S7PP: All Things Food!

After some thought and some deep digging into the inter-worlds I have decided that I really need a separate post for food stuffs.  I'm getting too distracted by the shiny stuff.

Here is what I have so far for our menu - keeping in mind that unless HBO has some sort of miracle planned, this will be the 4th-to-the-last time we get to host this thing...

3.15.17: Menu Planning

This year we will have the more people attending our little swa-ray than we ever have before so we are going to have to pull out all of the stops.  I have an oven, 2 bbq's, a smoker, and a fire pit and my goal is to have meat cooking on all of them.  Here is the plan

Meats:

Honeyed Chicken x 2

These will cook on one of the BBQ's 

Crown Roast x 2

I can get 2 beef ones or 3 pork ones on my roasting pan.  This will take the longest but will also need the most time to prep before hitting the table.

Baked herb and lemon stuffed fish x 6

These don't take very long under the broiler and can go into the oven after I pull out the crown roast.  I'll post a recipe a little later.

Citrus stuffed fire roasted beef haunch x 1

This will be going on the other BBQ and I am still working out what I am going to do to this poor delicious piece of meat...

Hopefully that will be enough... 

Sides:

Skillet Cranberries

Greens with Apples and Pine nuts

Slow Roasted Crown Roast Root Veggies

Frey Brothers Hand Pies

Snacks and Nibbles:

Dothraki Goat Balls

Fresh baked black bread

Olives

Cheese

and maaaaayyyyybbbeee scottish deviled eggs?  Maybe....

Desert:

Apple blossom tarts

Chocolate covered honey bark

I KNOW IT SEEMS LIKE A LOT!  But I have 17 people coming over... I should be able to out-source some of these to take something off our plates... hopefully... right?  *BREATH, JESSE!!*

Honorable Mentions and Other Ideas

Dream Kitchen......  

These things I found that looked amazing and that I still want to make... maybe I can squeeze them into our evening?  Or perhaps sub something else?  Hmm....

Tavern Bread - This looks RIGHT up my ally... I could probably eat this every day for the rest of my life.  I need to make it so I can be sure.  Also, I'll need LOTS of it - you know - for testing.

Nordic Stone Bread - I love me some seeds and looks absolutely delicious.  This would be fantastic topped with some butter or even a fried egg for breakfast... I am seeing many possibilities... must experiment...

Wassail - I know I have mentioned this before in this blog because we make it for just about every large gathering.  This stuff is AMAZING and if you haven't made it, you should.  We won't be making it for our premier party, though sadly, HBO decided to throw us a curve and host their season in the middle of summer.... Summer in California doesn't make for warm comforting beverages.  I'll have another post down the road with what we come up with in the way of beverages - some of my cookbooks have ideas that I might need to pillage.

Viking Apple Bacon - This looks pretty simple and equally yummy... we might have to squeeze this on in somewhere.  I like easy... I like delicious.  I'm easy that way.  Could you imagine serving this on a slice of crusty bread and topped with a poached egg? I just did....

Of course, none of this would have been possible in the first place if I hadn't stumbled into InnAtTheCrossroads.com - those guys are my heroes.  I've been away too long.  <3

4.5.17

We're SO doing this....

I found this on twitter and I gotta say, it's #brilliant.  I will have to have the hubs burn some little smokies and call them "Farmboy Fingers" to add...  muhahahaha

If you have a sensitive disposition, perhaps Game of Thrones isn't your speed, eh?  

I just purchased the perfect plate for these to go on too!  I could even add the Scottish deviled eggs-  The more I think about those though, the more I am certain I'll have to search for some quail eggs instead of doing the regular sized chicken eggs... smaller... more bite sized... better.....

Challenge accepted.

More to come!

Season 7, Premier party! Let the planning insanity begin! (oh boy...)

Well.... The awesome thing is that my best friends will be driving down from Washington to spend the week with us and will just happen to be with us for their first taste of allll the hooplah.

The stressful thing is that since they will be here, and since it's the second to the last time we will ever be able to host this event, my husband wants to invite freaking everybody.  *deep breath deep breath, deep breath!*

So the planning begins.  July 16th is not that far away and we have lots of work to do if we want to host an amazing party for .... 17 people.....  *deep breath deep breath, deep breath!*

I know, it doesn't seem like a lot... and I already have some great ideas, plus I'll have 2 extra sets of hands to help us with the preparations.  The thing that bothers me the most is the logisticals... I don't have enough plates... I don't have enough chairs... I don't have enough butt space on my couch. .. *sigh* most of these things can be solved with some shopping but we can't be going nuts like we did that one year...  Lets see how much of this we can do on a budget!  Thrift stores, here we come!  Of course, I will be sharing my findings here.

