How to have a Secret Supper Club (small scale)

Blog, boy did our family have big fun hosting our first Secret Supper Club.  What's a Secret Supper Club, you ask?  Well, technically it's like having a one-night, private restaurant in your home, where foodies gather to sample a single menu of culinary delights.  They may be friends or friends of friends, but typically an SSC includes more like 25-50 diners.  We went small scale for ours, including our family of four plus the awesome boyfriends.  But what we lacked in size, we made up for in ambiance.

To get the ambiance of our SSC, you could start by launching this recording of Frank Sinatra's "Come Fly with Me."  That'll give you the fun, jazzy, slightly elegant, 60's-style vibe we strove for at Magic House for the occasion.  Hit it, Mr. Chairman!

Our first floor was decked out in classic autumnal/Halloween decorations, and I tweaked the lighting to go for a nightclub atmosphere.  (It worked...Manzi commented, "It looks like Blu [hip downtown club] in here!")  Manzi provided tunes from her old standards CD collection, so we enjoying the musical stylings of Dean Martin and Bobby Darin along with Frank.  For your SSC, pick any era/theme that works for you and your guests!  (I'd like to go for Big Band next time.)

Completely optional for your Secret Supper Club:  cats.

We kept to the theme with the bar service, as I offered specialty drinks for the night chosen from AMC's "Mad Men," classic 60s drinks.  Here's the menu:

And the bar prepped for business:

Theme-oriented clothing was an option for guests (I don't mean "clothing was optional," Blog...SSC is not that kind of a get-together).  I wore a cocktail dress and Manzi went for a 60's mod look. 

Katie looked sharp as always...

...and the guys (as guys will do) were more casual but still nice.  For your SSC, you can leave the style vs. comfort option up to your guests too.

Our dining table comfortably seats six so that was the perfect number for our party.  You may want to go with china and white linens for a more traditional supper club look, or seasonal like we did with our autumnal colors.

Of course first and foremost, Secret Supper Club is about great food.  You don't have to, but we made our SSC pot luck style, because we have a lot of great cooks in our family.  The execution and serving of the meal can be made more enjoyable (we confirmed) if (1) people prep as much in advance as possible, and (2) you serve by courses, which means not too many people in the kitchen at once.  It's also nice to spread the meal out over the evening:  ours took about three hours from start to finish.

Up first was Nate, who prepared the most delectable and unreal appetizer:  tuna tostadas.  He lightly seared some sushi-quality tuna, and served it sliced thin on corn tortilla pieces, topped with black bean and mango salsa, roasted red pepper sauce, and avocado vinagrette.  Absolutely divine, Blog.  We each enjoyed two or three pieces while enjoying our cocktails in the living room.

The next course, eaten at the table, was Katie's pumpkin bacon soup.  She made this delectable, creamy concoction with the perfect combination of subtle autumnal seasonings, a little kick of cayenne, and the best bacon in Wisconsin, Nueske's. 

Words cannot describe the deliciousness of this soup, Blog...I would love to have a bathtub full.  Nevertheless, note that smaller servings are key to a Secret Supper Club that won't leave you gorged and logey!

The main course included:  My salad (a copycat of the chop salad at Maggiano's, with bleu cheese, prosciutto, red onion, a nummy vinagrette, and homemade garlic croutons)....

...Manzi's brie orzo (creamy, rich, and scrumptious)....and a chicken stir fry with orange teriyaki flavors that was technically Chris's dish but prepared by Katie in the kitchen (so, so tasty with that sauce).

After a bit of clean up, we retired to the living room again for coffee and dessert, that being Davie's contribution of chocolate tiramisu.  The tiramisu connaisseurs among us (myself included) thought it was the best version they had ever tasted.  Davie used a recipe from Giada De Laurentiis, which we tweaked slightly, replacing the marsala with half creme de cacoa, half Starbucks coffee liqueur, and replacing the espresso with very strong coffee in the Highlander Grogg flavor from Berres Brothers.  So, so, SO delish!

Add to the evening our hysterical conversation in response to Chris's prompt, "If you could put any musical act onto a plane that was going to crash, who would you choose?", and you have the picture of a perfect Secret Supper Club.  Needless to say, we had some very opposing opinions of ABBA, Phil Collins, and the Eagles.

So, Blog, you may be wondering how, in essence, a Secret Supper Club differs from a dinner party.  My answer:  it's all in how you look at it!  The whole point is to look at it as a very special occasion, and do a few little things to make it so.  I'll tell you, the fact that four of the evening's dishes made our Favorite Foods Ever List (the appetizer, the soup, the orzo and the tiramisu) didn't hurt. 

And what made it the most special was that special people made it and enjoyed it together!

Let's play "Doorknock Dinners"

Blog, you may not remember that awesome Food Network show from about ten years ago, "Doorknock Dinners," hosted by UK-born Aussie Gordon Elliott. Gordon would pop in unannounced at a lucky home with gourmet chef in tow, and said chef would construct a gourmet meal out of whatever happened to be in the fridge.

