130 replies to this topic

[ronnie_suburban]

Hi All,

Just realized that I'd been tagged for this week. For some reason I stopped receiving notifcations about last week's blog thread and forgot to check in. Frankly, if my head weren't screwed onto my body, I'd probably leave it somewhere. Once I count on not having to remember something, I generally don't.

guajolote mentioned that I was having a crazy week and it's true. My wife and I are hosting a holiday open house for 150 this weekend and we've been cooking and prepping for it every night since last Friday. This is, I think, around the 22nd year that this holiday party has taken place, my wife used to host it before I came into the picture.

But, before I get into that, I should probably review the more notable 'regular' food moments. As some sort of crazy self-punishment, I've been back on Atkins for the few weeks leading up to this party. Because of that, I've been eating a lot of salads, meats and frankenfood bars. When the party starts on Saturday, Atkins will be officially over through January 2 at least... I love Atkins and I hate Atkins...more on this later (hopefully).

But, Tuesday was a good food day because for lunch we had some delicious carnitas from a place at 41st & Ashland (in Chicago) called Kiki D's Carnitas (don't go breakin' my heart). The carnitas were amazing and so were the huge pieces of home-made pork rinds they make on premises. From an Atkin's perspective, this is about as good as it gets. While a couple of my co-horts indulged in the corn tortillas, I and another guy in the office (who seems to be permanently on Atkins) indulged in a 2 pound order of carnitas...I solo'd a small portion of the pork rinds since no one else would go near them, but that's nothing out of the ordinary. At the end of lunchtime, there was probably still at least a pound of carnitas left but no one could eat another bite.

I took them home but didn't get to them last night. My wife had made a small rib roast and some steamed broccoli with butter and fresh lemon. I wasn't really hungry because of my carnitas indulgence but I muddled through it and put most of the roast in the fridge.

Going back to Monday, I have nothing spectacular to report. I had a Chef's Salad with caesar dressing from Seul's, the tavern across the street from our office. For dinner, we had Han's brand Chicken Sausages with spinach and feta. That was it...other than a caffeine-free diet coke. No bun, no side dishes, no nothing. Because of all the party work we have to do each night, the regular meal schedule is suffering a bit.

BTW, I almost never eat breakfast during the week, so this blog will be comprised of lunches, dinners, snacks and party prep. Each morning starts with an iced, venti no water, Americano from Starbucks unless I happen to have scored some better beans or been given some by a friend who roasts his own.

It's getting a little crazy here at the office, so I'll bow out for a bit and be back later with some more.

=R=

Edited by ronnie_suburban, 10 December 2003 - 10:45 AM.

[tammylc]

Just the other day on NPR I heard an interview with a guy from a company that makes pork rinds. Apparently sales are up dramatically across the country, thanks to Atkins dieters who are looking for a crunchy snack to replace potato chips!

I too am prepping for a holiday open house this weekend (for a few less people, though), so I'll look forward to reading about yours!

[NeroW]

Frankly, if my head weren't screwed onto my body, I'd probably leave it somewhere.

I wonder why?

[ronnie_suburban]

Frankly, if my head weren't screwed onto my body, I'd probably leave it somewhere.

I wonder why?

LOL, no comment!

=R=

[ronnie_suburban]

Just the other day on NPR I heard an interview with a guy from a company that makes pork rinds.  Apparently sales are up dramatically across the country, thanks to Atkins dieters who are looking for a crunchy snack to replace potato chips!

I too am prepping for a holiday open house this weekend (for a few less people, though), so I'll look forward to reading about yours!

That's interesting about the pork rinds. At the stores, most every brand now proudly boasts "A Carbohydrate-Free Food" on their label.

The ones from yesterday were great, but the pieces are so big that they curl up when fried so that the very centers of each piece are kind of soft and grainy as oppoosed to hard and crunchy. I'm sure this is, for many folks, the best part but for me, that's usually the point where it's very easy to stop eating them.

How many are you having over Tammy?

=R=

[tammylc]

We sent our invitation out to a whole lot of people, but didn't require RSVPs back. My guess is that we'll end up with about 50-70 individual people, but never more than 20-30 at one time.

I'm making up a bunch of finger foods, and will be putting out lots of cheese and veggies and dip, etc. And cookies and other assorted sweets. What's on your menu?

