My personal favorite.
I want to party with the person who built this tribute to Mad Men's incredible lawn tractor episode.
Love the details on this one especially the bunny butt.
But really, it's marketing genius. Because when it comes down to it, when you cut into a Peep, it's still just a marshmallow.
...if you're stir frying them with green peppers and garlic, you're dining without Shamy.
Today's Dim Sum Kid's Choice is letting the young chefs have some fun in the kitchen. Our Main Course is brought to us by Elizabeth of Gardening under the Florida Sun. Spaghetti and Sicilian Meatballs.
Today we turned Elizabeth loose in the kitchen, with an added twist of whatever she cooked, Shamu had to cook too. Great twist Shamy!
She started out by chopping up some basil for the sauce.
Adding a little olive oil.
Couple cans of diced tomatoes, and the sauce was ready to simmer on the stove for about an hour.
On to the meatballs...Grinding up some pepper to add to the milk, egg, breadcrumbs, and sweet sausage.
Mix, mix, mix.
She had a blast rolling out the meatballs!
Which really surprised me, I thought she'd ask either John or me to do this part, but she was in there with both hands.
Way to go Elizabeth! You made us a fabulous dinner of spaghetti and meatballs.
Photographer's Note: Not going back to ground beef meatball ever again. These sausage meatballs are so good and juicy.
MS and The Sweeties of Making Space decided that making cookies was the perfect activity for wiggly, energetic kids. Lots of stirring, mixing, pouring and cookie formation.
Today’s theme was really exceptional. Kids’ Choice works differently than any other Dim Sum in which I’ve participated, though I just jumped into the fray recently so it may have been done before. Here’s the explanatory post, complete with frightening photos of disaster looming. LOL Now, here’s how it worked around here: I decided what my children and I would make together (they’re young enough that I am not up for leaving them in the kitchen alone – see above under “disaster looming”). I then let Shamy know what our Kids’ Choice was (oatmeal chocolate chip cookies!!); she then made her own version.
I picked cookies because I recently bought cookie sheets and parchment paper; and the children and I have made cookies from mixes before, but not from scratch. Chocolate chip cookies seemed like a no-brainer, and the oatmeal seemed to hint at something that might possibly be marginally healthy (don’t laugh too hard). I asked around for tried-and-true recipes, since I was looking for a classic that I could appropriate into my own cookie-baking repertoire. A friend who bakes all the time suggested Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies from Allrecipes.com She said when she takes these to potlucks they fly away. This seemed like a good recommendation. Here’s the recipe, just copied and pasted from the site.
This turned out to be a great recipe to do with young children. No eggs, so feel free to eat the batter. The batter is really easy to stir, even for small hands and arms. The many different sizes and shapes of cookies all cooked evenly at the same time. A most excellent recipe for a distracted mom who hasn’t made a chocolate chip cookie in thirty years, supervising young children who – well, who REALLY REALLY REALLY want to cook. And talk. And sing. And dance. All at the same time. And of course each one MUST have my full attention. So yeah. This is a household that needs a cookie recipe that’s not especially high maintenance. We’ve found it. Holy moly we have FOUND it. (Special note to those who know my family a bit more than I’ve revealed here: on my blog I ask that commenters not refer to the number, ages, names, or genders of my children. You can call them The Sweeties if you want a handy nickname. Thanks!)
Now...it wasn't all perfection. I did attempt to make from scratch lemony mayonnaise. Where's the picture of that you asked? When there's not a picture it can only mean one thing - FAIL. Yes my virginal attempt at mayo making was a disaster and a waste of good eggs, oil and lemons. I won't give up on successfully making from scratch mayo but just not while I've got those luscious shrimp waiting. Trust me if you can find shrimp with their heads, try them just once. You won't be sorry.
Hard to believe but Spike Mendelsohn was the night's challenger of Battle Prosciutto against Micheal Symon. And that, my little Top Chef Crack Monkeys, is when Iron Chef America became dead to me. They've had some kick ass challenger's in the past (José Andrés, Traci Des Jardins, Homaro Cantu, not to mention a whole raft of chefs who either guest judge on Top Chef or compete on Top Chef Masters) but this has to be a new low point. He wasn't even a finalist in his season of Top Chef Chicago. So why Iron Chef America? Can an Asshat change? Would he become the Frozen Scallop Comeback King? Has time taught him to leave his Asshatery ways behind?
Survey Says............
NO! All he's learned how to do is to add pieces of Flair to his asshat. (Note to Spike, you've still a ways to go to get to your 15 pieces...). Still maybe Asshat would surprise us with his food? Maybe a prosciutto soup?
Maraschino cherry prosciutto soup? Or maybe something with truffles?
Chef Symon loves the idea of fresh truffles....
...but Asshat's use of the canned truffles leaves Iron Chef Symon a bit incredulous.
Yeah, I'm not impressed either. "Sweet on Sweet" is how one judge described it leaving me to believe that Asshat is still pretty much all ass and not much else going on with his palate or imagination. He didn't even attempt a dessert. I won't go into details because all you need to know is that Chef Symon SMOKED Spike right out of Kitchen Stadium.
Sadder still was that score came from 3 unknown, first timer judges. As a casual observer of Iron Chef America I know that scoring is usually close, a spread of maybe two or three points. At the most maybe 5. But TEN? The only thing that would have made this moment even more warm and fuzzy (and watchable) for me was if Jeffrey Steingarten had been judging. If anyone could put an Asshat in his place, it would be Jeffrey. But maybe it's all right, maybe the Food Network is where Spike belongs...perhaps helping Paula Deen massage two pounds of butter into every crack and crevice of every dish she makes...or maybe assisting Sandra Lee with her tablescapes. While the title Top Chef or Iron Chef may never grace Spike's culinary resume, he will always be able to fly his Asshat flag proudly where ever he goes. Just let it be on a channel not in my cable package.
The kids are in charge next Sunday for our Dim Sum. They get to pick and make the dish (with mom or dad's help) and they will be posted here and on their respective blogs.
I'm glad I won't be cleaning up their kitchens.
From the folks across the Pond, a new brand of crisps, Crips. It was just a little over a year ago that our non-culinary sister blog brought the news that British chefs were using culled gray squirrel meat in their dishes (Squirrel Fritters Anyone?). I'm guessing there's not enough Thai Chili flavoring in the world to cover the taste of squirrel for some people.