This season we have to do a few very important things:

• Come up with a theme....  
• The North Wants You!
• Create the invitations
• Done, and super awesome, I might add....
• Create house sigils for new allies to the North
• Pending.... not sure if I'll actually get around to doing this for alllll of our new bannermen....
• Create a killer (pun intended!) menu
• See the "All About Food" post!  Can't wait to start playing!
• Plan for favors and things to send home
• Ordered giant Easter eggs to paint and fill with stuff! I think I have a post on this?  I'll have to look...
• Figure out annoying logisticals (plates, chairs, butt space...)
• Already started looking at eBay - My advice, get started NOW if you have this problem!  You can find some amazing stuff and you don't want to wait until the last minute!  
• Update the Death Pool board (OOOOOO!!!!!  Hodor, nooo!)
• Work out nitty gritties so nothing gets left out
• Share my madness with all of you lucky duckies.

As always, I hope this blog can serve as a guide to help you create an amazing party too!  Feel free to snag any images you like for your own party and let me know if you have other ideas you'd like me to add.

Lets get it started!

War Is Coming.....

It has begun....

The Hermit's Game of Thrones Party

The Hermit's Game of Thrones Party

For those of us who love to party but hate the people part of it..

It's very easy for me to imagine a kick-ass Game of Thrones party for just myself.  As much as I love to wow my guests with these amazing treats (and I really do) a lot of the things I put together are things I intend to keep at home for just me.  Hello, Dragon eggs.  Hello, Wall of Sigils.  Hello Apothecary set.  I figure if my husband can nerd-out over Amiibos then I can have my collection of quirky awesomeness as well.  Throwing a party for just yourself is not anything to be ashamed of - or embarrassed by at all!  It just takes a little prep and legwork to have yourself a fine feast and a show.  

The first thing you'll need for your party is a fancy invite - depending of course on how far into this you want to go.  You can skip this part if you don't want a memento of your amazing evening.  

Over the years, I have come up with several that have been a big hit but yours doesn't need to be so fancy.  This one here is from Innatthecrossroads.com and is available for you to download and customize.  Simply print it out, roll it up, and tie it to the foot of one of these to perch on your microwave.  Now your invite has been sent and you just have to wait for a response.

Now, we need to settle on a menu.  The possibilities here are as endless as the yellow sea but I've put together some ideas that will leave you with some leftovers but not completely drowning in food.  

Main Dish

Spiced Honeyed Harpie

(with or without stuffing... but that stuffing is awfully good.)

Sides

Roasted leeks and root vegetables

Appetizer

Scottish Deviled Eggs

Dessert

Cherries and fresh whipped cream

We will talk about the food prep a little further down. 

Next, we have to take care of dishes and decor.  For this, I hope you don't turn your nose up at the idea of a thrift store but they are your friends in times like these unless you want to spend an arm and a leg on new stuff from Etsy/Amazon/Ebay.  I always hit the thrift store first, you can find some amazing things there.  For example, a few weeks ago I had to hit one on the way home to find some old cake pans my son and I could destroy by making sun catches and I happened upon some pretty awesome candle holders, several silver trays, and an old cast-iron serving dish that was, like, $3.00.  I had to talk myself out of the glass goblets - they were incredible but alas, we already have some pretty stellar metal ones.  And my husband would have killed me.  

The cool thing about the thrift stores is that you're not committed to buying things as a set.  A lot of the time they will price things by the piece and you'll be free to put together your own special table setting for your own amazing party.  Here is a list of things you'll want to consider:

• 1 wooden bowl
• 1 large metal serving platter
• 1 medium or small sized platter for your dish
• 2 candle holders
• 1 big glass or ceramic bowl
• 1 large wine goblet
• 1 metal mug

Next take a gander though the blog here and see if you are ambitious enough to take any of the larger projects on.  Even a door sign will help transport you to Westeros on GoT day.  These will also help with your decor.

Now that it's Game of Thrones day, and you're just about ready to start your food adventure.  If you're sticking to my menu above, you'll need some things from the grocery store unless they're already laying around your house.  

Spiced Honeyed Harpie:

A little different from the Inn's version - in this version you're going to get yourself either 1 or 2 cornish game hens - depending on how much food you want to eat tomorrow... Before you do anything to them, make sure they are rinsed and dried and there are no presents sitting in the cavities of them.  The link above will walk you through the needs of your recipe but since you're only stuffing itty bitty birds, you can easily half the list of ingredients.  

Roasted Leeks and Root Vegetables

 A staple in our house and REALLY (REALLY) easy to make - you'll need 1 leek, 2 carrots, a parsnip and a smallish yellow potato.  The leek prep is a little tricky and you have to rinse them after you cut them to get all the dirt off.  To accomplish this, simply cut the leek diagonally into slices and drop them into a bowl full of water - separate the rings as best you can and give them a good jooge - the dirt sinks while the leeks (Rhymes with Reek..) floats to the top.   Dry them off on a paper towel while you're chopping up the rest of your veg.

