Shaw's Birthday Dinner

Grapefruit Gimlets

Hummus with Baby Carrots

Champagne

Tomato and Shell Peas with Balsamic Vinaigrette

Mini Farfalle, Artichokes and Lemon

Arugula, Grapefruit and Avocado Salad

Dessert: NONE!

We just got back from that cruise and used up our dessert allotment for about 32.8 years each. Shaw asked for no dessert at all. So either he is testing me, and really wanted a dessert and I should have instinctively known that and made his favorite cake, or he truly wants no dessert. I'll find out by tonight. I think I have some leftover icecream in the freezer if I need a cover.

It is 100 degrees here today, and most of this dinner uses no heat. Yeah! And also no animal products, so vegetarian is our theme this week. Wait, I might use some cheese on the pasta, but cheese is essential for physical and mental well-being.

I'll post recipes of those that work well. Hummus is already on the blog somewhere, and we eat it all summer. Tomatoes are at their PRIME right now, in taste as well as price (ouch!), and must be consumed as often as possible. I'll be eating them for lunch as well, stuffed in pita with some Greek cheese called Kefir, which is more like sour cream, and probably some of the leftover beans from tonight. We'll see.

I'm so jet-lagged I just realized I haven't even showered today. I really should splurge, as it is Shaw's birthday and all...

Comic 'Cakes

I'm here to say: there isn't anything wrong with cupcakes. A handful of cakey love fits the bill when you can't trust your willpower to stop with just one slice of regular cake.

For what has now become an annual event, I made cupcakes for my graduating seniors and other students in their respective classes. I was disappointed with the cake texture from last year's cakes, so I went searching.

I have heard of Amy Sedaris's cupcake recipe before and thought I'd give it a try since it kept coming up on all my searches. I tell you what, these were YUMMY! Very thick batter, though.

Since I do not make cupcakes very often, I do not have cupcake paraphernalia, such as cupcake carriers. I use my good old plastic cakebox, and the frosting makes them messy. To alleviate this problem, I had seen a blurb in a Martha Stewart magazine about using parchment paper instead of cupcake liners. I tried it out and it worked great. (Strange side note: I actually WATCHED the Martha Stewart Show this week and she had a cupcake guest show her the technique, and Martha actually looked surprised. Doesn't she read her magazine?)

If you wish to recreate, you take a 5 inch square piece of parchment and shape it to fit the muffin tin cup. I had a glass the perfect size of the tin cup, so I actually squished the paper around the glass first, then popped it in the tin. You will not be able to get the folds completely flattened, but that is ok. You should probably use an ice cream scoop to get the batter in, as the paper extends up quite a ways (you can make bigger 'cakes this way, too, if you wish), and the batter dripped on my parchment. Yep, that batter burned, while the cakes cooked beautifully, but that batter also knocks right off with no evidence since nothing sticks to parchment.

The parchment papers made the cakes have irregular sides (sort of interesting, though) but they ate just fine. I used my Best Chocolate Frosting Evah and piped it right to the edge of the cupcakes, so you have to get into some of the parchment folds to do that.

I'd do it all again.


The recipe is taken from Amy Sedaris's site verbatim. I got about 16 cakes out of this recipe, but I filled them pretty full.

Amy Sedaris' Cupcakes

1 ½ sticks of unsalted butter
1 ¾ cups of sugar

Beat well, then add:

2 large eggs
2 Teaspoons of pure vanilla
½ teaspoon of salt
2 ½ teaspoons of baking powder
2 ½ cups of flour
1 ¼ cups of milk

Beat well, fill cups, and bake at 375 degrees for 18-20 minutes. You should get 24. I get 18, 'cause I'm doing something wrong.

Humwich

Yep, I'm still combining words to form new words about food. Like Grecos.



It is the start of Tomato Season here in Texas, which is one of the few redeeming qualities about summer in Texas. For those of you brave enough to eat tomatoes (and I mean that in a mocking tone), and smart enough to eat hummus, these sandwiches are the perfect lunch.

I made a big batch of hummus on Sunday and was wondering how to eat it all myself. Shaw brought home some of that yummy rosemary bread from Central Market, and I've been dipping it in the hummus all week. I went searching for tomatoes yesterday and found some good ones from Marfa, Texas. We needed a speedily prepared dinner one night and came up with this. Toasted rosemary bread spread with hummus topped with tomato slices and chopped basil. I think if I had it, I'd throw on some arugula. I know it doesn't sound like much, but it was SO GOOD. And if you hate to cook in the summer, it is perfect.

KK's Hummus

2 cans chickpeas, ceci beans or garbanzo beans (all the same)
2-3 T tahini (your store has it, you just have to look for it)
juice of 2 lemons, big ones
2-3 large cloves of garlic, pulverized or chopped fine
olive oil
water
salt

In a processor, whir those beans as far as they will go. Mine often just crumble since it is too dry to pulverize. Add the lemon juice and a bit of water, like 2 tablespoons. Chop the garlic as fine as you can and add it in. I probably use about 1 teaspoon of salt. Once it is starting to get smooth, add the oil in a stream until you get it as smooth as you want. I put all this in a bowl and top with ground pepper.

Spread this on some good toasted bread, and add tomato slices and herbs.