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labellementeuseYou know what's really, really sad? When you can't find a piece of paper so you have to write your in-progress shopping lists on your livejournal.
Having a shindig (or maybe even a hootenany) this Saturday, purportedly for Guy Fawkes but really because I wanted to throw a Christmas party but a) it's November and b) Christmas parties involve a giant ham (or turkey, but turkey's even worse than ham), my mother's christmas pudding, and pavlova. And that's all just too complicated, so instead it's a shindig; also of course![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lady_larla is leaving and I won't see her again til February so :(. ANYWAY, so hopefully it'll be warm and we can eat outside, but weather regardless, this is my menu plan:
+ 1 giant salad
+ mounds of hamburger patties to this recipe (which by the way is pretty much heaven in a hamburger)
+ mounds of roast potatoes to the same recipe
+ mounds of chicken drumsticks grilled in honey, butter and french mustard
+ sausages.
+ my super dooper chocolate cake
+ 2 kinds of sponge cake (chocolate with chocolate buttercream to this recipe and a plain sponge to the same recipe without the chocolate, which, HOLY CRAP, that recipe is amazing. Hopefully this time I won't fuck up the chocolate icing (english for frosting), which I got right the first time and wrong the second time.)
+ pasta salad that I don't have to make because Matt volunteered (Male friend! Volunteered to cook! He's actually a bit of a cooking fiend, I'm very fond)
What do y'all think? Am I missing anything? *bites knuckles*
Anyway, list:
+ 1 iceberg lettuce
+ 4 tomatoes (I like a tomato heavy salad, okay, and I'm not sure how manyn people are coming but if there's salad left over who gives a damn, I can eat it.)
+ spring onions
+ maybe an avocado if they have it. (I also like a really simple salad, none of that fucking mesclun eight types of lettuce and they all taste like chemicals crap. In a pinch, lettuce and tomatoes make me the happiest girl alive, so long as I have lots and lots and lots of dressing, speaking of which)
+ vinegar. If balsamic is on special I'll get balsamic, otherwise it'll be malt. Um, I'm really hoping balsamic is on special, gang.
+ a really really large pack of mince, between 1.5 and 2 kg (hahaha this sounds ridiculous, I know. but I'm inviting a lot of people, I expect about half of them to show up, and okay secretly? I leave on the eighth and I'm hoping to be able to cook enough on the fourth to not have to cook again before I leave. :P)
+ a $10 pack of chicken drumsticks
+ many sausages! Um, pork, beef, and lamb, I guess. Er... maybe I should get some vege ones but I don't think there are veges coming.
+ possibly more potatoes.
+ 3 blocks of butter ( 1 block = about 3 american sticks, I think) (Yeah, I know that's a lot, but I need butter for the marinade, butter for the cake, and butter for three different bowls of icing.)
+ 1 chocolate sponge
+ 1 vanilla sponge (yeah, I know I'm cheating on the sponges, shush now. What I really wish I had was a liqueur or even a liquor like whiskey or cointreau to soak the sponges in, which keeps them soft, but uh. I don't, so I'll just have to deal.)
+ sugar
+ icing (in the american: powdered, I think) sugar
+ EGGS.
+ vanilla essence. Hey, do you think soaking the sponges in vanilla essence would have the same effect? Can you think of anything that might?
+ cocoa
+ 1 block of whittaker's 62% dark chocolate
+ PAPER PLATES. SRSLY. AND KNIVES AND FORKS AND BOWLS. Um, plastic knives and forks, but paper bowls.
Projected cost: $99999 hahahahaa who cares I'm starting working soon!!! Plus, not all of this is coming out of mine, I'll put the vinegar and sugar and cocoa and maybe the potatoes on the flat account, because I won't use it all or even close.
I think I might even need to do something like plan the use of the kitchen bowls and equipment, which is sort of tragic. Hey, btw,sixht_light, can you drive me around on Friday? Or wait, have you got an exam? Damn. I kind of need someone to ferry me around. Anyway.
- clear out the fridge friday morning in prep!
- do the shop over Friday
- do my chocolate cake and its icing in the morning, leave it to cool, ice and refrigerate.
- make up the patty mix and leave it to marinade... crap. Anyone have a large bowl they want to lend me? Because I think I'm going to be out of bowls in extremely short order (I have three glass bowls of differing sizes but the smallest one's pretty much useless for most of this stuff.)
- make up the chocolate and meringue buttercream about midday
- go down and buy sponges while waiting for the buttercreams to cool
- ice buttercreams and refrigerate if possible... I am really thinking I'm going to run out of fridge space. crap. Hopefully the other cake will have cooled enough by this time that I can move it onto the bench without damaging it much. Pray for a very cool afternoon that suddenly becomes bright and sunny around 5 pm, guys.
