Supper Club: July 22, 2009

Posted on July 24, 2009 by Jen

Breakfast for dinner, hell yeah!

Appetizer: Bacon-Wrapped Potato Bites. Or, if you want to go fancy, they can also be called “Deconstructed Potato Skins.” These were absolutely delicious, but really, you can’t go wrong when you wrap potatoes in bacon. This is a winner. You will have to bring it to your next party, you will be loved by all.

Entree: Banana-Cinnamon Waffles. Yes, these waffle are healthy for you, especially when you slather them in syrup. But no really, the waffles taste great, even if it’s chockful of healthy flours. There is no overpowering taste of bananas and so if you love bananas, definitely cut up some and add it to the top of your waffles.

Side Dish: Eggs Florentine. This was a fancy way of having eggs for breakfast, definitely beyond the traditional egg-cookin’ ways. I thought it was good but my egg yolk was a little too done for my taste while the rest of the dish was a bit runny. I wonder if the size of the ramekin does make a difference, we only had 6 oz. ramekins, the recipe called for 8 oz.

Dessert: Caramelized Peaches with Ice Cream. Okay, when you bake peaches in sugar and butter, it makes the house smell so warm and inviting. Plus ice cream, you have a winner. A simple summer dessert.

When Pigs Fly Trivia Night

Posted on July 20, 2009 by Bob

Saturday Night, Jen, Kate, Katie, Jim, Paul, Steve, Colleen and I joined together (like Voltron) and went a’ triviaing at St. Martin Des Porres up in Hazelhood. A friend of Katie’s from high school has a couple children with genetic disorders and the proceeds from this trivia night went to help with these costs, and with a trivia challenge on the line, we were happy to help.

While the charity benefit is important and the trivia itself is key, anyone who has been to trivia with us knows that the real focus of the evening is on the food. Kate brought the incomparable You-Can’t-Eat-Just-One Spinach Balls. Katie made cookies, Jim baked brownies. Paul brought the White Cheddar Popcorn, while Steve and Colleen chipped in with a great guacamole taco dip thingy. Our pulled pork recipe that went over so well at the Botanical Gardens made another appearance, this time on dollar buns, and a veggie tray rounded out the main courses. Throw in a cooler of beer and some assorted candies and I feel pretty confident when I say that we had the best spread of any team.

Also, I think we had the best team name, “Team Ramrod”. The Super Troopers reference probably went over a lot of people’s heads, but it wasn’t nearly as classy as the team who dubbed themselves “At Ur Cervix”. Nice.

As far as the trivia was concerned, things did not go as well. Granted, we were tied for first place for a couple of the middle rounds, but in the end we finished tied for fifth. Not a bad showing, with over 40 tables, but not quite what we had hoped for. The problem, I think, was not us so much — it couldn’t possibly be our fault — but rather, the fact that the questions came from a pre-made trivia night kit. Now, I’m all for someone trying to make a quick buck, but in my humble opinion, these questions were not up to snuff. My biggest complaint were that the questions were way too general. For example, some of the categories were Sports, Movies, True / False, Music, Geography, and U.S. States. If these categories seem generic, it’s because they are. I don’t mind difficult trivia, but these questions were all over the map. Without any focus to the categories, you either knew the answer or you didn’t. In addition, there were several questions that could generously be considered “trick questions”. Also, the Geography and U.S. States questions were pretty much interchangeable. In spite of all my kvetching, we still came in fifth. Everyone was able to contribute some clutch answers, and we did have the balloons on our table for a couple rounds at least. We all had a good time and we can only hope that our contribution goes to help a family in need.