Quichey Queue Tuesday Update

So, as I mentioned earlier, this Tuesday was all about the eggs... 15 to be precise. I made a classic broccoli cheese quiche (adapted a recipe for a cauliflower quiche) and a crust-less sausage quiche changed up from a bacon quiche. The latter came out more like a breakfast bake and probably needed a bit more seasoning, but I didn't hear any complaints.

Ah well, I really appreciated everyone coming over and particularly Michelle's humorous efforts to get me boozed up. I think she mentioned her wine's 13% alcohol content about a dozen times (cute). I felt a little more conflicted about Wes' hair-teasing, but the final result felt pretty hilarious. I love my Tuesday night posse!!
The crust-less quiche from the side..

Up next, cookies, five-layer bars, and pie, pie, AND more PIE!! Stay tuned.

A Week at Warp Speed

As July speeds on, Rhino's kitchen adventures continue at a rapid clip that cannot always be equally matched by her blogging.

On that note, this week brought about many culinary/foodie explorations starting on Saturday night with an impromptu IKEA trip with the fabulous Cate and Michelle. I'm quite the creature of habit and routine. I like knowing what I'll be doing, where I'll be going, and what will happen on any given day. Further, I just blew a wad on random kitchentry items at Hill's Kitchen a few weeks ago. So, when Cate and Michelle's IKEA trip turned into a "let's do it now" field trip, I felt some trepidation in addition to my end-of-the week lethargy. However, when I weighed my Saturday night options, I realized that I truly would be "the cat lady" if I did not IKEA. Ouch.. And off to IKEA we went.

After a metro ride to College Park and a quick trip with Roxy (Cate's kick ass car), we reached our destination and I quickly lost my IKEA virginity. I really didn't need anything, but I ended up buying a cutting board, a sieve, and some kick-ass fish ice cubes. Probably better that I visit stores with cooking gear less rather than more. In related news, I tried to hammer in screws for my pretty new spice rack. Thankfully, bf came to the rescue with an electric screw driver and the iphone's straight edge app to correct my botched job.

The rest of the week raced by at a break neck speed. My boyfriend is moving to North Carolina this Tuesday, so I made white chili (per his request) and veggie chili for Tuesday. Bf also made a beautiful (see above) and really delectable fruit pizza. As usual, the voracious Tuesday night guests devoured both chilis andabout one and a half fruit pizzas (yeah, those colorful suckers tasted goood).


I also spent a lot of time with bf this week, we got Chinese together, watched the rest of Felicity, ate at Zaytinya (delicious),
and generally hung out. I've known for a long time what lay ahead, but now with reality in the headlights, I'm realizing the gap I'll have in my life without him. I'm hoping that things fall back into place, but I understand that there is a strong probability that they won't.

Anyway, this week I'm making quiches for Tuesday night (vegetarian and macho meaty). So, expect some eggy posts ahead. Yolk, yolk, yolk.

Bonus: Here are the coconut pecan fudge bars that I made Andrea as a thank you for driving me home post Harry Potter.
I sampled some crumbs and approved and I hope that Andrea approved as well.

Snickerdoodle Dandy

No TND this week, but I could not resist trying out my Food Network Favorites' snickerdoodle recipe. Somehow, at the R-Chives on Friday, staff discussion turned to cookies and then the aforementioned snickerdoodles. After giving the recipe a once over, I realized that the recipe required no strange or exotic ingredients. So, I gave it a go this afternoon.


As per usual, my lack of size proportions led to some super-huge and crowded cookies. Luckily, with a little knife action and the wonders of butter, I easily separated my overly-cozy cookies. Only one developed a crack in transit from pan to plate. I took it as a sign and sampled some snickerdoodle. They may not be round or as beautiful as bakery cookies, but I'm calling my snickerdoodles a success. Tomorrow night, cookies and milk? ( :


Added Extra- BF and I went to Montmartre near Eastern Market for brunch on Sunday. Here's a snap of my smoked salmon eggs Benedict.

4th of July on the 6th 2009

After much ado, here is the highly anticipated party post.

Following scattered preparations all weekend, all the food for the gathering came together quite easily. The pork butt went in the oven for its slow cook at 12:30 and roasted till 7:30 (WORD.), I started the baked beans around 5, and assembled the always spectacular-looking trifle around 6. While the pork roasted, I realized that I needed both limoncello for the trifle and the prizes that I promised for the party games. So, I decided to double duty my ABC trip by buying both the trifle liquor and baby liquor bottles as prizes. Score!!

Sar Sar came over early to decorate as Little Rhino decorates like a 13 year old boy and pretty soon my roost rocked in red, white, and blue DC-themed decorations, and the whole crew came hot and hungry for my BUTT!! I tore it up and from the lack of leftovers, I think the pulled pork delivered. Yay!! I barely saw the deviled eggs before guests devoured them, Paula Deen's baked beans tasted delicious as always, and the bf made a yummy potato salad with dill and walnuts. The salty coleslaw proved to my only disappointment. Perhaps it needed more of a rinse than I anticipated.

