Food for the Gods - Refreshed

It's been more than 3 years since my last post. Yes, it's true.

Anyway, it's that time of the year for baked goods and lots of delicious food. So here's Food for the Gods again. I posted this in January of 2011. Redundant, yes, but so appropriate for the holiday season. Red and green cellophane wrapper. Threw in clear cellophane as well to brighten the goodies. Reposting the recipe and including vanilla which I missed in the previous post (Malou, thanks for prompting me about this).

Wrapped and ready to go ...

Here's the recipe:

Food for the Gods

Dredge the following in 1/4 cup all-purpose flour:

2 cups chopped walnuts

2 cups chopped dates

Cream together:

3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar

3/4 cup butter

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

Combine ingredients below then add to butter mixture above:

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup all-purpose flour

Add walnuts and dates. Bake for appoximately 40 minutes at 300F. Cool and slice.

Aviary

Grant Achatz opened Aviary on April 24, 2011. Just a few doors kitty-corner from his 'also new' and sought-after restaurant, Next, Aviary is a cocktaill lounge, a first for Grant and Nick Kokonas. A huge viewing window allows you to peer into their cocktail kitchen which looks more like an ultra-modern stainless steel lab. Very clean and no clutter.

Opening day was much anticipated by Grant's followers and the media. It was not announced well in advance. In fact, it was made public only one day before it opened.

We were lucky enough to arrive in Chicago to witness the flurry of activities on opening day. It was cold waiting in line to get in. We were offered hot cocoa while waiting and no other than Nick Kokonas served us. There were also offers of pashmina scarves for the ladies. It was a looooonnggg wait, a good 2.5 hours before we stepped inside the lounge. 

Was it worth it? It surely was. The cocktails were delicious, the presentations were out of this world and the experience was very unique and memorable.

 Grant Achatz on the left in white 

  Craig Schoettler (with back turned) heads the team at Aviary

 

 Mixing a cocktail

Ingredients for a cocktail

 Small Bites

 More small bites - the one on the left is a dessert bite

This is called Blueberry, a refreshing cocktail with an oh-so-wonderful flavor

Food Photography

I attended a food photography class last year with Jackie Baisa. Check out her website at www.baisafoto.com.

The food was prepared by none other than Becky Selengut. Not only did the food presentation look great, it was so delicious as well!

Wine Tasting

Oysters on a Half Shell

 

 

 
- - Ravioli Agnolotti - -

before ...

 

and after 

Provencal duck breast in beurre rouge

with caramelized fennel

and candied orange

 

 Yumm-ee!!!

A Birdie Byrd Dinner

... and that's what you call a bird-themed dinner hosted by the Byrds, our first EGCC dinner for 2011. It was an awesome evening. We had a nice sparkling apéritif, delicious food (lots of it, as usual) and a great selection of red wines. 

The dinner revolved around the star of the show - a TURDUCKEN. It's a bird within a bird within a bird. Oui, 3 birds in one. It's a stuffed boneless chicken that is stuffed in a boneless duck which is then stuffed in a turkey. The version we had was stuffed with 3 different kinds of stuffing. That is truly a lot of STUFF!

While waiting for the turducken to cook, we had a great time playing a game Connie brought called Foodie Fight where the men took turns with the women answering foodie trivia questions. What a fun fight it was! We ended with a tie. (Seriously, guys, we need a rematch.)

The Menu

 

The Place Setting

A beautiful bird plate. Thanks, Uncle Fred!

The plates looked great against the brown place mats.
Each plate had a different bird on it.

In line with the bird theme, we had 'flights'. Wine flights, that is.

The wines had a different color of ribbon to match those on the 4 glasses we each had.

That's a wild hibiscus flower in the champagne flute.
It gave the drink a nice rose color and a wonderful flavor.

So which came first - the bird or the egg?

We had deviled eggs - three different ways.
Why? Well, why not?

Niçoise Deviled Eggs

Deviled Eggs with Smoked Salmon

Horseradish Deviled Eggs

Now on to the dining table for the salad and the main course.
And the wine, of course.

Ten hours.
That's how long it took for the turducken to cook.
It was well worth the wait.
The turducken was tender and juicy, cooked to perfection.

Another 'bird' has landed on the table -
a cute little duck knife rest.

Homemade "No Knead" Bread
Yumm!

Bibb Lettuce with Feta Cheese, Chopped Apples
and Toasted Pine Nuts
served cold with French Vinaigrette

The color-coded wine flight


This is how the turducken looked like before roasting.

Big and heavy is what it was and stuffed with all the goodies.


And this is how it looked like when it came out of the oven.

The turducken joined by a rooster - because three birds is not enough! ... just saying!