- during all of this: be frantically cleaning everything in sight. Especially my room, yo, it's kind of disgusting.
- scrub and put on first batch of potatoes. (These should hopefully reheat quickly in the microwave *crosses fingers* Store in middle sized glass bowl
- shower and change!
- as soon as I can, because it has to marinade for six hours: start cooking the patties (I have to stagger this, because my pan's only so big and I also need it for the sausages, and I figure patties are mildly easier to reheat.) Store on large plate.
- clean the big glass bowl (which will have, at various times, had cake mix, icing, chocolate buttercream, and minced beef marinading in deliciousness.... shit. I really, really need another bowl.sixth_light, does M have anything large I can borrow to marinade in??) and make up salad to put in it. Use vacated marinade fridge space to keep it cool.
- about five pm: start scrubbing potatoes and chopping garlic
- make-up!
- about six pm: people start arriving.
- about six twenty: Put sausages in electric frypan (and pray patties are done by then), put second batch of potatoes in oven, about ten or twenty minutes later put in chicken on the shelf above (in glass dish).
- serve sausages on plate and put the second batch of potatoes on with the first, spillover into the small glass bowl
- reheat potatoes and patties at about ten to seven. (five minutes each mixing or rotating should do it. *crosses fingers s'more*)
.... oh my god I think that's all? I might go crazy, but it'll be a lot of fun. And there will be heaps of food left over, so again, I hopefully won't have to cook at all next week!
So! I have a few questions, oh mighty f-list, which I am going to ask of you and also of![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
food_porn because they're also clever.
+ I'm icing sponges and in the past I've used cointreau or some other liquor or liqueur to soak over the sponges (in smallish amounts). I don't have access to that or anything like it. What could I replace it with?
+ I'm cooking sausages and it always takes ages. Is it okay to zap them in the microwave first to precook them? If yes, how long and at what temp?
+ I had another question but I forget it.
Having a shindig (or maybe even a hootenany) this Saturday, purportedly for Guy Fawkes but really because I wanted to throw a Christmas party but a) it's November and b) Christmas parties involve a giant ham (or turkey, but turkey's even worse than ham), my mother's christmas pudding, and pavlova. And that's all just too complicated, so instead it's a shindig; also of course
lady_larla is leaving and I won't see her again til February so :(. ANYWAY, so hopefully it'll be warm and we can eat outside, but weather regardless, this is my menu plan:+ 1 giant salad
+ mounds of hamburger patties to this recipe (which by the way is pretty much heaven in a hamburger)
+ mounds of roast potatoes to the same recipe
+ mounds of chicken drumsticks grilled in honey, butter and french mustard
+ sausages.
+ my super dooper chocolate cake
+ 2 kinds of sponge cake (chocolate with chocolate buttercream to this recipe and a plain sponge to the same recipe without the chocolate, which, HOLY CRAP, that recipe is amazing. Hopefully this time I won't fuck up the chocolate icing (english for frosting), which I got right the first time and wrong the second time.)
+ pasta salad that I don't have to make because Matt volunteered (Male friend! Volunteered to cook! He's actually a bit of a cooking fiend, I'm very fond)
What do y'all think? Am I missing anything? *bites knuckles*
Anyway, list:
+ 1 iceberg lettuce
+ 4 tomatoes (I like a tomato heavy salad, okay, and I'm not sure how manyn people are coming but if there's salad left over who gives a damn, I can eat it.)
+ spring onions
+ maybe an avocado if they have it. (I also like a really simple salad, none of that fucking mesclun eight types of lettuce and they all taste like chemicals crap. In a pinch, lettuce and tomatoes make me the happiest girl alive, so long as I have lots and lots and lots of dressing, speaking of which)
+ vinegar. If balsamic is on special I'll get balsamic, otherwise it'll be malt. Um, I'm really hoping balsamic is on special, gang.
+ a really really large pack of mince, between 1.5 and 2 kg (hahaha this sounds ridiculous, I know. but I'm inviting a lot of people, I expect about half of them to show up, and okay secretly? I leave on the eighth and I'm hoping to be able to cook enough on the fourth to not have to cook again before I leave. :P)
+ a $10 pack of chicken drumsticks
+ many sausages! Um, pork, beef, and lamb, I guess. Er... maybe I should get some vege ones but I don't think there are veges coming.
+ possibly more potatoes.
+ 3 blocks of butter ( 1 block = about 3 american sticks, I think) (Yeah, I know that's a lot, but I need butter for the marinade, butter for the cake, and butter for three different bowls of icing.)
+ 1 chocolate sponge
+ 1 vanilla sponge (yeah, I know I'm cheating on the sponges, shush now. What I really wish I had was a liqueur or even a liquor like whiskey or cointreau to soak the sponges in, which keeps them soft, but uh. I don't, so I'll just have to deal.)
