As some folk know, I cook. Not often (about once a year), but when I do, it’s … interesting. I make up every recipe, often while walking around the store. It’s always a complete experiment, and each time I do it I tend to find something that’s mind-blowingly good.

Today’s meal was 8 hours of cooking, 200$ in groceries (for 5 people) (not including wine) and 4 hours of prep last night.

We should have taken pics, but it was a very interesting meal. Below are my recipe notes. Things don’t end up getting made quite like I plan, but they should give some idea of direction if you’re interested in trying some of this out.

Funkified Fruity Ham (note: this didn’t rock as much as I’d hoped) PREP

Peel pears * Core pears *  Pastify pears * Pastify strawberries  Pastify mangos

COOK

 Place tinfoil on bbq  Place ham in row, flat, on tinfoil  Spread pear paste over one “end” of ham  Fold ham  Spread Strawberry paste over next end of ham  Fold ham  Spread mango paste over next end of ham  Roll ham up  Brush with funky honey  Seal tinfoil  Cook on BBQ

FINAL

Slice ham into thin, long, slices

Rawking Grilled Cheese PREP

Slice ends off bagels Brush on jalapeno’d honey glaze to bagels Crispify bagels Sliceify cheese Chop up parsley

COOK

 Place bottom half of bagel on bbq/frying pan  Put cheese slices on bagels  Sprinkle parsley on bagel  Put top on  Bake/fry/bbq til cheese is melted and happy  Brush on spicy honey

Mangofied Chicken PREP

Slice peppers (thinly) Marinate peppers in honey Slice mangos (thinly)

 COOK

 Place tinfoil on BBQ  Layer mango on tinfoil  Layer chicken on mango  Spice chicken  Layer mango on top of chicken  Sprinkle honeyed peppers throughout  Seal tinfoil  Cook til ready

Your Sauciness is so Appealing PREP

* Chop some mushrooms * Chop some funky mushrooms

COOK

 Warm milk  Add dijon sauce  Add mushrooms  Add wine  Add some spicy honey  Somehow get it to right consistency (flour)

The Pastification of Misses Jones PREP

 Open wine  Let the wine breathe  Slice regular mushrooms

COOK

 Pour ickle bit of wine in frying pan  Put pasta in frying pan  Fry pasta  Pour more wine in frying pan  Add mushrooms  Add spices

 Shrooms in the Garden PREP

Chop parsley Crush nuts

COOK

 Make paste out of remaining funky mushrooms (add dijon sauce and/or milk for consistency)  Add parsley  Add nuts

More than the Sum of its Parts PREP

 Put pasta on plate  Place chicken on top  Place mangos from chicken on chicken  Place jalapenos around chicken  Place grilled cheese on plate  Place funkified ham on plate  Sprinkle parsley on funkified ham  Put paste around ham

 So what really worked this time? The “spicy honey” was amazing. The jalapenos were totally edible and delicious. We brushed spicy honey on the raisin bread (substituted for bagels) before the crispification stage AND on the BBQ (note to self: honey burns fast on the BBQ!). The sauce + dijon + som garlic was… omg, so many layers of taste. And the seared pasta rawked. Oh, and the mangoes (which weren’t ripe) after being on the BBQ with the spicy honey and jalapenos just about made my heart stop.

Not everything was perfect, partially cause we had more folk than planned and partially cause my back was killing me so my attention to detail lagged at the end. Specifically the pasta + sauce + chicken thing wasn’t as fab as it could have been together. Everyone was happy, but I wasn’t because there were fewer layers of taste the way I did the combo than each item had individually. I think one of my issues was just too many things involving mushrooms, specifically the mushroom paste. I ended up compensating too much for it, which drove away other tastes.

One of the other issues is that it takes me so long cause I’m experimenting too much. I probably could have done it with 1 hour of prep and 2 hours of cooking/assembly.

Either way, this (along with working) was my Sunday. For my dads 56th birthday party. Mostly he just loves watching me “make art” (his words). Plus, my dad’s amazing, so anything that makes him happy makes me happy… even if I’m not totally happy with the result ;-)