All of your veggies should be chopped to about the same size so that they roast evenly and they don't have to be chopped up super small in order to accomplish this.  Big rough cuts on all of your washed veggies will work just wonderfully.  Toss them all (leeks too!) into a bowl with some olive oil and your favorite herbs (thyme is wonderful with these...) and coat them all well.  Then transfer your coated veggies to your roasting dish and put them in a 300 degree oven for 30 minutes.  After they've had some time to roast, take them out and NOW they are ready for your birds.  These hens don't take long to roast and if you do a pre-roasting they'll be finished with your hens and all will be well in your kingdom.  Turn the temp up on your oven to 350 and roast until the internal temp is at least 165.

Scottish Deviled Eggs

Mmmm... I love these.   You can find my adventure with these here.

Cherries and Fresh Whipped Cream

You will need the following ingredients for these:

• Fresh cherries
• powdered sugar
• heavy cream
• vanilla extract

Here your mixing bowl will get a work-out.  Just add 1 cup of powdered sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract, and 1 pint of heavy whipping cream to your mixing bowl and whip it (whip it good!) til it's fluffy and delicious.  Wash off your cherries and put them in a bowl and plop some of this goodness on top.  Viola.  An easy desert - and after all of that work, you deserve it.  

Remember that large serving platter you got at the thrift store?  Put your veggies on it, stuffing, bird(s) and appetizers on it and take it to your living room.  Pour yourself your favorite wine or (AND!) ale in your pretty cups.  Set yourself up a little picnic with your new plate and some silverware in front of your TV (don't forget to light some candles!) and kick up your feet!  Winter is coming but at least you won't go hungry.  

If you have other ideas for the Hermits Game of Thrones party (Put on some eye-liner and order a pizza?)  feel free to comment!

Valar Morghulis!

S6FP: Don't forget bread and salt...

Season 6 Finale Party

Don't forget bread and salt...

Oh, my pretties.... the time is upon us to talk about the finale party - and what better occasion then to host another wedding... (fictional, of course...)

We start today with the finalization of the invitation - a task that I can't take 100% credit for but was still equally challenged by its development.  I found an image very similar to this one online (Where everything can be found...) and was able to adapt it for our specific group of roughians.  In this endeavor, I came to the sad realization that one of our newest houses has no sigil... this must be remedied immediately!  In sticking with our "mythical creature" theme, House Courtades sigil is now the majestic and mysterious UNICORN!  Not just any unicorn, no, the happiest and luckiest unicorn I was able to conjure up from Google images - 

She's a happy unicorn...

In keeping true to my usual shinanigans, I also must include a menu for our - - occasion... This menu was fun to make  We will see if my posse picks on all of the subtleties in this and fears for their lives with every delicious fork full of awesome...

Some of the recipes were going to be a challenge and I didn't want to bite off more than I could chew like I normally do.  The main course, Lannisters Land and Sea, is a take on the traditional Roman Tenderloin (recipe here! Thanks, Innatthecrossroads.com!) I will, however, also be adding shrimp to the grill as well which I will prepare the same way (sans bacon) for House Courtade, which does not partake in red meat like a bunch of weirdos.  This recipe will be pretty quick as the majority of the time it takes is chill time in the marinade.  

The stuffed endives recipe also looked incredible but my husband does.not.not.not like goat cheese so I may have to sub cream cheese and add some steamed basil or something... plenty of time to play with that one to make something he will like.  

I also found this delicious looking soup (gotta use those soup crocks!) here that I will make with a vegetable stock instead of a chicken stock.  It looks simple enough but also packed with flavor so it's a no-brainer.  I could probably even create the tortellinis the day before and just chill them overnight as to not overwhelm myself the day of.

We love making things from scratch where we can but in an endevor such as this we have to cut a few corners as well - the biscuits will be your regular Bisquick variety with cheese and chives chopped into the dough and topped with a little seasoning which should pair nicely with the soup.  Under the biscuit will be a wonderfully flaky fish cake - yay for more protein!  

Lastly - ahh yes... This is my own special creation.  When I was little, my incredibly Irish mom would make the most incredible mexican food you've ever had.  It was quite the conundrum to our neighbors and friends in New Mexico how she could pull this off - she was Irish.  But her food was nothing short of amazing.  As kids, and only every once in a great while, she would make Sopapillas for us - which is basically a sweetened bread dough rolled out flat, cut into squares and deep fried so they popped up like little pillows of awesome.  We'd bite off a corner and drizzle honey on the inside and... nom....  I have to stop now, I'm drooling.  

So I will be making moms sopapillas, or the closest thing to it I can muster - and filling them with a mix of vanilla sweetened whipped cream, possibly a banana (haven't decided...) and sprinkling with cinnamon and sugar and a little drizzle of honey to make it even more messy and amazing.   

