It’s been a while since my last post . . . I blame vacationing in Las Vegas; after all Vegas isn’t conducive to productivity. Rather it’s a decadent city—a place to go to relax and unwind. There’s great entertainment, marvelous casinos, and fabulous food.
One of the best things about Las Vegas is the food and the sheer quantity of it! Normally buffets are all about quantity, but typically lack in quality. In Vegas, you get the best of both worlds: an unlimited amount of delicious gourmet food.
Every summer my family reunites in Cape San Blas, Florida, for two weeks. This beach trip is one of my favorite times of the year. Not only do I get to spend time with everyone, but I get good food to boot. When my family gets together, we really cook (sometimes for half the day)!
Some nights have a theme, which my grandmother usually picks and organizes. For instance, we had a “pirate night” this year, during which everyone dressed up in pirate clothes they’d made during the day. The gastronomical highlight of the night were these candy treasure chests.
It’s about time that I introduce some otherworldly cuisine on Flavorful Journeys and what better place than Westeros—the primary setting for George R.R. Martin’s epic A Song of Ice and Fire series and the popular Game of Thrones HBO television series. Here’s a little insight into The Wall for those not familiar with the series:
***Forewarning this comes from Season 3, Episode 6 and may contain spoilers***
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuGr7pdaRmg
As you can see the Wall is an inhospitable frozen fortification, monumental in size and scope. The Night’s Watch guard the Wall and man do they have it rough.
This was my first experience decorating with fondant and it was a blast! These fresh cheery cupcakes with fondant icing may look intimidating, but they’re actually quite easy to make. Upon returning to Chicago some of our friends invited us over for afternoon tea. Beyond thrilled at discovering more people who enjoy having tea, I started to plan what to make. It dawned on me that as much as I love tea, I needed (ok, more like wanted) a cookbook purely dedicated to afternoon tea recipes.
I discovered The Perfect Afternoon Tea Recipe Book by Antony Wild and Carol Pastor. It’s a beautiful book with gorgeous photographs and detailed instructions. It’s interesting to note the differences between British and American cooking terminology, such as self-raising flour for self-rising flour, plain flour for all-purpose flour, bicarbonate of soda for baking soda, icing sugar for confectioners’ sugar, cornflour for cornstarch, wholemeal flour for whole-wheat flour, sugarpaste for fondant, etc. Luckily enough, the book has both the English and American terms.
As much as I loved summering in Florida, visiting friends and family, it’s nice to be home again. Whenever I travel, especially for long stretches, I start to yearn for my kitchen. A kitchen is a very intimate space and the objects and ingredients within a kitchen tell a story. This summer I was in a kitchen devoid of personality—a hotel kitchen. Alas, no hanging pots and pans, no piles of randomly stacked cooked books, no handwritten notes, no jars of spices from far reaches of the world, and no stashed away goodies for late night snacking.
