Cookie season isn’t over yet, but it’s winding down. The party was Friday. It was a particularly nice one, somehow. Here’s what there was to eat:
- Buffalo chicken dip from the Frank’s hot sauce website, with celery sticks – coulda made a double batch.
- 5 pounds of hamburger made into cocktail meatballs – there were actually a few left. I’ll thaw them when Al gets home.
- Spicey peanut dip with carrots, broccoli, beauty heart radishes, and cucumber. I bought a small head of cauliflower and forgot to cut it up, but the dip got all eaten so there must’ve been enough vegetables to eat it on, even without the cauliflower.
- Caramelized onion dip – I sort of use Heidi’s, but when I am cooking the onions, I add a bit of brown sugar and some soy sauce. I don’t use any dehydrated onion flakes or powders. And I use more creamy stuff per onions; Heidi says 1 1/2 lbs. onion to 3/4 cup each sour cream & Greek yogurt – I use about 3/4 cup each sour cream, Greek yogurt and mayonaise
- Cheeses: Stilton, Morbier, Mobay, and two kinds of Marieke seedy Gouda, one the feugreek that I’ve always liked, the other a mixture of mustard seeds. With crackers. All pretty much snarfed but the Stilton
- Sausage & cheese platter with Christopher Columbus salami and Tillamook cheddar from Costco (the 2# logs of Tillamook are my favorite thing to buy at Costco) – and Terese sliced both up for me. Used the last of the salami to make scrambled eggs with salami and cheese on Sunday morning
- 4 loaves of French bread – Got Rach to slice that
- Hummus and a roasted carrot dip from Everyday Food, with pita and Greek yogurt. I ran out of tahini and used a little peanut butter in the hummus – man, it was good. The roasted carrot dip was really good, too, but the recipe illustrated the difference between Martha recipes and say, a Gourmet recipe. The Martha recipe just said to make the dip and serve it with pita and Greek yogurt. A good recipe would have said something like “the dip can be made one day ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Bring dip to room temperature before serving.”
- Pesto and sun dried tomato torta – this was devoured as well.
- Roasted red peppers, that I roasted in the summer and froze, with a squish of lime juice and garlic and olive oil
- Nuts and olives
- About 100 little weinies in wrapped in homemade yeasted pastry – all eaten
- 3 dozen hard boiled eggs made into deviled eggs – again, not a one left
- 4 pounds of shrimp, served hot – baked in butter and black pepper. As Rachael said, disappeared in about 22 seconds
- Goat cheese in homemade ratatouille that had been frozen from summer time. This I forgot to put out – it was supposed to be a vegetarian hot dip to follow the Buffalo chicken, but it was up in Mark’s fridge and I forgot.
- Feta-walnut-filo cigars
- Bacon wrapped dates – stuffed with pecans
- Squash quesadillas
The last three things did not get eaten up as fast – people must’ve been getting full. I’ve got a tray of dates and one of the filo cigars in the freezer for some future party.
And of course, platters and platters of cookies.
I feel like it was a good party food year, and not a very good cookie year. I can tell you what was wrong with at least 8 or 9 varieties – but I’ll take Julia’s advice and never apologize.
Saturday I should’ve been packing cookie boxes, but it was just not to be. Rach and I went for a longish walk – stopped for coffee and went to the bank to deposit my take from the cookie ingredients donation bucket. Which was sizeable – thanks! to all who tossed in. We got back from that, and I posted pictures. Then I made the fig bars – Cuccidati – because the fig swirls I made from the 2005 December Gourmet were just not a good replacement. Pastry too dry, and they fell apart a lot – although all the ones I put out got eaten.
We had tickets to go see a Messiah, performed by the Wisconsin Cahmber Orchestra with a couple of choirs and soloists. I made the squash quesadilla filling into soup, and heated up the ratatouille goat cheese for spreading on crostini. Picked up a zipcar and went to the Stoughton Opera House.
Sunday I got up early and started bagging cookies. Both Toni and Rachael helped – which was great. I can’t tell you how many times I have thought I was going to spend the entire rest of my life shoving cookies into ziploc bags. We even had time to go out to Chris Quandt’s tree sale and get a tree.
Yay – Dad’s car makes it to Black Earth & back to pick up the Xmas tree
All the boxes – 24 – were packed and labelled by by 11:30. Amy’s John, who’s a mail man, told me to arrange for carrier pick up when I printed the labels. I settled in to watch a Mad Men, with a little bourbon and both cats. I watched one episode, then decided to watch a second. I remember about 10 minutes of that second one, and the next thing I knew it was 1:30 and a third episode was starting – if you don’t stop it Netflix automatically plays the next episode of a TV series.
Monday I shipped four boxes UPS, hand delivered two, and went back home to wait for the postal carrier to pick up the other twenty. Which he did at about 10 to one.
So, I may make a few more kinds of cookies. Peppermint bark for sure. I have a number of local cookie fairy cookie deliveries to make, trays to work and all like that. And I have to figure out Christmas dinner – or brunch? and New Year’s brunch. But for now, I’m gonna go collapse on the couch and watch that Mad Men I fell asleep to last night. Maybe tonight I’ll watch two.
Last of the cookies stashed in my closet – wore those green sandals at the party