After that we're going to kill everyone.  

We're not REALLY going to kill everyone but it IS a wedding and we have to stick with the theme here.... muhahahhhahaha!!

Season Six Premier Party: RECAP

Season Six Premier Party: RECAP

Overall, our little get-together was a booming success!  After all, the Direwolves didn't accidentally eat anyone and there were no major brawls in the mead hall.  I may have had one (or 6) too many white walkers, but I digress.  HBO is amazing in that when you're too drunk to follow along in the show when it's happening, you can shamefully watch it again the next day as you recover with a cup of strong coffee.  

I did lose the nipple bet by 1 though - counting the nipples we did see as FOUR SEPARATE SETS OF NIPPLES.  Spoilers - technically they belong to the same person, however, they are two different sets of boobs - time is fickle bitch.

Our guests LOVED their direwolves and were raving about the amazing stories that came with them.  Ghost and Gmork were fought over but gladly, all of them found good and loving homes.  My seven year old (who does not watch the shows, by the way...) loves his Ghost and tucks him in to his blankets before he leaves for school every day, it's adorable.

Another big hit was the food - no surprise there.  The crown roast was a HUGE hit and it really wasn't that tough to make!  Both the pork and the beef roasts were amazing though it seemed that the preference fell to the pork roast.  Personally, I preferred the beef  but both will be on my repeat list.  The vegetables were also amazing. I'd say that if I could re-vamp anything for the evening it would have been the stuffing.  I used a quick cooking steel cut oat, and as a result, it came out kind of hard - extra crunchy.  There are times when this is good but in this instance, there wasn't enough soft moist stuffing to balance it out.  In the end it was a bit on the gritty side for our liking.   Good flavor though!

For the crown roasts I actually rubbed them down with yogurt, turmeric, and curry seasoning then chilled them overnight.  I've found that a good yogurt marinade holds in the moisture to your meat so it doesn't end up like shoe leather.  You wouldn't have to use these types of spices in with your yogurt if you don't want to, it would be just as well to use pepper, herbs and lemon juice, for example.  It can be very versatile and easy to customize to your liking.

Had Robert Baratheon known he would be entertaining the likes of... a vegetarian... he probably would have taken her out back and fed her to the wolves but - I am nothing if not a hospitable wench and was easily able to accommodate her - even if her meal was looking at her.  Lucky for me she allows herself fish from time to time so it was a piece of cake.  What you see here is a rainbow trout stuffed with fresh thyme, rosemary and butter with a light lemony glaze on the top broiled in the oven for about 15 minutes or so (inner temp 170).  To be honest, I was a little jealous... it looked incredible.

Everything turned out wonderfully and now the planning has begun for the finale party... Death Pool updates will be coming soon!

Valar Morghulis!

S6PP: Engines on...

SEASON SIX: PREMIER PARTY

ENGINES ON.....

I'm 4 years old and my parents have just told me that tomorrow morning we are getting on an airplane and fly TO DISNEY LAND!! I'm not going sleep tonight...

This, sadly, didn't ever actually happen but it's easy for me to imagine how this must have felt... I feel like I want to jump out of my skin suit.... 

I started this morning (at 6:30 am, mind you... Because that's when babies want food) making the stuffings - first a meaty stuffing you see here with the rib meat from the frenching adventure, bacon grease, bacon, onions, celery, apples, shallots and garlic.  One of my guests is a vegetarian (Robert Baratheon would highly disapprove.....) so I've made a vegetarian version that will roast on its own for a few hours on super low than it will hold up a fish for her... 

I also made my iced milk with honey and chopped up my veggies.  Because life is hectic I asked Safeway to deliver my groceries for me and in that ...experience... I had to educate them.  You see, this thing is not a leek.  

But it will be delicious alongside my leeks, carrots, garlic, onions and herbs roasted slowly in the juices of meat and awesome.  So while I crinkle my nose at the fact that they can't tell the difference between a parsnip and a leek, I'm fortunate that they flubbed up... My guests will be too. 

After I trimmed my ribs down and dried them off, I created a marinade with some plain yogurt, thyme, turmeric, garlic, and applewood smoked sea salt.  I have a beef rack and a pork rack that were both rubbed down and will be chillaxin in my fridge until I'm ready to stuff them tomorrow.  

Lastly on the docket today, 3 lbs of hatch chilies to be seasoned and roasted slowly in the oven until soft- they'll be chopped into little bits and added to the stuffing of our Dornish stuffed peppers.

I'm excited!!  I can't sleep when I'm excited!  This is going to be amazing.  24 hours left!!!  SQUEEEEEEE!!!!

 
 

 

S6FP: The Plaid Wedding

Season Six: Finale Party (Whaaa?)

