Birthday Weekend Project

Though I could have the “perfect” excuse from Uncle Sam, my past weekend gourmet cooking project went on as planned - in a way.  Thanks to my husband’s 4x birthday.  I did manage to make him a gourmet meal on Sunday as his special pro-birthday gift.  I originally planned to make him a chocolate cheesecake, beside the gourmet meal, instead of a store-bought birthday cake.  Unfortunately (or fortunately), I had to abort that plan due to the fact that a “Hollywood” star might be born to the family.   Who’s that?  Well, let me explain that in more details later.

Weeks ago, I came across a recipe with an amazingly beautiful and intriguing photo of the finished product.  I instantly decided to take it upon myself and make an attempt to make it.  The recipe is called Inside-out Eggplant Parmigiana.  Judging simply by the picture, it could be a one of those very complicated recipes.  However, once my mind is made up for doing something, nothing (or no one) could get in my way.  There was an ingredient I was not familiar with but I know I could substitute it with something I was familiar with.  After all, the exact though to myself was: if I could just present half as beautiful as what’s shown in the photo, I was sure I would have impressed my husband far more than he had ever expected.

The unfamiliar ingredient in the recipe was arugula.  I knew it’s a plant but had no idea what kind of plant that was.  So, I substituted it with spinach.  I tried to look for some cold, fresh mozzarella cheese from a deli section of a grocery store but had no luck.  So, I bought a package from a refrigerator section instead.  I found the biggest biscuit cutter in the house to cut circles out of those square-shaped mozzarella slices.  The cut-out cheese circles matched perfectly with the sliced eggplant circles.  As to the tomato sauce, I have to be honest.  I didn’t make it from scratch even though that's what the recipe asked for originally.  I had a jar of regular tomato sauce.  So, I just dressed it up with a few sprinkle of finely chopped fresh cilantro and onion.  I let it simmer on low heat with a lid on while I was prepping for other things (you do want to make sure the tomato sauce was covered with a lid while cooking on a stove unless you don’t mind red or orange stains all over the stovetop).  The key is: the longer the tomato sauce is cooked, the better it would taste.
  

 

The actual cooking process was honestly not as complicated as I suspected originally.  All I had to do was to follow instructions step-by-step and stack ingredients up one-by-one in the correct order.  However, I did miscalculate on the portion of pancake mixture and ended up making more pancakes than slices of eggplant.  So, instead of making a 3-level eggplant tower with one piece of pancake as the foundation, I made it into a 2-level one only.  I very much wish I could have enough eggplants to top the tower but oh well...next time then.  I named it Eggplant Bungalow instead of Eggplant Tower as you can imagine why.  I have to say though.  The pancake foundation had turned out to be extremely successful.  It looked and tasted exactly like what I had planned for.  The “Bungalow” impressed the hell out of my husband in every possible way: look, smell and taste.

  

Now, back to the story about having a possible “Hollywood” star in the family.  Actually that was me - or lest I have tried.  I went to casting calls for an extra in the upcoming Iron Men 3 last Saturday, which was my husband’s birthday.  One of my girlfriends told me about the opportunity and which was specifically looking for someone who has Chinese descent.  I couldn’t pass up the rare opportunity so I went.  I had to wait 4 long hours for my turn just to submit my application form and glamour shot (which I took it at one of those funny photo booths in the mall because I was so unprepared and went without a photo of myself).  Nevertheless, those 4 long hours I should have used it to make a birthday cheesecake.  In easing my guilt, I bought the birthday boy a 6-inch (smallest) chocolate mousse cheesecake at the nearby Cheesecake Factory at a hefty price, $20.  I can't buy him the biggest one for it could have cost me at least $60.  Though the cheesecake was small, at least he’s the only eating it.  Both Ms. Lola the cat and I are allergic to chocolate. 

I did promise him a homemade cheesecake for our upcoming 6th wedding anniversary.  I mean it’ll be a $60 one.