[ronnie_suburban]

The menu for our party doesn't change too much from year to year. Here's a (not too) brief overview of the items I can remember right now:

jambalaya
meatballs
mini hot dogs en croute
mini spanikopitas
rumaki
cold boiled shrimp
baked brie in puff pastry
lox and mini bagels
smoked ham (from Nueske)
Euro-style deli tray (we get this at a German deli near us)
toasted chick peas and pistachios
spinach and artichoke dip (hot)
queso fundido
stuffed grape leaves
hummus
avocaodo and goat cheese dip
veggie krudite
roasted red pepper dip
chex mix (home-made, my MIL's recipe)
assorted pretzels and chips
chocolate mousse cake
carrot cake
cheesecake (still haven't decided what type I'm making)
sugared pecans
assorted cookies (biscotti, linzer, rugelah)
brownies
Holiday Harvest Punch
Assorted beer and wine
Cocktail station

It's been one hell of a week and there's still a lot of work ahead for us. We spent last weekend prepping the hardest items -- at least the ones that could be made ahead. Here are a few pics:



~500 mini vienna beef dogs (12# of dogs). After they froze solid, we wrapped them all up tightly to avoid freezer burn.



~500 par-baked meatballs. This was 10# of meat (veal, beef, pork and sausage) plus the additional ingredients. These will be cooked and served in a beefy-bbq-type sauce.



~180 mini spanikopitas. This was about 8# of filling and 4 boxes of phyllo dough.

We've also been scurrying around with some more fundamental prep and decorating the house too.

It's loads of holiday fun. I love having this party. Every year we try to do a few more things and usually make ourselves crazy doing so, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

=R=

[maggiethecat]

I am In Awe. Do you have a second fridge, or an extra freezer? Or an army of kitchen help?

[guajolote]

where do you get the juice for the punch ?

[tammylc]

My list is like a little subset of yours...

meatballs (although I haven't decided on a recipe yet)
mini spanikopitas (plus some phyllo trianges with a mushroom filling)
cold boiled shrimp (good idea - I should pick up a shrimp ring - my husband will be happy)
baked brie in puff pastry
lox and mini bagels (we're doing something similar, but with baguette instead of mini-bagels)
veggie krudite
sugared pecans (mine are actually spiced pecans, with lots of good black pepper)
assorted cookies (ginger, chocolate snowflakes, brown sugar drop, maybe some candy cane and tiger bark)
Assorted wine and soft drinks (we're skipping beer this year because no one really seems to drink it - but we'll have Izze, and awesome fizzy fruit juice)

Also - lots of good cheese, some unusual cured meats, a bunch of devilled eggs, and probably some assorted dips and things from Whole Foods.

[ronnie_suburban]

I am In Awe.  Do you have a second fridge, or an extra freezer? Or an army of kitchen help?

Well...counting the mini fridge near the tv in our bedroom , we actually have 4 total units...1 in the kitchen, 1 in the garage and 1 in our basement.

As for help, yes we will have a few 'hired hands' to help us keep the food stocked, the drinks flowing and the coats in check. We didn't used to do it that way but we found that, after trying it once, we enjoyed ourselves way more when we had help, so now we always have it. No point in having a party if one can't converse with the guests

=R=

[ronnie_suburban]

where do you get the juice for the punch ?

Busted! I stole them from our sample freezer at work and then immediately placed myself on probation.

=R=

[bloviatrix]

Wow, I'm in awe of all of your prep. Very impressive looking photos.

[ronnie_suburban]

My list is like a little subset of yours...

meatballs (although I haven't decided on a recipe yet)
mini spanikopitas (plus some phyllo trianges with a mushroom filling)
cold boiled shrimp (good idea - I should pick up a shrimp ring - my husband will be happy)
baked brie in puff pastry
lox and mini bagels (we're doing something similar, but with baguette instead of mini-bagels)
veggie krudite
sugared pecans (mine are actually spiced pecans, with lots of good black pepper)
assorted cookies (ginger, chocolate snowflakes, brown sugar drop, maybe some candy cane and tiger bark)
Assorted wine and soft drinks (we're skipping beer this year because no one really seems to drink it - but we'll have Izze, and awesome fizzy fruit juice)

Also - lots of good cheese, some unusual cured meats, a bunch of devilled eggs, and probably some assorted dips and things from Whole Foods.