The Plaid Wedding

The Game of Thrones Death Pool has been a much talked about thing since it's inception.  Our guests have even decided to put their money where their mouth is and toss in $20 per betting person - this will give us some funds to get something freaking amazing for them at the end of the season, perhaps a Longclaw replica?  mmmmmmmm

One thing is for certain though, we will need to beef up the finale party to make it that much more awesome.  The voucher above is a rough draft of the one that will be given to the winner - I may just make this into a horrifying brochure for this made-up place complete with the "Hall of Faces" and picture of the assassins... oops, I mean specially trained masseuses. You know... for your SPA DAY.

I am also playing around with putting together a mini apothecary kit.  Of course, a wedding means we must serve a fantastic feast and, if George has a say, people must die... 

Better get to brainstorming on this one...

S6PP: The Hunt for Where My $&@#! Is.

SEASON 6 PREMIERE PARTY

WHERE THE HECK IS MY CRAP??

Part of the joy of moving is that even 6 months after you've moved you're still plagued by random boxes of stuff you don't use everyday.  In my case, it's boxes full of Game of Thrones party supplies that I scarcely use and now, ironically, I can't find anywhere.  I've already filled my swear words quota for the day so maybe the Lord of the house will have better luck in the box-jungle that is our garage when he gets home.  

On the plus side, I found my vials of salt, my kazoos of winter, my mustard jars and some serving ware so I'm on the right track!  Ugh.

So I've decided that I'm going to send each guest home with AN ACTUAL DIREWOLF.  See that cutie patootie there guarding what little of my gear I could find?  That is Sir Fluffy Feet.  He will accompany his fact sheet at the table and will go home with one lucky guest.  Each guest will have a plushie version of their advertised direwolf.  They'll get a kick out of it.  

The Dish Dilemma:

My regular table ware is... well... it's colorful.  I have square plates that have retro flowers on them and this will not do at all for a medieval feast.  In 2013 I had this problem and with 13 people to feed I was forced to settle for plain square black plastic plates - I HATED them.  On the plus side, it did make clean-up easy, but they were not at all in keeping with the theme.  I can legitimately say I have had a dish problem FOR YEARS.  It's not acceptable.


So this year, I did a little digging.  I turned, once again, to my friends Amazon and Ebay.  Amazon had a great option in "sizzling plates" - a search popped up lots and lots of options but these ones seemed to be the most economical at about $10/each.  These also do double duty for Fajita night too!  I was lucky enough that in my search through eBay I was able to find a better deal - and something that looked more genuine to boot.  For $36, I was able to get 6 sizzling plates with the wooden base and free shipping... sure they looked used with the knife marks in them and everything but that is EXACTLY what I was looking for. As time goes on and I expand this little tradition, I will have to find more plates, but at least now, I know what I am looking for!  This creates another nagging dilema though.... where to store this stuff.... grr...

VALAR MORGHULIS!

2013 Game of Thrones Premier Party Photo Gallery

Oh Jess, where'd you go?

After all of that work we poured into 2013 it occurs to me that there isn't a single record of the results anywhere for the masses to see.  Well, in case you are curious, here it is.  It was A LOT of work and I can tell you that I don't think I will be biting off that much again any time soon....

Here is how it all turned out - 

Scotch Eggs

Made with hot Italian sausage - YUM! "Stick em with the pointy end!"

Grazing Spread

Mixed fresh olives, artisan breads, variety of cheeses, grapes, scotch eggs, and mice (little smokies wrapped in biscuit dough and decorated to look like mice - InnAtTheCrossroads strikes again!)

White Walkers

Iced milk with honey and vodka... didn't last long enough to get a picture of the full glass.....

The Table

That is a Yukani Maize Popper in the background... ahem...

Here, the wall of sigils, our map, and on the tables you have the stained house sigils which were a huge success.

Hearth

Complete with vials of salt, kazoos of winter, and dragon eggs.  

Pork Pie

This was REALLY GOOD except that when I made it, I couldn't find the pepper grinder so like a dork I tossed in WHOLE PEPPERCORNS.  Don't do this.  This is a terrible idea and I have no effing clue wtf I was thinking....  

Dragon Eggs

Obviously when it was all said and done, they didn't end up staying in the fireplace... it was too dark and I wanted to show them off so they when on the mantle.  I never did finish my heated box for them but maybe someday, I'll get the ambition to complete the set.

 And then!

 It was a fantastic night and one we will never forget.  This was the night all other premier parties will be measured to.  Though I may not be able to strive to this level of greatness again, we will sure keep trying!  

Valar Morghulis!

S6PP: More Maize...

That is REALLY corny, you guys...

(har har....)

Many people know of the great city of Myr.  They know of it's craftsman, it's glass, it's lace, it's finery but many don't know that there is a dark underbelly of Myr that is hidden from the fine tradesman of stature.  A part of Myr reserved for the free-er folk of the free city - this part of Myr is not a place for the faint of heart, nor a place that one with any sort of reputation would ever dare to go... 

