And, the Oscar Went To...

And I am telling you...I'm not Chicken
Originally uploaded by kaytwhy.

...two winners, actually. It was a tie between my vegetarian homage to Jennifer Hudson's Dreamgirls performance "And I Am Telling You...I'm Not Chicken" and..

Notes on a Sandal

Notes on a Sandal
Originally uploaded by kaytwhy.

This wacky entry meant to evoke "Notes on a Scandal."

Other competitors:

Letters from Iwo Jima Edamame
Mini Shepherd's Pies for The Queen
Little Miss Sunshine Olive Platter
The Departed Cranberry Cocktails
Devil Wears Prada Cheese Cubes
Last King of Scotland Shortbread

Less Than 24 Hours to Oscar

...the Super Bowl for those of us more into film and fashion than brawn and balls. Or pigskin. Or whatever.

Anyhow, I'm feeling like a team that's got a serious streak to defend as I get ready to attend the bash my friend Kristen hosts every year. Guests have to bring food somehow inspired by one of the movies, and we vote the winner right before the announcement of Best Picture. I've won four years running and I'm feeling the pressure...what will top last year's winner, an array of dim sum arranged on a metallic Chinese cooking implement: "Wok The Line?"

Funny Onesies

Emily just went to an international baby shower, where each of the guests had to give the mother-to-be some advice. Sheesh. That's kind of tough, but a fun, personalized gift is easy.
This one is my favorite. More and more trendy stores are carrying baby onesies with clever sayings (I love the ones on wrybaby.com), single words, or simple pictures of fairies and butterflies.

Yes, they're cute, but why pay $40? Follow these three steps instead.

1) Go buy some plain white onesies and the iron -on paper at your local office store.

2) Print funny sayings, single words in foreign languages, or amusing photos on the paper. When Emily and Charlie went to welcome a new niece, they took pictures of themselves plugging their noese and pointing down, as if they were smelling a diaper.

3) Following the instructions, iron your embellishments on the onesie, enjoying the seductive smell that always takes me back to the iron-on T-shirt shops of my childhood. Hey, why not do one with a unicorn jumping over a rainbow-colored baby carriage?

Valentine's day, group style

Before you readers with minds in the gutter think otherwise, the Valentine's day Group style was a dinner the male members of the Commune cooked for the ladies. The men of the house decided to pool resources and cook Valentine's dinner last night, and I have to say- this is a good way to spend the dreaded V-day. Lots of fun for all, no pressure on any one person and one hell (heck- sorry Mom) of a meal. The menu was Asian-themed:

sushi and sashimi, hot sake for apps
Sushi-style beef tenderloin, bok choy and soba noodles for the main
chocolate fallen cake with green-tea whipped cream for dessert

The sushi-style beef is an unbelievably tasty, very rare cut of tenderloin coating in a Chinese 5 spice type rub. It's a recipe from Chris Schlesinger, chef of the East Coast Grill here in Boston, and author of some fantastic cookbooks- this one is in "Thrill of the Grill". Another great one, if you're a serious carnivore, is his "How to eat Meat"- your next pork butt will be a whole new world (your mind! keep it classy, reader.)

The green tea whipped cream came from a powder scammed off the people at the coffee counter at whole foods- it's a green tea flavored, sweet powder that they must use in their eco-friendly, sustainably-grown beverages. It's great in whipped cream, and gives it a really nice pale green tinge (remember that for St. Patrick's day, laddies!)

Any way, men love to compete with each other and what better way to compete than making dinner? Try it for your next Valentine's day.

Snow days are the best days of the year

It's a snow day here in Boston and that means one thing: Donuts. When we were little, our Dad used to make homemade donuts, but only during snow storms. These little devils are so good that I like to keep that up by only making them during snow days, and dammit, it's a Valentine's Day snow day! Here's the secret recipe:

1 1/2 C. Sugar
3/4tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
4 TBSP melted oleo
2 eggs
2 C. milk
4 tsp. baking powder
enough flour to roll dough- at least 5 C.

Mix, cut and fry in oil that's at least 350-375 degrees. Roll in cinnamon sugar or 10x sugar. Pour yourself a cup of coffee and enjoy. If you're feeling guilty about the calories, go shovel your walk.

Burp Bowl IV

Well, the greasy pans are soaking in the sink, the beer bottles have been recycled and I'm down two bottles of bourbon, which can only mean my annual Super Bowl party is over. For those anxiously awaiting the results of the food contest, here you go.

