Nermo

Thwarted again and the Grilled Cheese Invitational.  I can live with that, but this year’s entry form distinguished registration in the Kama Sutra category between vegetarian and meaty, so for the added challenge, I entered the vegetarian division.

To my chagrin, they pitted my delicate veggie delight, the “Garden of Edam” against sandwiches loaded with bacon! NOTHING BEATS BACON!  This is a universal truth, and I can’t for the life of me figure out why they made us register vegetarian OR meat if we would all be judged together.  I’m bitter.

Anyway, my sandwich came out well.  I grated Gouda (couldn’t find Edam) and mixed it with cream cheese and roasted red peppers to make a spread, which went on white bread with pear slices, watercress,  pear & shallot jam and a little more gouda.  The bread was perfectly toasted, as I spread ample amounts of butter and weighted it with an inverted plate, which also eliminated the need for a spatula.

Hey look, I made it into someone’s photo (upper right):

            

Blueberry pancakes with Vermont maple syrup, bacon, fresh spinach and a shallot, cheddar and mushroom scramble.

            

TSB and I cooked together Valentine’s night rather than going out on the town.  She made the crème brûlée, boiled the penne and put together the spinach and goat cheese salad while I made a cream sauce with sun-dried tomatoes, mushrooms, and summer sausage, and a warm dressing of bacon, shallots and balsamic vinegar for the salad.

TSB thought she saw a little man with an anguished facial expression in the sauce.

Click the image to the right to look for yourself.

            

My Valentine made me crème brûlée, but I got to do the brûléeing and photography

            

I made a bunch of inkblots while creating the Rorschach Inkblot Valentine,

so I’m posting them, since I found the process relaxing and the product amusing.

Tell me what you see, and just like when administered by a psychiatrist, if you get the right answer, you’ll win a prize!

a.) b.)

c.) d.)

e.) f.)

            

I painted/photoshopped this Valentine card for TSB.  Click the image to see the inside of the card.

            

I’ve been toying with this image for a long time and finally got it burned onto screens.  Sorry the photos aren’t top notch, but I wanted to get them up today for thing-a-day.  Now I need to buy decent t-shirts to print them on.  The image on the right is actually a print on paper that I made for my little brother, who needs stuff to hang on the bare walls of his new apartment.

            

I came in 5th in the dessert division last year (actually October 2007) with the Ol’ Vermonter, so this year I am taking another approach.

This year I’m entering the Vegetarian Kama Sutra division with a little something I am calling the Garden of Edam.  I had the name before any actual culinary concept was developed, but it necessarily involves Edam cheese, and I’m probably going to use something like my Pear and Shallot Jam as a condiment.

What else should I do?  Bread?  Veggies?  Any ideas?

            

I got a number of requests for a report on (and video proof of) how well the Whisk-Drill works in the kitchen. It works remarkably well. Sorry about the bed-head.

            

I can’t take any credit for this recipe, since I adapted it entirely from WikiHow.  The one thing I can add, is to recommend slicing the oranges from top to bottom, rather than around the equator, since they tend to leak through the ends. Everyone at the party loved these and devoured them within minutes.

• 6 oranges
• 2 cups boiling water
• 6 oz. package of orange Jello
• 3/4 cup cold water
• 1 1/2 cups chilled vodka

1. Slice oranges in half and slide a spoon between skin and fruit to remove cleanly*.
2. Bring water to a boil, and remove from heat.
3. Stir Jello into hot water until dissolved, then stir in cold water and vodka.
4. Set orange peel halves into shallow cups or glasses on a tray so that the edges are
level and fill with jello liquid to the rim.
5. Let cool overnight in the refrigerator and slice each half into thirds with two
vertical cuts.
*Reserve the orange fruit to juice for mimosas in the morning. If you have executed the
rest of this recipe properly, you will need them.