You see, there are those reputable tradesman and craftsman who exchange business and they deal without the slightest knowledge that among them, hunters lurk.  Eyes, ever watchful for some poor naive soul who would be swept away to a dark alley and not heard from for several anxiety-laden hours.

These poor people are suddenly tangled up in what the local story tellers refer to as "MYR LAND."  They're lured unsuspectingly down to the bowels of the city by the smell of  Myrish fire maize and the promise of amazing things - here, vendors have amassed an unimpressive collection of trinkets and fodder meant for stopping doors or for young children to destroy.  There's a two headed snake, (which is obviously a severed snake head sewed on to the body of another snake..) theres a lady-fish, (which is obviously a man in terrible make-up wearing the bottom half of a tuna...) Three is even a vendor you can buy goat rides from... Yet the visitors of this dark and secret place are swindled by pushy sales tactics and outlandish promises - They emerge from this dark and horrendous place with not a penny to their names, pockets full of things they will likely never find a good use for, and a bruised ego.  The only thing to show for their foolery is a bag of  Dragon Cured Fire Maize of Myr... at least their taste buds will be happy as they sulk back to their companies...

I have... ahem... no idea... where I heard this from.  Must have... ummm.. been at a brothel.. or something...  Yeah... 

Shuddup and eat your fire maize.

S6PP: Fire Maize of Myr

Season 6 Premier Party: Fire Maize of Myr

Sriracha?  Yes, please!

Fellow blogger and Game of Thrones guru Phoenix posted a fantastic place for all of your premier party needs - here you'll find all kinds of amazing stuff ready for you to download and share to make your party BANG.  

On this site there are a lot of great finds but one in particular I grabbed like a dog with a bone - the popcorn bags.  They are so cute!!  And of course, I could grab this genius and print it up and it would be super easy and un-complicated but... that's not my style!  I have to reinvent the wheel.  I have to make it my own version of awesome.  I love a challenge so I have taken this amazing idea that I can in no way take credit for, and gave it a good twist.  

I'm still tweaking with the design because I am not quite sure I am happy with it... I think I'll change the color from black to a dark red which will look great against the brown paper bag.  

As for the Sriracha Popcorn?  Ironically, I have been making this for years when I eat popcorn (which is as often as humanly possible) and never thought to actually stuff it in a bag and give it to my guests for our premier party.  I love sriracha so my measurements are a bit more stacked for the hot stuff.  The recipe is linked above for your convince but if you want to make it like I make it (and I would highly suggest it because it's freaking awesome) then here is how I do it:

Sriracha Corn

Ingredients:

8 cups of air popped popcorn

3 tablespoons of melted butter

3 tablespoons of sriracha

2 minced cloves of fresh garlic

a pinch of salt (to taste)

a pinch of pepper (to taste)

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (you can omit this if you have someone who really hates the stuff like my husband does.... or you can make it anyway despite their picky pallet.  More for me!!)

In a small bowl, mix your butter, sriracha, and garlic.  It should almost look like buffalo sauce (and, by the way, coats wings just as well!) 

Pour this over your popcorn.  Sprinkle your Parmesan over the top and add salt and pepper to taste.  Mix everything together in a bowl before placing it in your bags for showtime.

I love finding other resources to make our Game of Thrones experience that much more amazing.  Thank you so much to Phoenix for posting that planning guide for us and making us oogle even more!  Your hard work is something we can all benefit from!  (I mean seriously, have you seen these wine labels???) 

Happy Throning!

S6PP: MULLIGANS!

Season 6 Premier Party: Mulligans!

After all - sometimes we all need a do-over.

Good intentions are all good unless you completely drop the ball and get caught up in baby-land thus letting your awesome party plans crash down in a fiery inferno.  As fun as it is to come up with all of these wonderful ideas to wow the masses it's kind of pointless unless you can actually pull it off, right?

With that being said, we are hosting ANOTHER Direwolf Adoption Day at Castle Forrest for our premier party - - since the last one wasn't really as fancy and amazing as I would have liked it to be.  And luckily, since I didn't actually pull this off to my standards last year, I can pull up all of my files and tweak some minor things and I'll be in business once again!

The great thing about doing these every year is that I always have left over stuff from the year before.  Let's start with the invitations (posted above).

I had to do some digging since in the recent move, my apothecary kit from 2013 was buried in the garage somewhere but luckily, my amazing husband was able to find it so I could pull out the wax sealing set stored inside.  Unfortunately in the move, the Basilisk Venom jar leaked and drenched the inside of my box with thick green goo...  That was a fun mess to clean up...

