Recipe #2 - Dip!

I wish I had gotten another picture, but with everything that went on last weekend, it just didn't happen. Everyone who commented on it said they liked it, so I guess it was a hit! The cream cheese really seemed to ring through, and the bits of shallots were yummy. It wasn't my favorite dip ever, it's hard to get me away from my love of ranch, but I liked it better then say a dill dip that often comes with vegetable trays. A lot better. I pretty much demolished the cauliflower with it. Yummy yum yum.

Not a very long post, but this is a delayed post because things were too hectic until now. Plus it was just a mix together thing, nothing too interesting. It's still hectic, but at the very least at the moment I have a babysitter. So I'm taking just enough time to catch up on things while I start getting ready to do some work.

Recipe #1 - Fresh Whiskey Sours!

So. After thinking about it for awhile, I realized that Boi does enjoy whiskey. So I had him pick some up after all, Jack Daniels as Ina prescribes. I tried a shot last night - not bad, not my favorite thing ever but not bad. Gma, Peanut and I went to town today to decorate some pottery, and while we were out I picked up some lemons and limes for our drinks. After we got home, I made up a cup+ of simple syrup and put it in the fridge to chill. Ate dinner - just spaghetti leftovers. Boi got home and I fed him more spaghetti. As Boi started winding Peanut down for the night, me and my "juicer" (aka a vice grip since I lack a real citrus juicer) squeezed the citrus to death. I was a tiny bit short on the juice, but I figured then I'd just pour the rest of the stuff light. Bathtime and bedtime, he was quickly out.

I poured everything together with some ice in a shaker, mine's missing the cap part so I stuck my hand over it and gave it a few shakes. Poured out two glasses, mmm. We both agreed it was sour and fresh. But very light on the whiskey. Personally if I'm going to go to that much trouble making a drink, I want it to give me a decent hit. There's really only enough for one more drink left, so I'm going to split it between us and spike it a bit more (maybe add a bit more syrup to mine) BRB!

Ok, definitely stronger this time. But not overpoweringly so. So my verdict? I'd drink it again. And as I'm sipping my way through drink two, it may just give me the willpower to post this on my Facebook. Enjoy facebooks, tomorrow I make a dip for the start of trivia!

My Very Own Julie & Julia

I've always wanted to do a Julie & Julia. That is, cook through a cookbook. No matter how hard the recipe is, whether or not it looks like you'll enjoy it, just cook through it. Learn lot's of things, taste new things you wouldn't otherwise try, this excites me to no end. So I've decided to dive in and do it. The Joy of Cooking is waaaaay out of my price range, and it isn't vegetarian friendly. So instead, I picked a cookbook that I got at a garage sale a few years ago: Barefoot Contessa at Home. It's fairly vegetarian friendly, though since it isn't completely meat free I will skip around. Meat recipes when it's just me or me and a guest, and the rest when I'm cooking for Boi. Aside from that, I'm going to march from front to end. I was just going to report back some of my cooking loving friends about it, but they wanted me to blog about it as well. So... here I go then!

Alas, the first recipe is a whiskey recipe and we don't have whiskey. We're not whiskey drinkers, and I'm not seeing any other recipes in the book that use it, which would convince me to buy something I fear I might not have again. I think my dad might, or I might be able to convince my friend K to bring some with her this weekend. This seems like an adequate compromise. To go with it, she has an herb dip, which places much emphasis on good mayonnaise. I'm not sure if her intent is for me to make my own or to just not buy a crappy brand. Ah well, we'll see what happens.

First recipe coming up in the next week!