cruller . . . 

 

I've made it 3 or 4 times and I've always had great results. 

The choux are light and airy and have a mild taste which allows for the other flavours you combine them with to take centre stage.

 

The recipe I use is courtesy of Williams Sonoma and it takes all of an hour (give or take) to make these delicious deserts (add more time for the cream and/or chocolate sauce).

 

Years ago I posted the recipe for choux pastry. 

Rather than link you to it (which you can get to by clicking on the W-S link above), I'm just going to break it down for you again.

• In a pot over medium heat, bring to a boil 1/2 cup milk and 1/2 cup water, 6 tbsp butter and 1/4 tsp salt.
• Remove from heat and immediately stir in 1 cup flour using the back of a wooden spoon. Continue mixing until the dough pulls away from the sides of the pot.
• One at a time, whisk 4 eggs and add into your pate a choux paste, mixing after each addition to combine. Here, for the sake of my weak, tired arms, I put the paste into the bowl of my electric mixer and blend it all together to make it smooth and workable. Let the paste cool for about 10 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 425. Transfer dough into a piping bag (or a ziplock bag which works just as well) and pipe your desired shape onto a parchment or tinfoil lined baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove pan and cut a small slit in the side of each pastry.
• Turn the oven down to 350. Allow pastries to bake for another 5 minutes, then leave the oven door open a bit and allow the pastries to dry out for another 15 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
• You can follow up by filling the pastries with cream or custard or cheese and/or dipping them in a chocolate sauce - depends what you have in mind for your choux pastries!

Enjoy deciding what to do next with your fancy, light as air choux!

 

Christmas Market & Mulled Wine

On Friday night John and I made our way down to the Distillery District to meet up with some friends to check out the popular Christmas Market. 

Having never gone before, my expectations were high from seeing pictures in years past. I was not disappointed.

When you get to the Distillery District the first thing you see is lights, lights, and more lights.

It's magical.

Unless you go during the day, then I can't promise the lights will be as magical. 

It's just beautiful. I spent the first few minutes just squealing.

We stopped first for some free scotch (John) and apple cider & rum (me, because they had temporarily run out of mulled wine) and warmed up by the fires they had going in their beer market (see the first picture).

Then we walked around to check out the tree, the carousel, and the ferris wheel. 

On our way to the wine sampling (where there's wine, we'll find it) we stopped to pose with the Gingerbread house. Then we sampled a selection of Ontario wines from Malivoire, Henry of Pelham, and a few others we've yet to visit.  

Then after a quick stop for a grilled cheese with bacon sandwich, we made our way back to the adult beverages for some mulled wine and more scotch.

My first time trying mulled wine was Friday afternoon when I made my own. 

I'm hooked. 

I used Martha Stewart's recipe and made a few changes based on what I had handy.

Follow the original Martha recipe here 

Or my slightly different version below

1. Set a pot over high heat. Pour in one bottle of red wine.
2. Add in the zest  and juice from 1 orange, 1 tbsp black peppercorns, 1 tbsp cloves, 1 cinnamon stick, and 1/2 cup brandy.
3. In a tea bag, spoon in 1/2 tbsp nutmeg and 1/2 tbsp all spice. Bring up to a boil and add teabag to the mix. Reduce heat to low and let simmer for about 30 minutes. Turn off heat and let wine cool slightly.
4. Pour wine through a strainer to remove the zest, peppercorns, cloves, cinnamon, and teabag.

Then pour contents back into the original wine bottle.

Mulled wine is best served warm so if you don't drink it right away heat it up again before serving.

And if you're feeling crafty - make a fancy new label for your bottle.

I made this one for the bottle I brought to my brother in law's birthday dinner last night.

Most of the alcohol burns off during the process so if you want you can add a dash of brandy to the finished process for more of a kick.

If not, just enjoy the wonderful taste of Christmas Sangria! 

Thanksgiving: Some decor ideas

Not one to let myself only be all-consummed with finding suitable recipes for turkey and side dishes, I've also decided that for my thanksgiving dinner I will create some cute turkey place holders.

I'm torn between two but think I'm leaning more towards the first, depending on how much time I have.

First up: Turkey Trivia

Using this template you fill out trivia questions (samples found here  - U.S. based questions though) on the turkey's tail feathers.

This works so well for my trivia-crazy family. My dad used to always read us the trivia questions from the Toronto Star's Sunday paper and it would be a race to see who could answer the most correctly.

Second option is for a less interactive but more eye-appealing turkey.

You'll need a supply of crafts and this template that will leave you with a pile that resembles this.

Following these instructions, you should hopefully end up with something that looks like this!

(All photos from marthastewart.com)

Upon closer inspection of the length of time it will take to make these and the fact that the trivia option is way more fun, I'm going with the first idea!

Let's hope it actually pans out.