The King and the Queen

We were still in early April but my husband, aka “king of grill,” was already yearning badly for firing up the grill again.  The winter we just had was pretty non-existed.  The spring that we are having now has temperature shot up to 70s or even 80s in some days prior to Easter.  Ms. Spring probably is feeling frustrated for not having enough time to show off her Spring beauty to the king while Ms. Summer is acting like a bully trying to kick Ms. Spring to the side in giving herself more time to melt the king's heart with her heat.   All that cat fight bewilder the king quite a bit he has to seek advices from his queen - "queen of marinate." The truth is that the queen also wants to show her best self.  So, she advised the king to also show his best self, regardless of whether Ms. Spring or Ms. Summer wins.  In her mind, what could be a better timing, when flowers are still blooming but scorching heat has not yet arrived, for both the king and the queen to show off their best selves?

So, here we are, king and queen, husband and wife, join together to create the magic of grilling, once again.  My king hubby wanted to grill steak but I remembered I still has a pack of beautiful pork ribs in the freezer longing to serve the king and queen.  King hubby wanted to cook the pork ribs the Carolina’s way but I protested.  The reason I protested because the Carolina's way would not let me show off my marinating skill.  In the end, the queen won, of course.  I marinated the ribs with my secret marinating recipe.  (All my marinating recipes are secret.)  It’s never failed though.  The king always was amazed at my marinating techniques - rubbing raw meat with my dedicated bare hands.  He said to me in teasing tone. "I cannot get to do things my Carolina's way because I have a gutsy queen.  You got that right, my king!

After allowing the ribs soaked in the "work of the queen" for an afternoon, it's time for the king to show off his best self.  No one could deny the excitement of the king the moment he put the well-marinated meat on the grill. The “king of grill” is truly a master in the art of grilling.  As his queen, I can’t tell you one single time he hasn't grilled perfect meat - no matter what type of meat.  (Well, except one type of meat: hasenpfeffers!)  The grilled meat always comes out heavenly juicy, tender and tasty.  The 2012 first grilled pork ribs were no exception.  Just by looking at the photo of the grilled pork ribs could make one drool furiously.  As a matter of fact, some of my friends who saw the photos called me.  Well, how could I blame them if I was the one who could just look at the photo but not have a bite?

Here is one piece of history.  Before the king is the "king of grill," he was the "prince of bartending."  And the fact that the prince has never left the king's body, he decided to show off his pre-king best self - just to send a message that he still has it.  He made each of us a glass of very MEAN dirty martini.  He dug out his best stash of Vodka from his liquor cabinet - a bottle of Russian Stolichnaya Vodka.  He also used the gourmet olives that were stuffed with jalapeno pepper to mix the drink with.  I kid you not.  Although the drink did kick the queen's ass and her mouth was on fire, she wholeheartedly accepted the challenge and gulped that fume-tasting drink down her throat like there was no tomorrow.  There was not even a tiny drip left in the glass.

The Ultimate Magical Rings

There are two beauites of this recipe.  The first one is its simplicity. 

Crescent roll dough is the ultimate foundation for creating this recipe.  By simply gazing at the photo, one might think it's too complicated to make.  However, it is actually one of those very simple yet gourmet type of dishes.  I spent most of the prep time in to chopping ingredients into fine pieces.  Otherwise, it was all about following steps and applying one ingredient one at a time.  The only tricky thing about this recipe, for me, was to figure out how to open that darn can of dough.  (Don't laugh because I know for sure I wasn't the only one.)  The first time I tried to open one of those suckers, the dough, with no warning given, bursted out on one side of the can like a volcano eruption.  Thank God I eventually figured out the opening "secret" and no more unwanted lava to collect.

  

The other beauty of this recipe is its flexibility.  The fact that I can actually create so many different recipes based upon its fundamental one.  I can substitute the original recipe with different types of meat or veggies.  I can adjust the portion size of the recipe by increasing or decreasing the amount of dough, depending on how many "starving ghosts" I need to feed at the time.  This recipe can be served as breakfast, brunch, lunch, or dinner.  It can even serve as a dessert by substituting it with sweet ingredients.  This recipe is like a chameleon.  It could effortlessly blend into our unique situation and state of mood at any given time. 

There is one good tip for this recipe.  If you have one of those pizza stones, use it for this recipe.  It will be much easier to bake and yield much better result. 

So far, I have made two different recipes (see photos shown below).  One I called it Bacon and Cheese Magic Ring.  The other one I called it Chicken and Cheese Magic Ring.   A seafood one and a dessert one are in the making, as soon as I finalize the ingredients.  Stay tuned.

Bacon and Cheese Magic Ring

Chicken and Cheese Magic Ring