Lesson Learned: Do Not Run Out of Confectioners Sugar

Last night was...a learning experience to say the least.  Between learning how to peel and clean shrimp and keeping food going out of the kitchen it, was an awesome night.   Frankie and I altered the menu, yet again, to feature a Chicken sandwich with pancetta, spinach, and a home made garlic aioli, which can be found in Gourmet Meals in Minutes (though it calls for arugula, we opted for something a little more subdued).   The Almost Famous "Bang Bang" Shrimp was fantastic, quite a crowd pleaser...Bonefish got it right...and so did we! And last but not horribly least we attempted to make the Molten Lava Cake.  I say attempted because it crashed and burned.  WORD OF ADVICE: DO NOT RUN OUT OF INGREDIENTS!! Frankie and I ran out of confectioners sugar. My bright idea was to just add more flour...this apparently does NOT work with a lava cake. You will have NO LAVA.  Not to mention the fact we over baked them because they didnt look done after the required 14 minutes of bake time.

But on the up side we think that everyone enjoyed themselves, playing poker, having a few drinks (& shots of cheap tequilla with a very yellow Lemon, thank you Robin it was very good!) and food food food!!!  Music blaring and laughter round the table that could be heard from the grill outside.

With that, Frankie and I will be hosting another dinner within the next few weeks!

From 5lbs, yes 5 lbs of shrimp, we peeled and prepped them,
with extra left over from the "Bang Bang" we made a cocktail
at the end, only 3 shrimp remained. 

Things to do:

• Plan a schedule for food service
• Make sure all ingredients are present and accounted for!
• maybe get some paper plates...
• Get atleast a six pack of  beer!

Thank you everyone that came.

Moroccan Lemon Chicken with Mango Chutney and Coconut Rice

This evening Frankie, Zezhi and I were searching through the Gourmet Meals in Minutes by the Culinary Institute of America and found Moroccan Lemon Chicken.  It was a collaboration of the three of us and it came out fantastic.  Mind you with some bickering on the part of Zezhi and I, arguing who will make the chutney and who is doing the chicken,he even got me to stomp my foot like a five year old, it eventually came  together.  Frankie elegantly swooped in and began making the dessert... Molten Lava Cake with cayenne which can be found on foodnetwork.com.  We tend to get excited over our productions, so the dancing and clapping while kneeling and staring hard into the oven is not uncommon...sad but true.

Don't be fooled, though we will reference cookbooks and foodnetwork.com frequently, we will feature our own recipes.  suggestions are greatly appreciated, tell us your favorite meals and we will attempt them (of course with the feedback to you).   

First Poker Night

This Friday Frankie and I are going to be hosting a small poker night for a friends birthday.  It works out perfectly, considering we don't know how to play poker we get to cook!  We've spent atleast 3 days trying to come up with a menu of  "pub grub" and so far this is what we've come up with:

• Almost Famous "Bang Bang" Shrimp
• Cordon Bleu "Chickie" Sliders
• Flank Steak with Roast Potatoes & Veggies
• Dessert.

Dessert will remain a surprise until Friday night! Photos will follow.  

Theres nothing more exciting to us than having the opportunity to create something exciting, tasty and memorable for our friends, and hopefully make it a special night of food and drink...and gambling.

The Intro

This is the very first posting of our very first blog.   We are Frankie and Sami, two foodies from the Central Jersey area looking to share our experiences with food, cooking and the chaos that comes with it.  The goal is to open a restaurant of our own, built from scratch and filled with food we love.  While working together on an almost daily basis, all we do is think of menus and food we want to make after work.   Cooking is our passion, our escape from the normal stresses of the post collegiate lifestyle.
We will share recipes we attempt (good or bad), the menus we create, and the missAdventures we will encounter along the way.  However! we would like your feedback just as much, share with us your favorite recipes and food stories.

Here we go...