Kitchen Adventure: Hosting Thanksgiving Dinner

This year, for a number of reasons, I have decided to host my families thanksgiving dinner.

We go to John's grandfather's every year for a family dinner one night then to my parents' for the other night. It's a great excuse to eat a lot of turkey and sides.

 

I've always wanted to take on the lengthy task of preparing thanksgiving dinner, as I've never cooked an entire turkey before.

It also works out to be a great idea this year because my parents are still in the process of having their kitchen renovated, so they are currently sans oven.

 

So!

One week from today I will be hosting my first ever Thanksgiving dinner!

 

Which brings me to my first of many Thanksgiving related posts this week:

 

How should I make the turkey?

 

I've narrowed it down to 3 options.

Feel free to leave meyour opinions in the comments!

All recipes and photos (minus the text that I added) are courtesy of Martha Stewart.

 

1. Cranberry Glazed Turkey

 

 

2. Molasses Glazed Tukey

 

 

 

3. Roast Turkey with Brown Sugar and Mustard Glaze

 

 

Let me know which one you would pick!

Rum Balls

On Saturday afternoon, I was thrown a bridal shower by my bridesmaids, my mom, and my soon to be mother-in-law.

It was the best afternoon I've had in a long time.

The games, the decorations, the food, the drinks, the laughs, the ladies... every second of it was amazing.

You'll get a look at some of the pictures in Wednesday's post.

My friend (and bridesmaid) Marion made rum balls. She made them for my other friends' Stag & Doe and I ate way more than was appropriate for one person.

When I saw them on the table I got very excited.

These rum balls are to die for AND they're a Martha recipe!

I looked them up on the website, so here is the recipe I found (the picture looks very similar to the real things so I assume this is the correct recipe).

1. Preheat oven to 350. Coat a 12-by-17-inch rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray; set aside. Melt 3/4 cup butter and 6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate in a small heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water, stirring occasionally. Set aside.
2. Whisk together 3 eggs, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1 tsp vanilla, and 1/2 tsp  salt in a large bowl. Stir in chocolate mixture, then fold in flour. Pour batter into prepared baking sheet. Spread evenly with a rubber spatula. Bake until top is shiny and a cake tester inserted into center comes out with some crumbs attached, about 10 minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack.
3. Break up brownie into small pieces; transfer to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. With machine on low speed, pour in 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp rum, and mix until crumbs start to come together to form a ball.
4. Shape into 1-inch balls, and roll in sanding sugar to coat (*Marion rolled hers in chocolate sprinkles. It did not disappoint). Transfer to a baking sheet; refrigerate, uncovered, until cold, about 2 hours. Serve chilled or at room temperature.

Fun with Puff Pastry

Saturday night was my friends' Stag & Doe and it was a success.

The games were fun, the company was great, and the food was plentiful.

My contribution (food-wise) consisted of things I could do with puff pastry.

I went with the tried and true brie and balsamic red pepper jelly combo that I used for my friends' engagement party, and by request I made apple and brie also. I changed it up a bit though and made apple and brie turnovers rather than on puff pastry squares.

I also made the always declicious pizza-esque tomato, basil, and cheddar puff pastry tart.

To keep the middle pieces from becoming so soggy that you can't lift them off the pan, bake the puff pastry for a few minutes before adding the toppings. Then, once the cheese is melted and the edges gently browning, cut the tart into peices, seperate them, and bake them again for a few minutes.

These were a good idea. They're a good idea for any party where you know you'll be in the company of brie lovers.

Anyway that's it for now - if you want to get puff pastry crazy I highly recommend it. You can go sweet or savoury and use practically any combination of flavours and ingredients you want.

Some day I'll try to make my own puff pastry. It's a super intense process ... so, one day.

Not today.

Engagement Party Recap

Call me behind the times (go on, do it) but after hearing about picnik a long time ago, it was only yesterday afternoon that I ever actually played around with it.

Man oh man I've been missing out!

Especially with putting pictures on the blog and trying to impress you with my limited skills.

Anyway, I jazzed up a few pictures and am presenting them to you today.

If, like me, you are slow to jump on the really good bandwagons then make sure you visit Picnik and start making your photos fancy.

Saturday night was my best friend's engagement party and it was a great night.

They picked an amazing venue in which to host the party - our friend's condo on the Esplanade which, if you're not too familiar with Toronto, is almost right on the lake.

The party room was on the 33rd floor so our view was incredible. I took a few pictures of the city that I love - one of which you will find at the end of this post.

The food was plentiful, the drinks were flowing (as was the chocolate fountain), and there were friends to laugh and catch up with everytime you turned around.

Plus my hors d'oeuvres were a hit.

Here are some (spiffy) pictures to show you just how fun the party was!

Here's me, my fiance, and my good friend (and bridesmaid!) enjoying the food and wine at the engagement party on Saturday night.

