Kitchen Adventures!

[Ancalagon]

From time-to-time I like working up a recipe / dish in the kitchen for me and the Better Half. Tonight was one of those nights. For the end of our fiscal year in the office, the different sections in our squadron chose a country / region to cook / prep foods from and bring in to share with the rest of the folks. I threw out Germany since me and the Better Half visited there October '22 and had a marvelous time. Everyone else in my section agreed to go along.

One guy is bringing schnitzel, two are bringing bratwurst, a lady is bringing a fizzy apple drink... not sure what others are bringing. I worked up a large pot of kartoffelsuppe (potato soup) that is smelling great as I type this. The ingredients ('taters, precious!... bacon, onion, carrots, parsnip, garlic, leeks, 'maters, salt, pepper, thyme, marjoram, rosemary, etc.) are starting to blend and it should taste most excellent by the morning. I'll fill a crock pot with soup and keep the rest for me and the Better Half to eat on over the next few days.

While I was prepping / cooking, I couldn't help but imagine down the road in the retirement years having friends over for a week or two of slinging dice and cooking up something like kartoffelsuppe with bread for dinner and relaxing by the fire... with some good German brew for those so inclined. Prost!

[Necron 99]

How did the German themed food extravaganza turn out? Sounds like it would be most awesome.

[Ancalagon]

We had a big screen slideshow scrolling that showed probably 2 dozen pics of scenery, urban, rural, historic, architectural, etc. and a customized soundtrack playing of all kinds of German music like traditional folks tunes, Richard Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries, the Scoropins, some German hip-hop, and a lot more. A very cool setup!

There were bratwursts, 2 types of schnitzel, German chocolate cake, and a couple other dishes. I even brought non-alcoholic beer (regs and general uptightedness) imported from Germany since the Germans are known for their beverages. Each flight in our squadron set up its food and drink in a separate section so squadron members could walk around and sample items. Not sure how many people were teleworking that day but based on an visual estimation of people who visited our section, I'd guess no more than 1/2 to 2/3 of the squadron members dropped by.

I filled a crockpot with potato soup and a cooler with a dozed NA brews. I admit I put a lot of time, effort and $$$ (ingredients, NA brews) into contributing to the event. I went home with about 80% of the soup and only 3 other people tried the NA brews even though they were clearly labelled 0.0%. The few who tried the soup all said it was good (even got some fist bumps). I was pretty disappointed, but not necessarily surprised, in such a piss poor showing by the squadron as a whole.

Next time I'll just take a carton of Oreos. Since they're sold everywhere, I can claim "it's found in (insert country) so eat up."

[Necron 99]

Well that is quite the bummer, too bad more folks didn't show up to participate. I guess some folks just aren't into good food and festivities these days.

[Ancalagon]

Well... after game 1 of the new softball season, me and 2 of my "softball bros" (the 3 of us hang out post game to BS and "re-hydrate") decided that during the 2 week stretch of June 11-25, we and our "Better Halves" will get together for a dinner event and I will prepare Cajun Shrimp Creole with garlic-butter French bread and some good red wine. I've done this often enough that I can find excellent Bordeaux to pair with the Creole. Even folks who aren't normally wine drinkers will enjoy the combo on the taste buds.

Who knows? Maybe one day if we organize another "gamer gathering" somewhere, I'll whip up a batch of Cajun Shrimp Creole for everyone.

[Ancalagon]

I've decided that I will try my hand at preparing Coq au vin.

Coq au vin is a French dish of chicken braised with wine (A red Burgundy wine is typically used, though many regions of France make variants using local wines, such as coq au vin jaune, coq au riesling, coq au pourpre or coq au violet, and coq au Champagne), lardons, mushrooms, and optionally garlic. (NOTE: garlic WILL be included when I try this!).

Wiki says: Standard recipes call for red wine (often Burgundy) for braising, lardons, button mushrooms, onions, often garlic, and sometimes brandy. Recipes with vin jaune may specify morels instead of white mushrooms. The preparation is similar in many respects to beef bourguignon. The chicken is seasoned, sometimes floured, seared in fat and slowly simmered in wine until tender. The usual seasonings are salt, pepper, thyme, parsley, and bay leaf, usually in the form of a bouquet garni. The juices are thickened either with a roux or by adding blood at the end.

Not sure when I'll get around to this but when I do, I'll provide a follow up.