A look inside the big bird

A closer look at the 3 birds and the stuffing.
Click on the photo to see all the wonderful colors and layers in between the birds.
Here they are from the outside going in:
Turkey
Chorizo Cornbread Stuffing
+

Duck

Wild Rice, Mushroom and Apple Stuffing
+
Chicken
Dried Cherry and Pecan Stuffing
=

TURDUCKEN

The side dishes:
Cauliflower Potato Mash
Homemade Green Bean Casserole
Maple Cider Braised Greens
Pomegranate Turkey Gravy
Spiced Peach Halves (a Byrd family recipe - not in photo)

And last but not the least, we had this mouth-watering dessert called  

Valencia Orange Cake .

 Click the link above to access the recipe.

Thanks, Walt, for sharing this!

Isn't it beautiful?
This work of art is drizzled with an orange liqueur glaze.

The Birdie Byrd Dinner was a great success, a fun event and an
amazing way to start the 2011 EGCC dinners.

Special thanks to Jean and Dean and to the EGCC!

Food for the Gods

(My nephew, Matty, is in town and he helped me with this post. Thanks, Matty!)

Last year, I bought a tub of Medjool dates with the hopes of baking these delicious date-and-nut bars but I never got around to making them. Sad to say, they made it to the trash. 

This holiday season, I finally made a few batches. Yumm-ee!!! See the recipe below courtesy of my dear sister-in-law, Alice (thanks so much!).  

Medjool Dates

Chopped walnuts and dates -- these chunks give texture to the bars.

 

Dredge them in flour to separate the pieces.

  

 White sugar, brown sugar, eggs, butter and vanilla -- all the good stuff!

Together, these ingredients will make a wondeful taste sensation.

We're almost there . . . we just have to wrap them.

 Yumm, moist and chewy!

All wrapped and ready. Attack!

Food for the Gods

Dredge the following in 1/4 cup all-purpose flour:

2 cups chopped walnuts

2 cups chopped dates

Cream together:

3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar

3/4 cup butter

2 eggs

Add:

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup all-purpose flour

Add walnuts and dates. Bake for appoximately 40 minutes at 300F. Cool and slice.

Another EGCC Dinner

The EGCC kicked off 2010 with a dinner on January 9 at home. It was a nice exploration of Asian-themed dishes. Abner and I picked the recipes for this dinner making sure we included dishes from back home as well as some time-tested recipes. There are, of course, new recipes as well so that we're always learning something new.
 
    I called it  A Taste of the Orient.  

The Place Setting

Beautiful woven placemats from Tita Nelie (Made in the Philippines)

The Menu

Materials for the menu and the place cards courtesy of Pontri and Joy

The Amuse Bouche 

 Orange-Pineapple Shrimp served with Buko-Pandan Gelee and a Shot of Lychee Ice

 This spicy-sweet amuse bouche worked perfectly with the refreshing gelee and lychee ice.

 

The Appetizers

Yudofu

Oh yumm, Trish! This a wonderfully simple dish that bursts with flavor.

Miang Kam

Here's a delicious appetizer prepared by Connie and Doug. 
This dish is traditionally served with la lop leaves, but here they served it with both la lop leaves and collard greens. What a great idea!

 

  

 

Here's Connie demo-ing how to put a bite together while Dean and John watch.

Chicken Meatballs on Lemongrass Skewers 

John always ends up with the tricky recipe. I swear, I don't do this on purpose, John. Anyway, like a true chef, he rescues the dish and makes it work.

The Soup

Miswa Soup with Patola

 Yes, we found patola in the Asian grocery. Abner did a great job with this dish.
Hmmm, this soup reminds me of home.

 

The Salad

Shrimp and Mango Salad

And the refreshing salad after hot soup - just perfect, Tony!

The Main Dish

Kalbichim with Black Rice

I've been making this Korean dish since the mid-80's when I was still living in the Philippines.

It's a hearty and delicious dish which hits the spot every single time. Thanks, Melanie Aquino (our neighbor in Quezon City), for introducing me to this dish!

 

The Side Dishes

Kalbichim is not complete without the side dishes, right? 

From left to right: 

Kimchi by Dean - It stinks, yes, but it's crunchy and spicy. That translates to a 'Yes' vote from me.

Kinpira by Jean - I've never heard of gobo until I had this dish. I just love the texture and the flavor! Thanks for making a HUGE batch, Jean! I enjoyed it for a few more days.

Shiraae by Connie - Can tofu really be a dressing for salads? Yes, it works and, believe me, it's so delicious and different from your regular salad!

The Dessert

Vietnamese Iced Coffee

by The Guys

Palitaw

by The Gals

 

Beautiful photographs by Abner and Dean