Lady Bug BDay Party

Thank you, Laci, I could not have done it without you!!! Mwah!!




My first event. For the first time, I served people who had no obligation to like anything - strangers. My niece, Margaret, celebrated her first birthday with her first best friend, Juliet (gotta get a pic of this little lady - her lashes go on for days) and admittedly, I felt a little pressure to really, really try like I've never tried before- after all, they can hate it, my family is contracted to think everything is awesome even if it's horrible! haahaa Anywho, we had about 45ish big and small people RSVP to this gig and being that I live in LA, putting together a menu means that certain expectations are expected - it has to be fresh, organic, and it must have vegetarian options.

Whatever, here's the menu (sans the beef dish - once again, victim of having only one oven)

White Bean Dip -

standard recipe of cannellini bean (canned white kidney beans, rinsed), parsley, olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, salt and pepper


Served with pita chips (organic, store bought - tooth breaking hard)



Ginger and Sesame Chicken cups -

Chicken breast marinated in green tea and ginger with soy sauce, rice vinegar, fresh ground pepper and hot peppers. I made a fairly standard ginger and sesame dressing, which was a little spicy and a little sweet and drizzled it over the chilled chicken on iceberg lettuce "cups". My lettuce wasn't cooperative and I couldn't find skewers longer than a toothpick to keep them together, so my presentation was a bit off. Tasted good. That's all that counts. Right?



Bean Burritos -

Vegan chili (see earlier post, modified a bit to be smoother - I also used lentils and black beans) rolled into tortilla cones brushed with a little Tapatio and sprinkled with cheddar and baked in a 400 degree oven for about 13 minutes





Tomato, Basil and Mozzarella Skewers -

Super sweet grape tomatoes, fresh basil, fresh mozzarella, drizzled with olive oil, sea salt and fresh ground pepper







Cheese Souffle Pastry, garnished with Asparagus -

Process was a bit more than my usual simple and quick prep; and after feeling a bit down about the Thanksgiving souffle's not working out on time, I didn't have any real motivation to achieve Alton Brown perfection, so I deviated from the chemistry and it worked - like REALLY worked. It's now apparent to me that going by recipes is just not my thing - it must be done by taste, feel and look. Too much butter, not enough milk, really sloppily measuring the flour - had Laci separate the eggs from the yolk (what's my deal with eggs?- they hate me) and whip up the whites to perfect peaks. I folded the heavy mixture with the perfect egg whites and let the mix sit while I prepared the pastry.

I used Pepperidge Farm frozen pastry and rolled them out to twice their size - as thin as I could get them without falling apart. Here's where I got crazy: tiny muffin pans would have been appropriate, but I'm cheap and couldn't help myself, so I made tiny muffin pans out of oil sprayed foil squares:







Ok, my hands are so dry from all the cooking and dishes - must soak them in heavy lotion and drink a cocktail - it was fun, though. I love this stuff.