April Wraper

Hello!

It's that time again to listen (fine, read) me dribble on and on about what a fabulous soup club we had last month. Luckily for all of us every word I say and re-tell is true.

We had a fruity time this past soup club. We missed a big chunk of our regulars, but we pulled through and had a great time because of the our two old schoolers returned. We were a small, but mighty group of 8.

Jamie made a deliciously lime soup, which was very similar to a tortilla soup, but much limier and spicier. It was the perfect combination of acid and heat and texture from the tortilla strips. His beautiful wife Diana brought a delicious dish of figs wrapped in prosciutto.


Oldies Matt Brown and Fatimah brought the fruit funk as well. Matt made a to die for smoothie that was the perfect drink for such a hot day. It was a new take on an old favorite, Orange Julius. That Julius ain't got nothing on Matty Brown.


Fatimah made delicious shrimp tacos with a home made avocado and mango salsa. Again, a nice balance of acid and sweetness. It as a nice crisp straight forward dish with just enough pizazz to make it fun. It was also a wonderful dish for a warm day.


Silvia came with a classic Indonesian dessert, that I can't even pretend to remember how to spell or say. Let me just say this Indo-licious! It was a soup like dessert comprised of avocado, coconut milk, condensed milk, palm fruit, lychee, pineapples and a couple other exotic goodies. It was also a perfect beat the heat dish. I myself couldn't stop eating it.


Tiffany made a delicious take on nachos. Home made potato chips topped with rocquefort, apricot preserves, and brie. Salty meets sweet, what a delicious combo. I just wished there was more, but thankful there wasn't so my stomach didn't grow any larger than it had.


Now for the winners... Laine and I tied for first place for best overall dish and yours truly won for best presentation! Laine made delicious stuffed and panko fried olives with a Meyer lemon dipping sauce. His winning recipe is above for the nitty gritty details. I must say that I kept eating those little suckers for two days and the panko crust remained crunchy. I don't know which gods you prayed to, but I've never eaten a friend food out of the fridge without reheating that remained crispy and crunchy.


I made a pan seared steak with a blackberry cherry sauce. It was a simple straight forward dish, which is not usually my thing. Great chefs make great sauces, so I wanted to test my metal and see if I could rock and roll on a simple, but important component to many dishes.


I also made a dessert amuse bouche which was take on cheese cake. I stuffed raspberries with brillat savarin cheese, dipped it in cherry preserves then dipped them in graham cracker crust.


We also played a little food game. Everyone wrote down a food related question and we each drew one and gave our answers. There were three questions relating to food and sex and a few people declined to answer. We are apparently a much saucier group than I realized. Food and sex... What a combo, especially warm brie according to a certain red head in the group...

Enjoy the photos! Clearly I need help in formatting! Oy vay... sorry. Next soup club will be May 17th. I will send out an email regarding that.

Peace and Chicken Grease,
Prez B