I attached the invitation to the menu... (ahh yes, the food - we'll get to that in a minute, I promise you!) and waxed sealed them shut.  I then addressed them with a gold pen which to be honest doesn't really show up on the yellow parchment all that great so if you can find a black sharpie somewhere in your house and not lost in a box in your garage like a sad and lonely needle in a messed up haystack then I would suggest using that. I would have loved to burn the edges on these a bit to give them a little more age but they look just dandy as is.  Last thing I need is to burn down my house and knowing my luck, we will just leave that one alone.


The other thing I will do to make our adoption day a success is print pamphlets for each persons plate so they can learn about the good our amazing made-up foundation is doing to help the direwolves.  I used all the ones I made up from last year but had to make one more....  (sadface..)

These will be fantastic conversation pieces as I am in the kitchen making everything beautiful.

Good Help is Hard To Find....

My amazing and loving husband has brought to my attention that some of these files have some spelling errors.  I very gently told him that the WSPVBMCD is a non-profit organization, and thus, is currently looking for educated scholars to assist in creating our propaganda.  Sadly, the bakers wife has only the most minimal of grammatical education and thus, is not keen to pick up such remedial mistakes such as these.  I appreciated his feedback, however, and will be looking for a new writing wench after I clean up the blood from the direwolf pen... 

In short ... I had better get around to fixing that - this of course, after I printed them all and beautified them... grr.. If you see any more please let me know!

Now... lets talk about the GRUB.

Starters:

I try to keep this simple - as we all know, the real show-stopper is always the main dish, right?  No one likes a bridesmaid who tries to outdo the bride, after all.  Most of my guests usually like to save themselves for the meal anyway so the odds that you have leftovers on the starters is high.  

I will be getting most of these from the store - ready to eat.  A loaf of olive bread from the bakery, a small container of fresh kalamata olives from the deli department, some prosciutto wrapped mozzarella also from the deli department, some smoked cheese and some hummus.  The only thing I will be making is the stuffed chilies that I have made before from InnAtTheCrossroads.com - who I have said time and time again are the air with which I breathe - these women are amazing and I definitely have a girl crush on their wonder.  You can find that recipe here.

I do make some changes with it though - I use smoked gouda instead of sharp cheddar, I add just a dash of sriracha because - well, why not?  That stuff is awesome.  You can omit that if you like though.  The only other thing that I am going to play with is that when making these amazing little nuggets of awesome, the corn flake coating doesn't stick very well to the skin of the jalepeno.  It's a real problem since you really want as much of that crunchy goodness as possible so I am going to try scoring the skin and roughing it up a bit to give the egg wash some texture to grab on to.  If that doesn't work... well, I'm not quite sure what, I'll have to play with it a bit.  

The Main Event:

A delectable Crown Roast stuffed with a delightfully hearty Oaten Stuffing served on a bed of slow roasted leeks and root vegetables.  Fit for a king.

Word food porn.  Mmmmm.

Sounds yummy, don't it?  Thank you again to my homies at InnAtTheCrossroads.com for providing the inspiration to this dish, you can find that recipe for this here.

I chose this dish because I sort of fancy myself a rib-aficionado... You can't get enough ribs in life, I promise you.  And the presentation of these is spot on for our premier party.   I am planning to do 2 racks but I'll deviate from the recipe just a bit - I'm going to tie off the ribs and roast them in the oven at 225 for 1.5 - 2 hours on a bed of chopped leaks, onions, garlic and carrots so that the rib juices saturate the veggies giving them a deliciously smoky flavor.  It is important to note, however, that when roasting veggies with your meat, you want to give them a light coating of olive oil and whatever spices you'd like so they don't burn.  There is a time and a place for blackened veggies and this ain't it!

Once they hit the 90 minute mark in the oven, I'll very carefully take them out and wrap the bottoms with bacon, stuff them, give my veggies a good turn and pop them all back in the oven to party for another 2-3 hours at 375 as the recipe indicates.  Why the extra cooking, you ask?  Well because I like my ribs SUPER tender and this should do the trick.  If you like them to stick to the bone a bit more you can omit the pre-cooking part and just follow the amazing recipe!

All Things Must End:

As always, we will be making a batch of Wildling Cider and White Walkers (Iced milk with honey plus vodka) - we have these with every party and they are always a big hit.  We run out every.time.

I have linked the Wildling Cider recipe for you but you'll have to fork over some dough to the ladies at the Inn for their amazing cookbook as the recipe for iced milk with honey can be found there.  You can also buy it on Amazon.

I will serve these with some Jammie Dodgers renamed The Mountains Tea Biscuits - because there is something strangely satisfying about picturing the MOUNTAIN with dainty little tea biscuits - pinky out and all.  We are keeping the ending SUPER SIMPLE as, you know me, we will have TONS of leftovers if folks are still hungry but they won't be... we will be rolling them out to their cars once the night is over..

Speaking of leftovers - Don't forget your doggie bags!

