combustication

It rhymes! Say it aloud! Gonna be a great night full of awesome music and dancing and DJs and brownies, oh my! Be at Club Midway around 7:30 for doors and prepared to have your brains rocked by DraculaZombieUSA batting first, with Apples Apples, The Pussy Pirates and Man in Gray (yay!) going for cleanup. The one other good alternative to the BYP show is Matt’s Earfarm Show, but I really want to get rid of all of the brownies tonight.

This gelato was damn fine. Creamy, but not overwhelming (due to no egg yolks or heavy cream), it promised great beginnings of even more ice cream making.

Mocha Chip Gelato (Surprise)

Ingredients:
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
2 tablespoons instant coffee granules
2 cups milk
1 tsp corn starch
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
2 oz fine quality bittersweet chocolate (finely chopped)*

To Do:
Get ready a large bowl full of ice cold water.

Stir together 1/4 of the milk and the cornstarch in a measuring cup and let it sit while you whisk together sugar, cocao and remaining milk in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil while continuing to stir and add in coffee granules.

Add the cornstarch/milk mixure to the saucepan and bring to a boil again. Immediately remove from heat.

Stir the mixture and add vanilla and half of the chocolate - keep whisking!

Place saucepan in that bowl of ice water and whisk away! Place the mocha mixture in a container and put in fridge overnight.

The next day, make your icecream according to your icecream maker’s instructions. Add the remaining chocolate pieces about 5 minutes before the mixture is done churning.

Slurp!

*The surprise is that I used a dark chocolate bar with toasted hazlenuts for the chocolate chunks in the icecream. Don’t use this kind for the melting, but as chunks, it was awesome!

I finally caved in and got an icecream maker. It was on sale, I had a coupon and I’m in love. I’ve already made some deliciously tart lemon frozen yogurt and a decadent tasting mocha chip gelato…next up avocado sorbet. Pics of the gelato to come.

Even if you’re tired now, and I am TIRED. It’s a happy tired though, as this weekend was spent celebrating the nuptials of the lovely Monica and Simon, a.k.a. Simonica. Some gorgeous and drunk photos to come later.

For toniiiiiight, there is gonna be FREE brownies, golden cupcakes with chocolate frosting, FREE beer from 11:30 to 12:30, some AWESOME DJing by Travis Gravitas and of course, music from the super talented Telenovela Star, Planes for Spaces, Takka Takka and Higgins. Such a good night to party for a bit.

Quick - what are you doing tomorrow night?

This:

What am I doing tonight?

Baking lots of brownies and red velvet cupcakes for the above event. It’s gonna be gooooood.

The first of my raw meals, this zuchinni “pasta” with tomato sauce was delicious and extremely filling. While I won’t give up pasta forever or hot sauce, this was a great substitute and perfect for the summer. In fact raw cooking is fantastic if you don’t have a nice BBQ outside and don’t want to slave over a stove in the heat. I am a fan.

Zuchinni “Pasta” with Tomato Sauce

Ingredients:
6 zuchinnis (small to medium)
1/2 cup sundried tomatoes
1 whole tomato
1 tablespoon virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoon pumpkin seeds (or some other mild nut), more for garnish
3 baby carrots
3 cloves garlic
1 onion
sea salt (black hawaiian from Trader Joe’s is fantastic here)
freshly ground pepper

To Do:

If you have a food processor, use the grating plate to grate all the zuchinni up. If you don’t, use a vegetable peeler and slice ribbons of the zuchinni to create “noodles.” This probably looks nicer than the grating method, but I am lazy and the proud owener of a Cuisinart. Place your zuchinni on a tray and place in an (unheated!) oven to dry it out for a bit while you make the sauce.

For the sauce, place the sundried tomatos in water to soak for 15 minutes. While tomatoes are soaking, chop onion and then place in food processor or blender to create a paste. Add the vinegars, garlic, red pepper flakes, olive oil and chopped baby carrots. If it gets to hard to blend, steal a tablespoon or two from the water that the dried tomatoes are soaking in. Once the 15 minutes have passed, drain the dried tomatoes and reserve the water. Add dried tomatoes to mixture and pulse until it becomes smooth and add pumpkin seeds (or buts) to thicken the sauce up. Chop up whole tomato and add to the mixture and pulse the food processor or blender in order to incorporate the tomato, but keep it chunky! Add salt and pepper to taste and let sauce sit for 5 minutes to thicken and incorporate all of the flavors.

To serve, mound the zuchinni in a bowl and place a heaping portion of sauce on top. Garnish with pumpkin seeds or nuts if desired. Serves 4.