Occasionally I love to indulge in the home game of this show, that is, peruse whatever I have on hand and try to make the fanciest feast possible out of the ingredients. It's more fun than playing Rock-Paper-Scissors-Lizard-Spock, Blog! And Davie likes it too because he gets to eat the results.

Let's take a closer look at how yesterday's round of the game went down.

Scheduled on the weekly menu was tilapia. Other than that, I had a hankering to make use of the fresh cantaloupe I had on hand, and to somehow fit bacon into the mix. Why? Because everything is better with bacon, dudes! I also wanted to enjoy some of the gourmet olive oils we recently bought from Vom Fass. Yum yum good and good for you.

After some pondering and googling, I came up with this menu:

Bacon-Parmesan-Crusted Tilapia
with Cantaloupe Basil Salsa

Lemon Dill Pasta

Crusty French Bread with Garlic Dipping Oil

Scrumpt City USA, Blog. Proceed to dig the specific recipes....

Bacon-Parmesan-Crusted Tilapia

(serves 2)

1 - 1 1/2 pound tilapia fillets (5-6 pieces)
3 slices of bacon
1 cup panko or fine breadcrumbs
1/2 cup grated parmesan
1/4 cup flour
1 egg
Salt, pepper, parsley
1 T butter
1 T olive oil
Lemon

Fry or microwave bacon until very crispy; crumble fine. Mix crumbs, parmesan, salt and pepper to taste, and bacon bits till well blended. Beat egg with a teaspoon of water till well blended. Dredge tilapia fillets in flour, then egg, then crumb mixture; allow to sit for 5-10 minutes. Melt butter and heat with olive oil in large skillet or griddle. Saute fillets, turning once, about 4 minutes per side or until breading is golden brown and fish cooked through. Sprinkle with parsley and garnish with lemon slices or wedges.

Cantaloupe Basil Salsa
(serves 2)

1 cup cantaloupe, chopped
1/8 cup Vidalia onion, chopped
1/4 cup cucumber, chopped
1 T fresh lime juice
1/2 T fresh basil, chopped fine
Salt
Cayenne pepper

Blend all ingredients, add salt and cayenne to taste. Chill at least one half hour to blend flavors.

Lemon Dill Pasta

This one was a bit off-the-cuff: I whisked together about a quarter cup of fat-free sour cream with about 2 teaspoons of lemon olive oil and about 1 teaspoon of dry dill weed, and a little salt and pepper. Stirred the mix into about two cups of cooked and drained whole wheat spaghetti, and voila! So delish.

Crusty French Bread with Garlic Dipping Oil

Just that!

And for those of you who, sadly, missed getting to see the show, here's a handy video:

Meanwhile, I cannot help but also share, in the spirit of the mash-up (to which of course Blog and I are total slaves), hightlights from the "Iron Chef" episode of "Doorknock Dinners." It celebrates the good old days of the original, Japanese Iron Chef, with all its campy, "oh no! Ican'teatthatit'stoocharred!" glory.

So readers, is your cupboard a bit bare today? All the more reason to challenge yourself to a round of Doorknock Dinners!

Stuff I bizarradore, Volume 3

Blog, you remember how Julie Andrews tells us when we're sad, we should think about our favorite things, right?  Well, today is therefore a good day for bizzaradores, because the series finale of Lost left me feeling pretty dang blue.  Not sayin' I didn't love it, 'cause I sure did.  Just sayin', well...Big Fat Sigh.  So, without further ado, some nice, cheering stuff I bizarradore:

Hockey player toughness

Yesterday was hardly a total bummer, Blog.  While we lost a favorite TV series, we gained an NHL Western Conference Champion.  The Magic House fave hockey team, the Chicago Blackhawks, swept the San Jose Sharks in four games to earn a berth in the Stanley Cup finals for the first time in 18 years.  (The last time they won the Cup, Davie was 11 days old.)  One of the game's heroes was Duncan Keith, who besides having one of the most awesome names ever, is probably the team's best defenseman.  Duncan got hit in the face by a puck and lost seven teeth, one of which he almost choked on.  He missed seven minutes of the game.  Only seven minutes.  Only in hockey do you see that kind of pain tolerance and dedication.  Read how nonchalant Duncan was about it all on this hilarious report from the Chicago Sun-Times.

People who read the blog even when there are plenty of other things to be doing

I spent an inordinate about of time on yesterday's post, Blog, when I should have known it was a beautiful May Sunday when the last thing the twelve people who read this blog would feel like devoting time to.  (Oy, I've ended two sentences with prepositions in this post...I really am losing it.)  So I wanted to give a shout out to those devoted fans and followers who actually read our terribly non-insightful ravings on days like that.  Free cuddles with Cody to any one of you anytime you show up at Magic House.

Tiny food

In my perusings as a polymer clay artist, I occasionally come upon one of those groovy people who specialize in tiny, doll-size food. Sometimes I really can't believe their talent. Take, for example, these ridonkulously perfect itty bitty cheeses and crackers. You know the artist has done well when you really, really want to eat the lilliputian stuff. You can see more mini-foods here.