Good luck on planning your party - there is STILL TIME!  Lots of it, in fact (and sadly...) I hope some of these things were able to inspire you.  If you have questions or requests please let me know!

VALAR MORGHULIS.  All men must die.

It ALWAYS ends too soon!

And here we are....

 

 

Reading about plans for the season finale...  WHAT THE HELL GUISE.  Didn't the season just start??  In a word, Yes.  It did.  This is how HBO retains your loyalty... they give you just enough to make you think you're getting something good before they drop the shoe and say something ridiculous like "Just wait until next season..."  ...  .. . . .   Bullox.

 

Times like this I am really jealous of my sister who doesn't have HBO and only gets the very rare opportunity to binge watch like a boss so she doesn't have that agonizing week of "WHAT'S HAPPENING NEXT?!?!?" .... I equate this feeling to waiting in line to use the restroom when you really really have to go. 

 

 

For our finale party, we are hosting a Direwolf Adoption Day at our house. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We will be folding these up and attaching them to some fake crows and leaving them on our guests cars for them to find.  If some other poor suspicious individual should pick this up and take it they will at least either get a good laugh or slough back to nowhere land in befuddlment as they ponder wtf a direwolf is...

 

The day of, we will have these on each plate:

 

Creating these was a lot of fun and had me laughing quite a bit at inappropriate times.  Feel free to use them for your party!  Hopefully people will get some of the references....

 

And our menu -

 

 

It's a lot to take on with a baby in the house so we will have to see how this all pans out... All this talk about goat balls - makin me hungry.

 

mmmmmmm.....



Oh where, oh where has my little mind gone???

Oh where oh where has my little mind gone??

 

 

This is a question that begs an answer but - sadly - I can't provide one. Since my last post ... 2 years ago now? Gosh, things have been a WHIRLWIND!

To update you on the shinanigans of my happenings:

The season 3 premier party that I had dumped so much time and meticulous energy into resulted in my engagement! What an amazing night, and that all of our beloved friends and family were there means the world to me. I didn't get to plan much of a premier party last year because we were busy planning a wedding - and then shortly after that discovered that we were going to have a baby! Talk about BUSY BUSY THREE TIMES BUSY!

None the less, I have been feeling as though my addiction has not been satiated... even with the series coming out and things being different than in the books (Yes, for all of you who have not read the books, DO EET. Things are different, characters are in the books that are no longer in the show, things happen in the books that don't happen in the show, so much more FOOD - you just have to read em, no getting around it..) I am still not fully satisfied in my Game of Thrones life..

 

I do have one of these though:

 

We settled for a much lower key ceremony this year with the addition of this little bean- it's hard to spend any amount of time in the kitchen without her making a fuss about mommy time.

The jist of what we did was pretty amazing, none-the-less, as effortless as possible. We made some mini honeyed hens of the wall with the prune and oatmeal stuffing, and roasted veggies for the main course. We served olive bread, hummus, prosciutto wrapped cheese, and bacon wrapped meat balls (That's right, ya'all - I said BACON.WRAPPED.MEAT.BALLS.) for a snack while we tackled the Game of Thrones board game and white walkers for a evening refreshment. I didn't get to go all out like I usually do but the bacon wrapped meat balls were something to awe at - by themselves, they need a completely separate post of yum. Here is how I did it:

BACON WRAPPED MEAT BALLS, YA'LL.

(Called Dothraki Bacon Wrapped Goat Balls on our menu...)

These could be a meal all by themselves in our house. Serve with some roasted carrots and some mashed potatoes and this is surely the way to any mans heart... or woman's for that matter... Hell, I would venture to say that if you want to rule the world, this is how you do it.

1 lb of hamburger (Lean as possible!)

1 lb of Italian sausage (Hot as you like...)

1 lb of Chorizo (optional but yummy.)

1 tbs of yellow mustard

2 tbs of ketchup

1 cup of bread crumbs

3 cloves of minced garlic

2 eggs

1 (or more) package of super thick cut maple cured bacon (Or as close to that as you can get....)

2 cups of bbq sauce

Put everything except the last 2 ingredients in a bowl and mix well together until the consistency is even.

Here's a tip: Don't want to roll out a million little bite sized balls of goodness? Pat this sucker into a loaf shape and lay your bacon on the top. Viola - Meatloaf.

Cut the bacon in half.

Roll your meat mixture into balls about the size of a quarter and wrap the bacon around them. Set them seam side down on a baking sheet (Preferably covered in foil to make clean up super easy)

Preheat your oven to 375

Bake them for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, baste them in the bbq sauce and then stick them back in the oven for another 10 minutes. Baste them again and bake for 5 more minutes or until the internal temp reaches 165. Baste every 5 minutes until you get them completely cooked.

Then try not to choke as you inhale them. Serve with beer and a smile and listen to everyone ooh and ahh and beg you for the recipe while you plot to take over the world.

Happy eating!