Between limoncello sunrises (courtesy of the lovely Miss Jessika), red, white, and blue drinks (provided by Wes), Apples to Apples, I think everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Just about everyone appreciated the prizes except maybe Elizabeth who scored my cheesecake pudding mix booby prize, and I redeemed my poor coleslaw performance with lemon curd trifle with fresh berries. I tell ya, make a trifle and it will ALWAYS be a showstopper.

Even though preparing for the party took a lot of time and energy and a little money, I am so glad I continued my 4th on the 6th tradition. I love getting everyone together for food and games and any excuse to make deviled eggs and huge decadent trifles. Oh, and my butt has never received so many compliments. ( :

Fourth of July on the Sixth Countdown!

Between the 3rd being a federal holiday and obviously having the 4th off, I finagled myself another long week and to be honest, for most of it, I didn't know what to do with myself for a large chunk of it. So, I caked and mixed and prepped for the party...and then twiddled my thumbs. I really need to start my studies at the University of Maryland or find something better to do with myself.


I did occupy myself on Friday though ( : Boyfriend and I went out to Faquier County, VA and picked berries and delicious vegetables. I've picked blueberries, blackberries, and apples before, but before Friday, I'd never picked raspberries let alone carrots, zucchini, squash, green onions, banana and green peppers, and lettuce. Between the beautiful weather and the delicious veggies, it was a fabulous trip.



Later that day, we went into DC and I finally hit up Hill's Kitchen. I tried to exercise some restraint, but couldn't resist a few quirky purchases including a kitchen utensil holder, a rooster-shaped wooden cutting board, alphabet ice trays, and a stirsby (damn cute marketing gimmicks!). I must try to restrain my impulse kitchentry purchases in the future. Meanwhile, boyfriend bought both an artichoke dip jar and an artichoke spoon rest. Who knew the boy had such a thing for the crazy vegetable?







Saturday, I ran the Autism Speaks Fourth of July 5K with the fantastically funny Elizabeth Williams. I'm not a big fan of 5Ks at this point because I'm more of a tortoise and they're designed for hares. However, Autism Speaks is a very worthwhile cause, I already know the course from running it last year, I know where the race starts with mapquesting (huge bonus), and they give out good shirts which always sweetens the pot in my book. Anyhoo, The Elizabeth and I finished nearly neck and neck, I improved upon my previous time by 13 seconds, and we both appreciated the post-race pizza provided by Potomac Pizza (pretty tasty pizza even for a less than fanatic pizza fan like Miss Rhino). All in all and despite the early start and my lack of sleep the night before, I'm glad I participated in the 5K. Even more exciting, Elizabeth and I plotted a 20K, a half-marathon, and perhaps a relay race to run in the coming month. Rhino hopes to stampede the competition in all events... or at least get a good hustle out of her hide.

Given the race's early start, I returned to my roost with lots of excess time to kill. So, I took the Teet by storm before the last minute holiday grillers arrived and then headed into my kitchen command post and got to work. First, I created Ina Garten's/Barefoot Contessa's lemon yogurt cake for future use in Tyler Florence's lemon curd trifle with fresh berries (always a showstopper). I even made it a tad healthier by subbing some applesauce for the oil and using Eggland's best eggs. I then boiled up some more eggs for my always improvised deviled eggs and before I hit the shower, I salted my coleslaw mix for its extended colander stay. Clean and fresh after 15 minutes, I plucked the cake from the oven. An hour or two later, I assembled the coleslaw's dressing. Four hours later, I rinsed and dried the cabbage and mixed in the dressing. Coleslaw complete... until I realized it made too little (I made another batch on Sunday). As I said, I need to find better ways to occupy myself.



After a night of fireworks and an ultra-late dinner with boyfriend, on Sunday afternoon I put together my deviled eggs and after a literal run to the Teet, I rubbed down the pork butt for Tyler Florence's pulled pork and put it to rest in the fridge overnight.

Today, with most of my prep complete, I shoved the pork butt in the oven at 12:30, set up Paula Deen's cholestrol-ridden baked beans, layered up the trifle, and heated up some homemade bbq sauce. It's been a big weekend of cooking, boiling, and baking, but I think it'll all be worthwhile in the end.

Spinach Artichoke Stuffed Pasta Bake Success

After a massive microwave session to defrost four bags of frozen spinach, a white sauce session, and the boiling and then broiling of pasta, I finished making my TND (with the help of my awesome sous chef Michelle). It came out most beautifully..aside from the crispy topping (overdid the broil a bit). Everyone dove in and devoured most of the dutch oven deep dish and I divvied up the leftovers. Unfortunately, I forgot to document the process, so all I can offer is a quick pic of my personal leftover. Not quite as impressive as the doubled Rachael Ray recipe, but you get the idea.


Along with my main course, the crew dined on home-made bread (courtesy of Michelle), chips and salsa, papaya bruscetta, and frozen ice cream novelties for desserts. Jessika also made a fabulous berry and champagne cocktail (how can you go wrong there?.) Stories as usual abounded and everyone left in good spirits. Though how can you not be content with that much good food?

Now, I'm gearing up for my big 4th of July on the 6th Party and a posh four day holiday weekend. Details and pictures to follow....