My hors d'oeuvres:

Tables filled with food, cupcakes galore (plus a beautiful bride cake on top made by the bride-to-be herself!), glasses of sangria, and more food:

And because I like to think of myself as an artiste (say it like you're French), here is that photo of the insane view of Toronto I menioned before:

Those pictures are all copyright ME!

Especially the bear threatening Toronto.

Especially the bear.

Especially.

Pirate Party

Many moons ago, my mom's side of the family met up for the annual summer fam-jam.

I posted pictures from the Baseball themed dinner but just realized that I never posted pictures from our pirate-themed night!

We put up some pretty good competition and had a lot of fun getting decked out in pirate gear while slicing, dicing, roasting, tossing, spearing and baking our dinner items.

My sister and her boyfriend manned the BBQ and created delicious terriyaki chicken shish kebabs. They disappeared pretty quickly.

We bought a bandana for everyone, eye patches, swords, pistols, hooks, and other pirate paraphernalia to get everyone into the spirit. We even made name-tags so that everyone could get into their pirate character.

One of my favourites was the "Dead Man's Chest" - a tomato cobbler with blue cheese biscuits. I thought the name worked well because the cobbler looked almost skin tone and once you dug in you got to the red tomatoes.

The recipe for this great side can be found at the end of this post.

For our main we went with a pork tenderloin that we roasted with apples and sage.

I should've gotten a better picture because it doesn't look all that tasty in the one above.

We went with a roast KRAKEN (spelling error in the label, apologies) as pork tenderloin doesn't sound all that pirate-like.

Our other two sides were "Peg-Leg Kebabs" (the terriyaki chicken ones I mentioned) and "Sea Shells with Algae" (pasta shells stuffed with cottage cheese and spinach and baked with pasta sauce and melted cheddar cheese).

There was a lot of food and it was a weekend of good eating.

Tomato & Blue Cheese Cobbler

(aka 'Dead Man's Chest')

(From marthastewart.com)

Ingredients

• For the filling
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 medium onions, thinly sliced
• 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 3 pounds cherry tomatoes
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red-pepper flakes
• Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
• For the biscuit topping
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• Coarse salt
• 1 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 1 cup grated Gruyere cheese (2 1/4 ounces), plus 1 tablespoon, for sprinkling
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream, plus more for brushing

Directions

1. Make the filling: Heat oil in a large high-sided skillet over medium heat. Cook onions, stirring occasionally, until caramelized, about 25 minutes. Add garlic, and cook until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Let cool.
2. Toss onion mixture, tomatoes, flour, and red-pepper flakes with 1 1/2 teaspoons salt and some pepper.
3. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Make the biscuit topping: Whisk together flour, baking powder, and 1 teaspoon salt in a bowl. Cut in butter with a pastry cutter or rub in with your fingers until small clumps form. Stir in cheese, then add cream, stirring with a fork to combine until dough forms. (Dough will be slightly sticky.)
4. Transfer tomato mixture to
   a 2-quart baking dish (2 inches deep). Spoon 7 clumps of biscuit dough (about 1/2 cup each) over top in a circle, leaving center open. Brush dough with cream, and sprinkle with remaining tablespoon cheese. Bake until tomatoes are bubbling in the center and biscuits are golden brown, about 1 hour 10 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack. Let cool for 20 minutes.

 

Engagement Party Hors D'oeuvre

A little while ago I posted some of the food items I made for my birthday party. One of those was the pear and camembert on puff pastry hors d'oeuvre.

My best friend and her fiance are hosting their engagement party this Saturday.

And having attended my birthday, they asked if I would make those hors d'oeuvres for the party and of course I jumped at the chance to help out my friend and to spend some time in the kitchen playing around with flavours.

While they specifically requested the pear & camembert I couldn't stop thinking about what other combinations I could work with. After getting the go-ahead to get a little creative this is what I've come up with.

Keep in mind all of these will be lightly melted on puff pastry squares.

1. Insalata Caprese - Tomato, Buffalo Mozzarella & Basil

This flavour combination is savoury and delicious. Perhaps some olive oil or balsamic vinegar to drizzle on top?

2. Peaches with Honey-infused Ricotta

Ricotta and peaches go so well together and I'm thinking tha I'll stir honey into the ricotta before I spoon it over the peach slices. This will be the sweet to the insalata caprese's savoury.

3. Pear & Camembert or Brie

I know it went over well last time and it was requested so I won't disappoint.

4. Brie and Balsamic Red Pepper Jelly

I forgot to go take a picture of the jar but I got a jar of this amazing jelly from friend and food blogger extraordinaire Ginger Rose. The jelly is sweet but it also has this bite that makes you want a second taste.

Baked on top of some brie this might be the favourite of the hors d'oeuvre tray!

If you have any other flavour pairings that you think would be good to add to this list please let me know!