Well, as a public service, I am making the Food Channel's most asked for recipe: Alton Brown's MACARONI AND CHEESE. We'll be seven girlfriends tonight and I'm also making baked salmon with Dijon spread on the outside..mmm........a big salad with lots of nice things in it, and very thin asparagus tossed with olive oil, a little garlic powder and S&P and baked.........I wish you could all come! (the mac and cheese is not something I usually serve as a side dish but I figured I HAVE to try this and I didn't want to find myself preparing it and eating the whole thing by myself...plus I needed more tasters to make sure this recipe is just right for YOU, dear readers:-)
Before dinner, we're having a chevre and brie with crackers, and an Armenian delicacy called "Lahmajoun", which is ground lamb, bell pepper, onions, parsley and tomatoes all blended into a kind of thick spread and put on flour tortillas (this is the 'simple' recipe, usually you make your own dough) and then baked and cut into triangles..all to go with whatever color wine they like :-)
I'll be publishing the recipe of the macaroni and cheese, IF my girlfriends love it, on my Mac 'n GeeeeeZ Food blog........stay tuned! (and wish me luck!)
z
18 comments:
Wow that sounds like an awesome set of courses - was salivating at each description, most especially that Armenian dish. Good luck with it all!
That sounds wonderful! :)
i made that very mac and cheese recipe for my mother's day treat. and a nice juicy rib eye. and caesar salad. it was the perfect meal for a quiet, lonely day. your meal sounds so much yummier. well except the salmon woul kill me...
bon apetit!
You always make me want -- desperately -- to go off my diet, Z.
I wish I lived near you, so that I might partake of your hospitality (assuming I'd be welcome!), but it's probably a good thing I'm a couple of thousand miles away. ;-)
Amazing, isn't it, how even in the midst of grief, political crises and great anxiety about the future, great food brings a sense of comfort and good cheer?
Enjoy your party!
~ FT
Thanks, Tom! The Armenian dish's recipe, I believe, is at my food blog...I'll look later! it's fantastic.
Brooke, I wish you could come....you, too, Heidianne...I love rib eye and am glad you enjoyed it but yes, I know the fish would, quite literally, kill you :-(
FT, it would be nice if you could come.
Yes, the cooking and fun with friends is good at times when we're facing losing the most important thing in our life, like a husband.....but, I have to say this will be emotionally tough tonight as it's really the first time since Mr. Z died six months ago that I've had a real sit down dinner party...I can't think about it right now.
Plus, he did the last minute rush to the store for me when I needed it and was a great help in every way... but, I did it before I knew him and I'll do it again!
off to cooking.........xxx
Z, I'm not letting Mr. Pris read this until after dinner.
You know torture is against the law!
Pris
Pris, that's SO FUNNY!
I made the mac and cheese and it'll go in the oven thirty min before we eat but I think it's a little dry for my taste.....well, we'll see! How bad can it be, right?
Man, that menu sounds delicious, Z. Good luck with your gal dinner party tonight!
It was wonderful, thanks, everybody!
At one point, I asked my gospel singer girlfriend (I guess it's okay to name her group...Trinitee 5:7 ) during dinner "when are you guys recording your new album?" She said "Wait till I finish my macaroni and cheese and I'll tell you...just let me to this mac and cheese!" She loved it and I sent the leftovers home with her!
I was lucky because I didn't know I was cooking for a vegetarian and had made salmon, which she loved, so that went over well! (She's a veterinarian, maybe that's why she can't eat meat!)
Anyway, we had a great time and I'll blog the mac 'n cheese recipe soon at my food blog. I have to admit I think the one I make like my grandmother's is better but this WAS good, no doubt about it.
Fun to have a 'taste test' with all of us girls ...ALL highly approved! :-)
That strawberry rhubarb pie one of my friends made was DEEELicious!
So glad it went well, Z! Another pleasant memory to enjoy.
My Mom's mac 'n cheese (incomparable, of course ;-) was always nice and crusty-brown on the top. She used homemade bread crumbs dotted with lots of butter. (Lethal, but almost worth dying for.)
I kinda like it a little dry, myself. Chacun a son gout ...
Have you ever made it with chunks of left over baked Virginia ham? That and a green salad with homemade vinaigrette dressing makes a heavenly meal. A bit of orange sherbet makes a great desert with that, believe it or not.
~ FT
I'm such a purist about everything that ham in mac 'n cheese doesn't do it for me....I mean, I'm the type who thinks if pizza has ham or designer duck or pineapple on it, it's NOT PIZZA!
The bread crumbs on top of this were PANKO, which are Japanese and very crispy, everybody LOVED it. You should try Panko crumbs if you like the crunch!
My neighbors use Panko all the time, Z. I had never heard of it till about a year ago when I started hanging out with them. Apparently, it's all the rage.
Food is such fun! Why do most of the really good dishes have to be fattening and supposedly unhealthy.? It's not fair, is it?
~ FT
FT, sometimes God's got a REAL LOUSY SENSE OF HUMOR!!
I'm so happy to hear you're still seeing your neighbor friends..that's great! :-) Are they good cooks?
Yes. They've been wonderful, Z. Don't know what I would have done without them. One of those cases where God steps in to supply your need when you least expect it -- or at least I look at it that way.
They are good cooks, which is one of the reasons I started to gain weight again. (Sigh!)
There's a downside to everything, isn't there? ;-)
Hey! GOOD NEWS about "the eye." I went to the doctor this morning, and I'm getting a new Rx for glasses that promise to make everything MUCH clearer.
I'm happy, but my optimism is guarded, because there have been so many bumps in that particular road, as you know, but this REALLY looks promising.
HALLELUJAH!
Have a good evening.
~ FT
That's REALLY great news about your eye, FT...Please let us know how it all goes, I'm so happy for you.
I so wish I could come to one of your little lunches, Miss Z.
They sound so scrumptous !
WVDOTTR
Hi, WV...I wish you could, too.
Miss you ...we need to email and you need to tell me how the move's going!
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