International House of Fun

Friends, food, and booze.  These are a few of my favorite things.  (See what I did there?)  That being said, I have been attending a monthly dinner that combines all three of these things, along with new people, new foods, kitchen adventures, and lots of love.  It doesn't really have a name, (although the facebook group is called "Yo Mama So...") but why do you need a name for something so organic and cool?

These dinners started out as an idea that was bounced around for a while.  I had gotten the notion from a friend, whose group would have a themed dinner once a month.  I mentioned this in a random convo with my doppelganger.  And that was it.  We brought the idea up occasionally, but never really went anywhere with it.  Until we did.  The new year finally saw us get motivated.  DG offered her house for the first dinner, which was the first Monday of January. That first dinner was delicious.  The cuisine we chose was Middle Eastern.  So many yummy things.  And the core group showed up.  There were 9 or 10 of us that night.  And it was wonderful. 

Good start, right?

 

 Since that night, we have only grown.  We have had group members come and go, although the core seven of us are still going strong.  Each month, we vote on the following months theme.  We have had Indian, German, Greek, Finger Foods, Southern/Soul, Bacon (yes, bacon), and most recently, French.  Each month, we take on the theme as a personal challenge to our culinary skills.  I have personally taken on such delights as whole pork belly, boiled peanut hummus, tart rustica, and spanakopita.  Other amazing dishes made by my amazing friends include slow roasted goat, Cornish game hens, bbq pulled pork, baked brie, bacon pancakes, and bacon cupcakes with maple buttercream icing.  And let's not forget the booze.



Tart Rustica with caramelized onions, heirloom
tomatoes, and goat cheese.

This group are big beer fans.  But we also love a great craft cocktail.  Metro Leprechaun took it upon herself to focus more on the alcohol side of things, (mostly because I don't think she wanted to cook!).  Some of the countries we have sampled have a great beer tradition, (think Germany), while others not so much.  This is where cocktails have come in.  Peach Bourbon sweet tea for Southern night, Bourbon manhattans with a salt pork shrub on Bacon night, and Lavender French 75s on French night.  And our classiest was good German beer, (Bitburger, Spaten), chased by shots of Jaegermeister. 

But it's not just about the food or booze.  It's about the friends.  Hanging out once a month in someone's kitchen.  Jokes, insults, hugs, commiserations, inappropriate behavior, and lots of love.  I truly love spending time with these people.  They are genuine, nonjudgmental, and funny as hell.  We laugh, we cry, we nurse each other's wounds, literally. (I spent Bacon night with my foot propped up on a chair with an ice pack on it.  I discovered two days later that I had severely sprained it and had to be on crutches for a week.) 

The infamous Bacon night.  It felt so wrong, but
so right.

  In the end, the food could be cold Dinty Moore and tallboys of PBR and we would still have a blast.  It doesn't always have to be four star, James Beard award winning, celebrity chef produced meals.  Sometimes, it just takes some crazy awesome friends, some dedicated home cooks, a few gallons of booze, and lots of heart to make a mouthwatering, tasty meal.

"If you really want to make a friend, go to someone's house and eat with him... the people who give you their food give you their heart."  Cesar Chavez

Beer vs. Whiskey. Am I dreaming?

Hiya Hipsters!

Hope things have been going well for you.  I've had some ups and downs the last few weeks, but that's life, right?  And honestly, I should probably be a little more emo for a hipster.  But alas, I have survived and am currently thriving.  It's all about the small things that get us through.  And I have had a great week of small, yet awesome things.  One of my favorite things to happen this week happened on Monday night. 

I got to attend an amazing dinner with some amazing peeps on Monday night at an amazing restaurant.  Cask and Larder is a Central Florida gem.  I have had the opportunity to eat there before, so when I heard they were doing a special Beer vs. Whiskey dinner, I knew I had to attend.  But who to invite to this delicious evening?  One of my favorite foodies.  Metro Leprechaun (ML) immediately said yes.  Then she suggested we invite my lookalike, Doppelganger and her man.  Next thing I know, DG's brother, the Mad Irishman and his wife, the Hair Mistress, joined in and it was a party!

Cask and Larder is the sister restaurant of The Ravenous Pig.  It is described as a "southern public house".  To me, that means southern food (my favorite and birthrite) amped up to fantastic levels.  I had previously attended brunch there and I was so excited about the food.  Of course, the booze was pretty exciting, too.

The evening started with passed appetizers of frog legs, headcheese, and smoked oysters, which I am desperate to try at home.  There was also a beer and a whiskey starter.  The beer was a Berliner Roggen Weiss.  All the beers were created by in-house brewmaster Ron Raike, a legend in the Central Florida craft beer scene.  This particular beer was a sour, which is a great, lighter style of beer.  It was a great, easy way to start out the dinner.  We also got to try a Reverend Palmer, which was a refreshing mix of tea infused Gentlemen Jack, lemon juice, and a golden ale. 



A smoked oyster, one of the starters for the evening.
 

The courses that followed were just as awesome.  A beautiful cucumber gazpacho with lobster, a grilled chicken liver spedini, which is a skewer of chicken livers with grilled plums, (honestly, that was my favorite, and I'm not a huge liver fan), pork cheeks with a beet ravioli, (another surprise, as I never would have thought of a beet ravioli, and it was super tasty, and really pretty!), and a peach-cornmeal upside down cake.  Lots of yums and moans coming out of our group with every dish.

But the real stars of the night in my mind was the drinks (of course).  Ron Raike's beers were actually paired after the food and cocktail menus were created, yet they complemented the courses as if they were brewed for each one.  Old Southern Red Wit, (my fave), Trois Mois Saison, a beautiful stout that was aged in a Jack Daniels barrel for 5 months, and an imperial porter for dessert made my beer nerd heart happy.  And the opportunity to talk with the master himself at the end of the evening was the icing on the cake.  In the brewing room, no less! 



Chicken Liver Spedini

And then there were the cocktails.  I'm a girl that loves her whiskey.  I wasn't sure what to expect when I signed up for the dinner.  Not sure if it was going to be straight shots of whiskey, or what.  So I was pleasantly surprised when the whiskies were presented as beautifully prepared cocktails.  Again, each cocktail was matched to the food for that course, starting with the lighter Reverend Palmer, and finishing with a Bourbon Peche, which was a mix of Woodford Double Oak (which I would take a bath in, if someone would let me), Carpano and a peach liqueur.  It was so smooth and sweet that ML poured it over her dessert.  I think she might have licked the plate, but I don't have pictures of that.  Every cocktail was blended using quality ingredients and though provoking combinations.  I was in heaven!

Of course, the best part of the dinner was the group I was with.  They are such a fun, adventurous, often loud, but never boring clan.  And that's truly how they think of you if you are their friend.  It's a clan, a family, and I am so lucky that I'm included in that family.  Jokes, insults, sexual innuendos, and plate-sharing were all a part of the enjoyment of the evening.

 

It was a great night and I'm so happy I insisted that it had to happen.  After the last couple of weeks, I needed a night like this to remind me of the awesomeness that is my life and my friends and family.  I couldn't be who I am, or do what I do without them.  And thanks to Cask and Larder for making such a great night happen.  I am definitely in for the next one!