Well, at least we are having a few dry runs. J., my new partner, her hubby. Keifel and I are doing all the busy work to get us all legal so we can be official without spending what little savings we have. We do have a housewarming this month and the business meetings and maybe some cooking classes as well. It’s kind of taken me by surprise but I do like the idea that I will be doing what I set out to do and taking a stab at it before there is even ink on the diploma.
The 33rd birthday was lovely. Julian, the boychick, made me pancakes and syrup from scratch for my birthday dinner all by himself. He had some frustration but he can already flip pancakes like a pro. They were tasty, tender and blonde which is how I like mine much to my mother and father’s chagrin when I was a girlchick because you have to stand right over them or they get dark. They do tend to taste a little more raw than pancakes cooked to a toasty brown, but we all have our quirks. Over the birthday weekend I did get a little bit of a surprise, that has nothing to do with cooking, in that I found my first gray hair glinting back at me in the mirror. The initial shock has passed but it made me feel the whole birthday thing a little more acutely.
Back to things culinary, despite the fact that the temps are still in the 70s and even 80s this week, I made the first pot of chili for the fall. I find I deviate more from the sacrosanct recipe every time. This time I used a whole can of Murphy’s Stout for the beer portion and it made the chili have this deep note that it was lacking with the switch from beef to ground turkey (dark meat, please). I also added a late season pepper that was green but turning red. To my knowledge Dad never added bell pepper but it was a welcome addition as well. My supply of contraband Mexican powdered chiles is dwindling so I am either going to have to bribe my aunt to ship more or just head to the mercado and blend up some mix of my own. That sounds more appealing in that I will know exactly what’s ground up in there and I can play with the fruitiness v. heat ratio.
This is also the week when we will get fruits soaking for black cake (much later than we had planned, c’est la vie). I will also start laying in butter for the outrageous brownies and other holiday treats. We are planning on having the Boxing Day open house again this year, despite the fact that it’s on a Monday which is generally not a holiday here in the States. I’ll post the menu when it’s firmed up. We decided to make it an afternoon into evening thing for those poor souls who have to go back to work the day after Christmas. At least they can stop by on the way home for black cake and punch.
It’s so nice to be busy but not buried like last year.
Way to go! Congrats on the business. I have some equipment plus I bought some for a movie I catered a couple of months ago. Since I don’t plan on making catering a habit let me know if you need to borrow anything while you get things going. And what is black cake? That is a new one on me.