A very dorky evening

In case you haven't figured it out yet I'm a geek. I am a food geek and pop culture nerd with a specialty in fantasy. Now if you haven't been living under a rock than you were probably watching True Blood lastnight. Whether you like Vampires or not there just isn't anything else on!!!! I had friends over we turned it into a party that had us sipping blood, eating raw flesh and being generally silly.

I made Cherry Srbet and made some very boozy cocktails out of it. They were tasty but unless you want to drink blood you may just want to eat it straight! I got the recipe from the Cosmic Cowgirl She has some really great recipes I highly recomend checking her out!!!

Now for the blood muhahahahahaha!!

This is my friend Sarahle. Isn`t she purdy!!!


You will need
2 lbs Cherries
1 cup water
3é4 cups plus two tablespoons sugar
juice of half a lemon
1/8 tsp kirsch or almond extract (I used almond extract as I had already made 2 trips to the liquor store!)

Pit your cherries. I reccomend doing this in front of the tv with a sheet pan. It takes a while 2 lbs is a lot of cherries!! It also doesn't help when you have Miss Pants and B.D. eating them!!!











Now throw everything, except your extract or kirsch, into a pot and bring to a simmer on medium heat. You want it to simmer the cherries for 10-15 minutes. I waz busy and it simmered longer but that just helped the flavours I think. I also at the last minute decided to throw some chocolate mint in there. If you are doing something like this you want the stems in there. There is a lot more flavour in the stem than in the leaves. Just remember to take them out before blending!!!




Now I`m out of pictures other than the blood. Sorry.

Blend your syrup and cherries with whatever blending tools you have at your disposal. I used an immersion blender cause it`s easy to clean ;) but you can use a blender or food processor or really anything that has a couple blades and moves fast! Now chill the syrup for 8-10 hours. After that follow your ice cream maker instructions!! I use a kitchen aid attachment that I think is a good first icecream maker. I just keep the bowl in the freezer and make ice cream whenever I want!!

If you want to try the blood cocktail I made blend all your sorbet with a bottle of light white wine and about a cup of vodka. Blend and pour into glasses or nifty tru blood bottles!! If anyone is interested in how I made those I`ll give instructions but they were pretty easy!



And now for something completely different!

A romantic meal for one

So the last few days have been really hectic! We've found a location for our restaurant and put in an offer. Been on the phone all day with our realtor and lawyer, not to mention trying to get a hold of a health inspector (a near impossible feat apparently!) So tonight all that is left is to wait. The deadline is 6pm tomorrow and we'll find out then.

Needless to say I've been a little nuts. Little Miss Pants has luckily been very patient (for the most part) considering how crazy Mommy and Daddy are! So tonight it's raining and my B.D. is at work and I thought "Why not do a little something for me???" I need to calm so that I can get through these next (eep) 22 1/2 hours, but hey who's counting? So I looked in my fridge and sighed. A dish that even sounds like a sigh came into my mind and that dish was souffle. Sometimes you just need to treat yourself a little. So chill that wine, and get ready for at least an hour of pure me time. After it's in the oven you do absolutely nothing. In fact the less you do the better it will be!

So come on and sigh with me souffle.....

Here's the recipe!
2 eggs, separated (I actually only used one and it did not work that well so use 2!!!)
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp flour
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup cheese
1/4 cup ham
salt and pepper to taste



First things first! Set your oven to 350f and prepare your souffle dish. You prepare your dish by greasing it and dusting it with flour. You also "collar" the dish by tying parchment paper around it like so.
My souffle didn't really need it since I only used one egg but if you are using two you will definitely want to! it keeps the puff of your souffle from collapsing which means less time cleaning your oven and more time staring at your beautiful souffle!!!









After that is done you want to separate your eggs and grate your cheese etc. Souffle despite seeming fancy is made really, really quickly (if you have an electric mixer of some kind, if not also whip your egg whites here.)

If you do have an electric mixer throw your egg whites into it and turn on to medium high. I use an 8 on my Kitchen Aid.

Next throw your butter into a small sauce pot and turn the heat to high. Throw your milk in a microwave safe dish and nuke for 1 min 30 sec. Once your milk is in the microwave throw your flour into the butter and whisk like crazy!! Well no not really just make sure that it's all combined. When the microwave beeps pour 2/3 of the milk into your roux (the butter and flour mixture and throw in your cheese. It will be very thick so don't freak out!

Now whisk your egg yolk with the remaining milk. This is called Tempering and will prevent your egg yolk from cooking unevenly. Take the cheese mixture off the heat and add your egg and milk mixture. Add your ham or whatever extras you may be throwing in there. I'll point out quickly right now that souffle is awesome for leftovers!!!







By now your egg whites should look like this,

use a 1/4 to a 1/3 of this to lighten up you egg yolk mixture. Just whisk it in. After that you are going to want to very carefully fold in the rest of your egg whites. They should be just incorporated with the mixture.










My mixture usually looks like this.







Now put the batter into your prepared dish. I used a really weird sized ramekin from DollaRama. If I had used the 2 eggs it probably would've been the right size. If you have regular sized ramekins give it a whirl! You want that tall luscious souffle because your worth it!!!! Now here is the Me part, put your souffle in the oven and LEAVE IT ALONE!!!!!! Seriously go watch TV, meditate do whatever you think you deserve!! I personally drank wine smoked cigarettes and read Douglas Coupland for about 33 minutes. You don't want to open the door so leave the light on and when it's golden brown (30-35 minutes) it'll be done!!

As you can see mine didn't rise as much as I would've liked but it still tasted AMAZING!! I enjoyed it with a warm spinach salad and some Fat Bastard Chardonnay!!

And you know why because I'm worth it!!!!!!









(I know this can seem a little intimidating but it literally takes about 8 minutes from start to finish. Plus you can feel like you earned your gluttony!!!)

As always Enjoy!!!
-lexi