Archive for November 2009

EVENT: A 24th Birthday Din-arty
VENUE: Phoebe’s Parents’ Apartment, Upper West Side
TYPE: Large Buffet Dinner Party
PARTY SIZE: 40
MENU: Mini Meatball Subs; Wild Mushroom Mac ‘n Cheese; Pesto Mac ‘n Cheese; Butternut Squash Mac ‘n Cheese; Arugula Salad with Lemon-Basil Vinaigrette; Big Kid Hot Chocolate (Adam); Red Velvet Cupcakes (Salima)

Birthdays are always kind of stressful. Every year I face the approaching day with a super laid-back attitude. And then the day arrives, and I realize I have to grate 6 pounds of cheese. The rational way out of this is, of course, that since …

WEEKNIGHT MENU SUGGESTIONS: Lemon-Garlic Roasted Chicken Breasts; Apple Walnut Cake

The other week I came upon a recipe on Sprouted Kitchen for Spiced Sweet Potatoes and Chickpeas. I loved the idea of combining fresh ginger and lime juice with some of the more typically “Fall” dried spices such as nutmeg and cinnamon. I used butternut squash instead of the potatoes suggested, since I had it on hand. The result was delicious, if a little less caramelized than I normally like my squash due to all the moisture in the marinade. (If you try Sprouted Kitchen’s version, I …

EVENT: Welcome Home Essie Potluck
VENUE: Phoebe’s apartment, obviously
PARTY SIZE: 15
MENU: Root Veggie Gratin (C); Squash and Sprout Orzo Salad (P); Eggplant Parmesan, & Pasta Pomodoro with Ricotta Cream (Jennie); Ginger Salsa (Essie); Tofu (Leora)
MAIN CONTRIBUTOR: Jennie, obviously

We welcomed Essie home from her two year sojourn in Mozambique with a classic rendition of the everybody-contributes dinner party we’ve made a standing tradition in her absence. In this case, we had a little bit more of the socialist mentality than usual. Those of us not coming straight from work brought dishes that were a bit more involved …

DISH: Arugula Caprese
MAIN INGREDIENTS: Arugula, Tomatoes, Mozzarella, Pinenuts
MENU: Prosciutto & Fontina Panini with Arugula Pesto; Espresso Biscotti

I love Caprese Salads as much as the next home cook. They are simple to make, can be assembled in advance without worrying, like other salads, about soggy greens, and once the platter is complete, the result is downright beautiful. Every time Leora brings her token Caprese to Mag Club, it always ends up the centerpiece of the table, my pictures from the evening, and, regardless of the repeat performances, my plate.

But if my past menus have been …

For our last and final winner (here are winners #1 and #2), we selected

Lida Mary Sunderland, who wrote:

“I thought I’d make a pitch for wheat-free cookies. I was recently forced to go wheat-free…and meat-free, soy-free, plus a few more restrictions (which in part is why I’ve been absent from supper club)…but this doesn’t mean i’ve gone taste-free, oh no no. So. There are many rice flour recipes out there but of late I’ve fallen back in love with coconut macaroons, no wheat sub required. Add chocolate or carob, be it chips or dips? Perfection.”

Using Lida’s …

Announcing BGSK Cookie Giveaway winner #2!

Jessica Chao white chocolate raspberry, or madeleines. miam miam.

Jess and I (Cara) spent a summer together at Middlebury College learning French–that is, swearing to ourselves and our teachers we wouldn’t speak a word of English. More than the sudden loss of our native tongue, we were shocked to eat the cuisine of Middlebury’s dining halls, particularly once we discovered Atwater, the brand new, very clean, and eco-friendly dining spot that was meant for the Chinese, Arabic, Japanese, and German language schools, and which we French kids therefore had to sneak into. There, …

Boggle box filled with cookies

It’s cold outside now. Which means, more often than not, Cara is holed up in her kitchen baking batches upon batches of cookies. While Phoebe could (well, has) easily polish off a good dozen or two of her Mexican Chocolate Cookies, we both thought it was probably high time to start sharing with friends.

This spirit of giving took flight last week on Facebook. We sent out a call to action that friends should leave us a note on our Fan Page telling us about their favorite type of cookie. We selected three …