Matthew Morrison singing the national anthem

I'm not sure that in his role as Mr. Schue on "Glee," Matt is getting to show off the full range of awesomeness of which his pipes are capable.  (See, I managed to not end with a prepo there, Blog.  And total awkwardness ensued.)  However, in this anthem sing from the Mets/Yankees game, you get the drift.  Wow.  Is it unpatriotic to want to swoon over "The Star Spangled Banner"?



Pizza with fig spread, prosciutto and gorgonzola

This was the treat daughter Manzi and boyfriend Nate prepared for our Lost Finale gathering of three, and it was so yummy it really soothed the sting of the occasion.  Our readers can whip it up themselves easily:  just a thin coat of fig spread on a pre-crisped thin crust, topped with bits of prosciutto and crumbles of gorgonzola, then baked a bit more to melt the cheese.

Ben Linus

I've said it before, I'll say it again, and I certainly must say it the day after bidding him farewell:  I love Ben.  He's so much more than just the most beat-up character in TV history.  He's so easy to love as well as to fear, hate, pity and lust after.  (I don't give a crap about that prepo, Blog--I'm in mourning, gol' dang it!)  How did you manage that, Lost writers Damon and Carlton?  How can you be so amazing, Michael Emerson?  How am I going to get along with you, Benjamin Linus? 

Okay, Blog, okay...I'm not going to cry again, here.  Ben and his fellow Losties will live on in our hearts 4evah, and that's what really matters.  Let's sing another rousing chorus of "Here Come the Hawks" and keep those chins held high!

Bacon, Bacon, BACON!

Just a quickie post, Blog, which is strictly for two groups of people:  those who live in or near Milwaukee, and those who cannot get enough of BACON.  Which I guess encompasses just about the entire world.

Last night Davie and I went to the Comet Cafe, the little restaurant and bar on Milwaukee's east side.  Here's Davie greeting you with his handsome smile from our booth.  This place was was actually featured last year on the show "Diner, Drive-Ins and Dives."  Guy Fieri in da house one year ago, if only we'd have been there!

So Blog, I started out with a Bruncharita, a margarita made with passion fruit liqueur that was just scrumptious.  But the trip to heaven commenced with my first bite of this most spectacular dish:  the Open Faced Meatloaf Sandwich.  The incorporation of bacon into this creation is masterful, and believe me, it was not just the bacon garnish on top.  Find out from D D & D segment how its made--it will blow your mind.

Our evening got even cooler when Davie discovered a door back by the restrooms that bore this:

Wow!  Anyway, we were far too full for dessert (I brought a third of my meal home to eat for lunch today OH BOY!).  Tonight we're going for delayed dessert to Comet's sister restaurant in Bay View (south side of Milwaukee), Honeypie, which specializes in bakery.  Both restaurants use Wisconsin produced ingredients wherever possible and have plenty of vegan options. 

Comet gets the Blog Seal of Approval for sure.  Any restaurant that gives away free bacon with beer on Sunday nights has our vote.

Oh, and some Bonus Bacon Footage courtesy of our friends at My Food Looks Funny:

 

Put de bacon in de vodka and drink 'em both up

Dear Blog, unsurprisingly, someone asked how to make bacon vodka.  The site from which I stole this fine illustrative photo has instructions just like the ones I followed.  (I hope the vast quantities of traffic I'm sending her way will make up for the stealing of the photo.)

I actually threw some extra bacon fat in the mix when I made my batch.  Of course it's key to get all the fat out when ready to serve.  A bacon martini with fat floating on top is pretty disgusting.  Frankly, a bacon martini is pretty disgusting, period.  Or at least it was to me.  My tongue was telling me, "You're eating bacon!" and my mind was telling me "Why is it not crispy then?  And wet?  OMG this is weird, Tongue!"  The dissonance was quite disturbing.

Bacon vodka is not too bad though when used in bloody marys.  Although I think I made my vodka just TOO baconey, Blog.  It simply wanted to be served on a plate next to some eggs, which of course would have been a disaster of a totally different kind.

But while I'm discussing bacon, which, like cowbell, makes almost everything better, a couple of related matters:

While bacon and vodka may not be the ideal mix, bacon and mayonnaise are.



And also not a bad idea is the combo of bacon and cats.

A FEW NEWS FLASHES:

I'm happy and a bit astonished, Blog, to report that I made more money selling ebooks than print books in January.  All because of that crazy little thing called Amazon Kindle.

Best line from the Olympics coverage:  Fred Roggin said, "Join us on Curling After Dark...pour yourself a glass of wine, put on your favorite Marvin Gaye song, and grab your broom."

I have a girl crush on Canadian Womens Curling Team skip Cheryl Bernard.

And I'm wondering if anyone else get a little turned on when chefs use the term "mouth feel"?  Do you, Blog?

Lastly, how exciting is it that one of our labels now has two posts?  Whoa, Blog, are you trembling with excitement over that, or with rage that you still have to wait for the Broadway post?  Tomorrow, I promise!