YumQuest

Sunday, September 21, 2003

For our first evening, we got a little over-enthusiastic while browsing through cookbooks, as you can see from our menu:

Fresh-Herb Breadsticks
Roasted Garlic
Salad
Toasted Barley with Mixed Vegetables
Deep-Fried Chive Crepes with Chevre and Prosciutto
Chicken Cordon Bleu
St. Julians sparkling 100% juice (Peach, Wildberry, and Raspberry)
Ice cream

Location: Lynda's

People who came: Lynda, Emily, Eric, Brian, Michael, Cindy, Sara, Bethany

Lynda's Comments:
This all started when Emily and I found cookbooks on sale. I realized just how many of the things I already have, and decided that to justify buying more I really ought to try at least one new recipe a week. Fortunately, I said so out loud in Emily's presence, and it blossomed into all this. We chose the menu simply by sitting together browsing through cookbooks and saying, "Ooooooh!" here and there. Can you tell we like garlic? ;) Making a rough schedule helped a lot on the timing, unlike the strange cheese clerk didn't (don't ask). We wound up cooking in sort of a tag-team fashion ("It's 5:30; the barley needs to be ready for the skillet by 6, so getting its veggies prepped is the next priority; I'll do that, since you're still working on the breadsticks, and whichever of us is done first can assemble the crepes"), which was fun. Stuff we want to try for future such adventures includes doing potlucks now and then so we're not always responsible for the whole meal, having it elsewhere occasionally so we can accommodate more diners, improving our multi-course meal timing, choosing menus farther ahead and doing some more of the optionally in-advance steps sooner, and probably not eating anything for a long time beforehand because we wished we had more room to eat more as, wow, it was tasty. *grin* This time we played Apples to Apples after the meal; next time, I'm thinking maybe origami, or Taboo, or Cranium. Doesn't much matter; good company is good company. 8)

Emily's Comments:
This was a wonderful experience. We (well, Lynda) had made a fuzzy schedule when we first started, so that we'd be able to time it so things would be ready at nearly the same time. We came very close to our goal of being ready at 7:00. It was nice to see that we were capable of doing so well, since we'd never tried to cook so much in such a short time. This bodes well for our future endeavors. I was pleased at the soft texture of the bread, very different from how it comes out when I mix it in the KitchenAid. I have returned to my original belief that it is better to mix (and knead) bread by hand than in the mixer. I'd also forgotten how wonderfully yummy roasted garlic is. Ours came out nice and soft, probably due to the fact that it all came apart, so that it was lying in the oil the whole time it was baking. My first try at making crepes also went surprisingly well. I had been under the impression that it was a difficult thing to do. The recipe claims to make 20-24, and I only ended up with 15, so I guess I should have made them thinner. But for a first attempt I'm pleased. None of them stuck to the pan or tore. The chicken was tasty, but it was kind of hard to notice the cheese and prosciutto. Yay for a yummy evening, and thanks to everyone who came to our inaugural Cooking Adventure!

A huge thanks to Eric for doing LOTS of dishes (both during cooking and after eating), and for bringing the sparkling juice. :)

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