Best Idea Ever?

Let's talk about how excited I am that my last birthday present just came in the mail today. Surprise Dad and Melissa! And thank you for my birthday present.

Oh. My. God. Is it not perfectly amazing and convenient? Behold the Soup and Sandwich Tray! Or Sandwich and Salad Tray. Or chips and dip. Or you can just ditch the bowl and use it as a fun plate or serving platter for cheese and crackers. Gone are the days of balancing your soup bowl and sandwich plate! Which I was a pro at by the way because my dining hall survival skills prominently featured soup and grilled cheese. Don't worry, it's a set of two so Mr. Lawyer was able to partake in the nerdy soup/sandwich eating.

It's from one of my favorite websites, uncommongoods. They have such fun and pretty things. I bought one of Mr. Lawyer's Christmas presents there, a friend's baby gift, Mr. Lawyer got my birthday present there, Dad and Melissa sent me a gift certificate which bought me my snazzy soup and sandwich tray. I highly recommend it. 

mmmm warm soup belly.

Side-note: I'm covering for a fellow teacher the rest of this week which means full days and no brunch at home. Sad story. I packed my lunch tonight. Best lunch at the teacher table baby!

A Picture is Worth...

Someone cooked me dinner tonight....

Play like a Peterson!

"Hardcore....and a little dirty." 

A wonderful family motto. Next year Derek and I are making shirts.

Exciting things happened this weekend involving an epic family reunion eating fest, baking in Grandma's kitchen with legit baking equipment and yummy leftovers.

Nancy's Kitchen!

Complete with a stand-mixer older than me and a real double boiler for melting chocolate!

I was responsible for dessert and you never want to experiment in situations like this so I chose two rock solid recipes. Because it was a family reunion I opted for my Rum Cake (which was great with coffee on the dock the following morning) and Uncle Craig requested something chocolate so Double Chocolate Peppermint Crunch Cookies made an appearance. I woke up at the bright and cheery hour of 6 to begin my baking. Everything went well and came out tasting fine with the exception of my horribly burnt rum cake. Psh. Okay so it wasn't black burnt but it's darker than I like so I just threw in some more rum. Plus licking the rum batter bowl at 6:30 made dealing with a burnt cake a little easier (Salmonella be damned Grandma!).

Some lovely cookies and a disfigured rum cake.

And onto a real recipe! (sort of)

The great part about trips to any set of parental units is the fact that you always come home with leftovers. This trip we were lucky enough to score some of Melissa's delicious (and made on a whim!) veggie salsa and random bits of cheese/salami/olives. Because we had all of these random things and we weren't too hungry we decided on a munchie platter for dinner. My personal favorites included Cabot horseradish cheese spread and Wagner's Sled Dog Doppelbock Beer.

The spread.

Melissa's Veggie Salsa

(from the kitchen of Melissa)

Ingredients:

Corn

Zucchini

Yellow Squash

Red Onion

Black Beans

Jalapeno Pepper

Cilantro

Directions:

1. Prepare veggies and mix them all together.

Sidenotes: I'm not sure if there was any salt or pepper to taste or if it was dressed in anything lemon/lime juice or some sort of vinegar....I'll have to check. There was definitely some elbowing for the last couple of bites which I obviously won because I.....played like a Peterson!

Birthday Cake!

Melissa has made this cake for my birthday every year since I was 16. I'm madly in love with it and make everyone eat it. It's a heavenly combination of chocolate and mint and fudgie-ness. It's so famous that even Sandy made it in Tonga. So in honor of Brad's birthday we have cake! And for obvious reasons the Boston Red Sox logo could not be as awesome as our Phillies Cake.

Jenni's Chocolate Mint Torte Birthday Cake

(from the Kitchen of Melissa)

Ingredients:

8 ounces semi sweet chocolate, chopped
1 stick unsalted butter, cut in small pieces
1/4 cup heavy cream
3 large eggs
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure peppermint extract
1 teaspoon unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder, for dusting
Directions:
1. Set a roasting pan on lowest rack. Fill pan with water. Pre-heat to 350 degrees. Coat a 9 by 4 1/2 loaf pan with cooking spray. Cut parchment paper large enough to cover bottom and hang over sides of pan. Coat again with cooking spray.
2. Put the chocolate and butter in a medium heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Stir until melted. Let cool slightly.
3. Put heavy cream in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat until soft peaks form. 1 to 2 min.
4. Put eggs and sugar in the clean bowl and wisk until triple in volume. Gently fold half of chocolate mixture into egg mixture until almost incorparated, fold in remaining chocolate. Fold in whipped cream and peppermint.
5. Reduce oven temp to 325. Pour batter into loaf pan. Set pan in roasting pan. Bake until it looses it's sheen and appears set when jiggled. About 25 - 30 min.
6. Carefully transfer roasting pan from water bath.; let cool.
7. Pulling on parchment paper, remove torte from pan and transfer to baking sheet and refrigerate for 30 min. Using a spatula gently loosen torte from parchment paper and invert onto a serving platter. Lightly dust with cocoa powder.

Whipped Cream

Ingredients:
1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-2 tablespoon confectioners' sugar
Directions:
In a large bowl, whip cream until stiff peaks are just about to form. Beat in vanilla and sugar until peaks form. Make sure not to over-beat, cream will then become lumpy and butter-like.