+ sugar
+ icing (in the american: powdered, I think) sugar
+ EGGS.
+ vanilla essence. Hey, do you think soaking the sponges in vanilla essence would have the same effect? Can you think of anything that might?
+ cocoa
+ 1 block of whittaker's 62% dark chocolate
+ PAPER PLATES. SRSLY. AND KNIVES AND FORKS AND BOWLS. Um, plastic knives and forks, but paper bowls.
Projected cost: $99999 hahahahaa who cares I'm starting working soon!!! Plus, not all of this is coming out of mine, I'll put the vinegar and sugar and cocoa and maybe the potatoes on the flat account, because I won't use it all or even close.
I think I might even need to do something like plan the use of the kitchen bowls and equipment, which is sort of tragic. Hey, btw,
sixht_light, can you drive me around on Friday? Or wait, have you got an exam? Damn. I kind of need someone to ferry me around. Anyway.- clear out the fridge friday morning in prep!
- do the shop over Friday
- do my chocolate cake and its icing in the morning, leave it to cool, ice and refrigerate.
- make up the patty mix and leave it to marinade... crap. Anyone have a large bowl they want to lend me? Because I think I'm going to be out of bowls in extremely short order (I have three glass bowls of differing sizes but the smallest one's pretty much useless for most of this stuff.)
- make up the chocolate and meringue buttercream about midday
- go down and buy sponges while waiting for the buttercreams to cool
- ice buttercreams and refrigerate if possible... I am really thinking I'm going to run out of fridge space. crap. Hopefully the other cake will have cooled enough by this time that I can move it onto the bench without damaging it much. Pray for a very cool afternoon that suddenly becomes bright and sunny around 5 pm, guys.
- during all of this: be frantically cleaning everything in sight. Especially my room, yo, it's kind of disgusting.
- scrub and put on first batch of potatoes. (These should hopefully reheat quickly in the microwave *crosses fingers* Store in middle sized glass bowl
- shower and change!
- as soon as I can, because it has to marinade for six hours: start cooking the patties (I have to stagger this, because my pan's only so big and I also need it for the sausages, and I figure patties are mildly easier to reheat.) Store on large plate.
- clean the big glass bowl (which will have, at various times, had cake mix, icing, chocolate buttercream, and minced beef marinading in deliciousness.... shit. I really, really need another bowl.
sixth_light, does M have anything large I can borrow to marinade in??) and make up salad to put in it. Use vacated marinade fridge space to keep it cool.- about five pm: start scrubbing potatoes and chopping garlic
- make-up!
- about six pm: people start arriving.
- about six twenty: Put sausages in electric frypan (and pray patties are done by then), put second batch of potatoes in oven, about ten or twenty minutes later put in chicken on the shelf above (in glass dish).
- serve sausages on plate and put the second batch of potatoes on with the first, spillover into the small glass bowl
- reheat potatoes and patties at about ten to seven. (five minutes each mixing or rotating should do it. *crosses fingers s'more*)
.... oh my god I think that's all? I might go crazy, but it'll be a lot of fun. And there will be heaps of food left over, so again, I hopefully won't have to cook at all next week!
So! I have a few questions, oh mighty f-list, which I am going to ask of you and also of
food_porn because they're also clever.+ I'm icing sponges and in the past I've used cointreau or some other liquor or liqueur to soak over the sponges (in smallish amounts). I don't have access to that or anything like it. What could I replace it with?
+ I'm cooking sausages and it always takes ages. Is it okay to zap them in the microwave first to precook them? If yes, how long and at what temp?
+ I had another question but I forget it.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-10-31 07:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-31 07:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-01 01:20 am (UTC)Anyway; If you've not got liquor with which to "feed" the sponge you can also use coffee in exactly the same way. I believe orange or rose water are also a reasonable substitute.
The sausages; I tend to stick them in a casserole in the oven to cook them so the fact they take 90 million years isn't so important. You CAN pre-nuke them but they look a bit flabby and the fat doesn't come out right. If you HAVE to; grill them off until they start to brown, THEN nuke for a couple of minutes on high on kitchen paper.
hth.
no subject
Date: 2006-11-01 01:44 am (UTC)Sausages
Date: 2006-11-01 07:30 pm (UTC)they're cheaper too! Mad butcher does 60 for $20
<- Mike
Re: Sausages
Date: 2006-11-01 09:06 pm (UTC)Food
Date: 2006-11-01 07:33 pm (UTC)Re: Food
Date: 2006-11-01 09:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-01 09:01 pm (UTC)By the way please please please tell me that there is a cake that is not choclate and it will be hidden away for me? I noticed last time that the non choclate cake was the first to go *shoots look at everyone else in flat*
*hug* by the way..just coz i felt like it.....
no subject
Date: 2006-11-01 09:08 pm (UTC)