Girls’ Night Out!

One of the main purposes of my trip to NYC was to help JL celebrate her upcoming nuptials. She shirked at the idea of the typical garish, penis-themed bachelorette party (who wouldn’t?), so a low-key event was planned instead. We started off at JL’s apartment with drinks and appetizers. DIY goddess EF graced us with homemade ricotta cheese and pesto made with homegrown basil for a delicious bruschetta. She also made guacamole from scratch, though she wants everyone to know that did not grow the avocados herself. The cocktail of the evening was Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka with lemonade. It was delicious and deceptively easy to drink, despite the high alcohol content. Because JL eschewed all penile-themed party favors, we went with a silly “girls rock!” theme, with Bonnie Bell lipsmackers and personalized “J+N 4-EVAH” temporary tattoos.

After the pre-party, we headed downtown to Sazon restaurant, which specializes in Puerto Rican cuisine. I had a San Juan martini (ok, maybe I had a couple), which were delicious. The gin was infused with cucumber and it was really refreshing. Since there were 9 of us, and because it was already past-dinner time, we opted to share the appetizer sampler, a couple of large salads, and dessert. The appetizer sampler was all fried and all delicious: empanadas, fried plantains topped with seafood (which I regretfully did not sample), fried calamari, fried shrimp, and fried pork. The highlight of the rest of the meal was the Peanut Butter and Chocolate Timbal. (I had to look up what a timbal was, and all I figure out was that the dessert resembles the shape of a drum… so if anyone can clear this up, please comment!) It was like a cake/mousse, with a crunchy crust at the bottom.

The strangest part of the evening had to be when they sent a birthday dessert to our table, even though it wasn’t anyone’s birthday. At first I thought the cake was for JL, because it was her party, but then they gave the cake to her sister NL, who thought there had to be a mistake because it certainly wasn’t her birthday. We realized that the restaurant seemed to be giving every table a free dessert and acting like it was someone’s birthday. So weird!

This will most likely be my last post for a while. I’m off to Japan for a week tomorrow… I might hijack the blog and make it about travel instead of food. That will depend on wi-fi availability.

Lovely and Unique

The happy couple!

Last month, my friends J&M got married in Pleasant Hill, California. Every single aspect of the wedding was lovely and unique, from when M, the bride, walked down the aisle to gather irises from guests for her bouquet, to the finger puppet wedding favors. I’ll keep the descriptions short and let the photos do the talking.

After the moving ceremony (yes, I cried through the whole thing), there was a cocktail hour featuring a number of tasty “signature” cocktails, such as strawberry mojitos and mango iced tea with vodka. I opted for the gin and tonic with cucumber and rosemary, which was so refreshing. J&M also provided tons of homebrew, and their friend designed all of the labels, with each of the beers representing something personal to J&M.

Gin and tonic, infused with cucumber and rosemary. Perfect for a hot summer day.

A couple that brews beer together, stays together?! From left to right: Red Presidents Dry-hopped Red Ale, RIP IPA, Love Triangle Hefeweizen, and Final Move Blueberry American Ale. Not pictured: Illegible Digits (mystery beer/assorted brews).

The beautiful table settings. Each table featured a different centerpiece.

We all got finger puppets and a Lindt truffle for the wedding favors. This little froggy belonged to me.

Dinner was a Thai food buffet from Champa Garden in Oakland. I got a little of everything, and a lot of pad thai, of course!

Instead of having one cake, J&M opted for 7 different cakes from 3 different bakeries. (Fruit tart not pictured.)

At the end of the evening, the bride and her brother kicked off their shoes and let loose!

Congrats, J&M!! May the rest of your life together be as happy and wonderful as your wedding day!

Sunday Night Dinners: Celebration Edition

Lucky you — two posts in two days! I’m trying to catch up on blog material, since I’m leaving for Taiwan and Japan this week, and I KNOW there will be much to blog about from that trip!

I had the second of my Sunday Night Dinners a few weeks back. On the guest list: LC, who cooked dinner for me in order to appear on this blog; SP, who has hosted me many times especially at Stitch n Bitch; and JL, my good friend and film watching buddy. In addition to being a very fun group, there were special reasons to invite each of these friends. LC and SP are both moving far, far away soon, and JL was celebrating a birthday the following Tuesday.

For the menu, I decided to focus on the dessert since it was JL’s birthday. In addition, SP is vegetarian and JL doesn’t eat red meat or pork, so I went with two recipes from the Chez Panisse Vegetables cookbook by the one and only Alice Waters. We started with olives and Manhattans — very civilized, no? For the first course, I made a pink grapefruit, avocado, and curly endive salad with citrus vinaigrette. It was delicious but would’ve been better had I chosen riper avocados. You’d think four years of living in California would confer some innate ability to buy avocados, but nope. Big shame!

Yummy salad!

For the main course, I made a simple roasted eggplant and tomato penne pasta. The key to this dish was the ricotta salata cheese that is crumbled on top of the pasta. Ricotta salata is an amazing and flavorful (and salty!) cheese that is solid, unlike its liquefied and more common cousin. It will beat Parmesan any day of the week, in terms of being a pasta topper. It is also, for the record, the only cheese made from sheeps’ milk that I have ever liked.

Penne with roasted eggplant, tomatoes, and ricotta salata.

Now, for dessert! Back when LC cooked dinner for me, I had requested moelleux au chocolat, or molten chocolate cake. It is probably my favorite dessert of all time, which is saying a lot! He didn’t make it then, so I thought better late than never, right? And as I said earlier, it was JL’s birthday so I wanted to make dessert extra special.

You might recall that I’m not the best baker in the world, so I was pleasantly surprised to find that the recipe (from The Gourmet Cookbook) was fairly easy.  Instead of the coffee créme anglaise that I was supposed to serve with the cake, I bought Häagen Dazs vanilla ice cream, which I thought would provide a refreshing cold contrast to the warm cake. Besides, LC said that the créme anglaise would have been too rich as an accompaniment. I’m so happy when there’s a good excuse to be lazy!

The cakes, straight out of the oven. Check out the chocolate oozing out the middle.

Happy Birthday friend!

It was a very successful dinner party, in part due to the amount of alcohol we imbibed. Between the four of us, we managed to put away four Manhattan cocktails and three bottles of wine. Cheers!

Three empty bottles of wine. Manhattans not pictured.