Friday, September 3, 2010

day four: something new in the kitchen

poor mr. brattcat...he couldn't drive another mile...
so for 'something i'd never done before' on day four,
i invited friends for whom i'd never cooked and prepared dishes i'd never before made.
here is the meal in order of completion
(not necessarily the order of palatability...remember that apron a showed you a month or so ago, the one that says 'i kiss better than i cook')
julie's black eye pea salad
(remember julie, the amazing baker who left sweet treats in my kitchen each day of her visit last summer?)
julie's peanut butter cup brownies (yup, same julie...she made me a cookbook of her family's favorite recipes)
spring herb rice (better homes and gardens big book of 30-minute dinners...took me so much longer than 30 minutes)
vegetable quesadillas (better homes and gardens big book of 30-minute dinners...these really did take less than 30 minutes and the oven only needed to be on for 6 minutes, perfect on a day that reached about 94 degrees in a house with no air-conditioning)
the table is set
the kitchen is a mess

(poor mr. brattcat...i gave him the day off from chauffeur duties
and left him with a five alarm disaster in the kitchen)

(brattcat's kitchen and diningroom, brattleboro, vermont)

20 comments:

Birdman said...

You know-- this 'birthday week thing' could catch on. I think I gained 2 lbs just looking at the pictures of your meal. mmmmmmm!

Stefan Jansson said...

Wow. I'm getting hungry now.

Kate said...

We must be kin since I've been celebrating birthday week for years. My family, however, god-love-'em isn't always cooperative, but they try! Please send your friend Julie to me; I'll show her a really good time in the Twin Cities!! That is, between her baking duties.

VP said...

Oh my, it's almost 2 PM and I still have to eat something. Almost everything from this post would be fine!

B SQUARED said...

Now, getting back to that apron...

Leif Hagen said...

Looks like a scrumptious feast indeed! Any room at the dining table for a guest from Minnesota??

Sharon Creech said...

Mmm, mmm, mmm, that sure looks good! And I love the photo narrative! Poor mr. brattcat, is he finished with the dishes yet?

Malyss said...

So it was a joking apron, it did not tell the truth!:)
Please give some hugs from me to poor Mr Brattcat, he had a hard week! :)

Lowell said...

I dunno, the stuff looks pretty good. I know Lois Anne would like all of it, 'cause she's a vegetarian!

Mr. Brattcat, well, it seems to me he would be most pleased to clean up the mess...considering his great love made the mess for him (oh, and a few others)...

Happy birthday again...you do know how to string out the celebration, don't you? Heh, heh!

Halcyon said...

My MiL is in town next week from Germany. I think I will try that black eye pea salsa on her. I have made a similar type salad before but without the spice. The tobasco makes it sound even yummier!

Glad you had a nice birthday week!

Sharon said...

It looks like everyone cleaned their plates. Now, I'm hungry!

Cezar and Léia said...

I think it was not so bad, I mean about the mess in the kitchen! LOL
For sure it was a perfect dinner,congratulations, everything looks wonderful and delicious!Oh girl...and that brownie, I'm crazy about it now!
hugs
Léia

irinapictures said...

You are my hero. Hero of cooking.

cieldequimper said...

Good thing it's dinner time. I don't think I'll manage anything this appetizing though!

Elenka said...

"Poor Mr. Brattcat???" From what I know, he can handle anything! I'm sure he's loving birthday week...
I sure enjoyed Birdman's birthday week.
We work during my birthday '30 minutes' in October, so it will be hard to plan very much to do on consecutive days.
Your meal looked fabulous!!!!!! I'm glad I could biggify the photos to actually read the recipes.
Thanks for sharing the festivities.

Sunny said...

Everything looks quite yummy. You had a busy day!
☼ Sunny
P.S. I stopped by the tower but it was close to 1pm, I thought maybe you would still be around...LOL! It was pretty quiet, like the last time I was there, I hung around for a brief time checking licence plates. Haha! Oh well, maybe another time!

Virginia said...

MAy we have recipes on demand? Poor Mr. B, kitchen duty but it was worth it I'll just bet.
V

BlossomFlowerGirl said...

They all look yummy, but - could I have a (large) slice of that chocolate cake please?

DIGITAL WORLD PAGES ARCHIVE said...

Beautiful.

PJ said...

Well, it's your birthday and you're so enjoying it! Everything looks delish and I wouldn't turn my nose up at any of it.