1. Best Football reference: A sheet cake in the shape of Peyton Manning, decorated with red splotches to represent the bloodshed some of the Pats fans had hoped would be unleashed on Manning. Oh well.

2. Tastiest: A trio of ball shaped yummies called "Freeballin'", consisting of Spam balls (http://new.spam.com/eatspam/contest_recipe.aspx?recipeid=262), the afore mentioned Jimmy Dean Sausage Balls (http://www.jimmydean.com/recipes/recipe.asp?recipeID=16), and olive balls (jumbo olives wrapped in a cheese spread/flour mix- it's a good one) mmm....balls.

3. Most Likely to cause gas: Cincinnati Chili. For those not familiar, it's more of a casserole than a soup . (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cincinnati_chili)

4. MVP- This year's contest was incredibly close, and in fact the MVP winner came close to winning every other category except football reference. But, in true story-book fashion, he came back to win it all: The Chicago Dog. Unlike it's football team namesake, the Chicago dog is a true winner and doesn't choke (unless you try to eat it all at once). Not just an ordinary hot dog, it has a special set of rules. For more info, try this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago-style_hot_dog

I guess those wikipedia people like to eat quite a bit during the Super Bowl, too.
Until next year, sports fans. Go Pats!

Thrift Store Secrets of the Cool and Frugal: Tips 1-2

Prada, Thomas Pink, Burberry, Louis Vuitton, Ann Taylor, Tommy Hilfinger, Polo Ralph Lauren, Gucci, Ferragamo, Kenneth Cole, Lily Pulitzer, Pucciam I getting all wistful about walks down Rodeo Drive, or Fifth Avenue? Not on your life. These brands are all trophies I've scored during secondhand shopping safaris, with stops at stores including Goodwill and Salvation Army.

The designers who work to create the top end stuff either troll and/or send out crews to secondhand stores all the time, in search of inspiration. Kind of like pearl divers looking for treasure beneath the barnacles -sometimes you need to hold your breath for a while, but the payoff is pretty nice.

Three hints to help:

1)Bring hand sanitizer, no gloves because they deprive you of your most useful thrifting sense: touch. Somewhere, deep inside your reptilian brain knows what poly feels like vs. silk vs. a blendthis will get better with practice, but you already know what good clothes feel like.

2) I like to head for a section of the rack, then, making sure I am not going to injure another browser's hand, shove everything on it toward the end and pull pieces back towards me, quickly, one by one, with my eyes on the tag (for size and brand) and my fingers doing the walking for quality and texture as mentioned above. Once you see something you really like and it fits, look it over extremely carefully, near a window. Know what you're capable of fixing, and what would take tailoring - the price still might be right.

3) Look in other sections. This is not Nordstrom's: people have generally not been sorting for hours before. Also, bear in mind that thrifting can be very competitive. Meaning people will take stuff they think they might want and hide it where you can't get it. Or filch things out of your shopping cart while you're distracted by the wonders of your newly acquired rack-prowling expertise.

If you want to know more, we'll have it in the book...and it's up at Helium.

Tip Top Chef

I am addicted to Top Chef on Bravo, and though last night's finale was not that exciting, the best one (I thought) was creating a menu based on the 7 Deadly Sins. This is a fascinating concept, I think, and got me wondering what I would make.
Here's the sins, in case you've blocked out your Catholic School days (or never saw that horrible "Se7en" with Brad Pitt)

Gluttony
Pride
Sloth
Envy
Greed
Wrath
Lust

Any ideas pop out? I'll tell you one thing I know: The "Gluttony" category is coming from the Jimmy Dean website, that's for damn sure.

Won't you come home, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean

In my quest for the winning Super Bowl entry (and without any help from readers--some one's got to have a recipe, right?), I was looking for that fatty, Wisconsin-type cheese and meat delicacy known as the Sausage and Cheese Ball. So I went to the source:
http://www.jimmydean.com/recipe_index.asp

You really should check this out. Did you have any idea, any at all, that there are this many recipes to be made with Jimmy Dean sausage? I sure as hell didn't. And that's not even counting the recipe for the other strange creation from Jimmy's freakish lab: the precooked bacon pack.

Now the problem is deciding on just one. Right kind of you, Jimmy.