Cool! Yeah, I forgot to mention the devilled eggs (with bacon). We'll make those right before the party -- bought 6 dozen eggs for that. Also forgot to mention the bow-tie pasta salad with grape tomatoes (or roasted red peppers, haven't decided yet) and peas...

The meatball recipe I used was an improvisation off a Lydia recipe. I worked it out in my head, then checked her recipe and found that mine was almost identical. After that, I basically split the difference between the 2 recipes and the testers turned out great.

I do think that the eggs are probably the hardest thing labor-wise, but people tend to love them so we always include them.

Hey! The andouille (6#) and tasso (4#) for the jambalaya just showed up at the office.

=R=

[ronnie_suburban]

Okay, back to single servings for a moment--just had a chicken caesar salad for lunch from Viccino's pizza--a place in our building. It was pretty good actually. Sometimes the chicken is too salty and tastes way processed. Today, it tasted like a real person made it with a real chicken. Ah, the wonders of technology. With that, I had the requisite caffeine-free diet coke. I'm currently going through about 6 cans of that per day.

Probably making the jambalaya, about a 15 pound batch, tonight. History tells me that Wednesday is a fine day to make it in advance (for a Saturday party). In a perfect world, I make it the day of the party but that's not realistic in this case. Regardless, it is one of the few items that always disappears completely at this party.

Not sure how much eating there will be tonight, but there will be food a'plenty. The thought of having dinner tonight just doesn't appeal to me at the moment.

Did I mention that I'm taking THU and FRI off from work this week? In the past I've only taken the Friday before off, but I decided to double up on that this time around. I think we'll need the additional time.

=R=

[pariah_kerry]

Holy mmmmoly Ronnie...
when you guys throw a party, you really do it up!
Looks great, have fun!

[SobaAddict70]

For the deviled eggs, do you pipe them in with a pastry bag or spoon them in by hand?

Soba

[Toliver]

How about a little background on yourself for those who don't know you (like me, for instance)?
What's your food background? You say you got the juice for the punch from work...what kind of workplace?
I take it you're in the Chicago area which makes me think of deep dish pizza, hot dogs or just meat (from the packing plants). Set me straight as to the regional cuisine of your area, if you have time.
Inquiring minds want to know!

[ronnie_suburban]

For the deviled eggs, do you pipe them in with a pastry bag or spoon them in by hand?

Soba

I do use a pastry bag because:

a) I have one
b) the finished product looks better that way
c) they go much faster

Usually, I mix the cooked, chopped bacon into the filling but this year I'm planning on just topping them with the bacon because I think they'll be better that way--hopefully, the bacon will still be totally crispy when I serve them.

Also, in the past, the pieces of bacon have obstructed the flow of filling from the bag. There's always a workaround for it but the topping concept just seems better all the way around.

=R=

[ronnie_suburban]

Holy mmmmoly Ronnie...
when you guys throw a party, you really do it up!
Looks great, have fun!

Thanks PK...that's why we only do it once a year and not 3 or 4 times...

=R=

[fresco]

Are you planning to take two days off to recover?

[ronnie_suburban]

How about a little background on yourself for those who don't know you (like me, for instance)?
What's your food background? You say you got the juice for the punch from work...what kind of workplace?
I take it you're in the Chicago area which makes me think of deep dish pizza, hot dogs or just meat (from the packing plants). Set me straight as to the regional cuisine of your area, if you have time.
Inquiring minds want to know!

Coming up Toliver...a little later this evening.

=R=

[ronnie_suburban]

Are you planning to take two days off to recover?

LOL, I wish I could...but we're going to another big party on Sunday (so that will be somewhat relaxing) and then Monday I plan on doing nothing more than going through the motions here at the office

=R=

[guajolote]

where do you get the juice for the punch ?

Busted! I stole them from our sample freezer at work and then immediately placed myself on probation.

=R=

i'm going to tell your boss

could you tell us a little bit about what your son eats? does he take a lunch to school or get it there? does he like to help you cook?

[peanutgirl]

Can I get on the guest list for next year ? What an undertaking... the prep pictures look like it's going to be amazing amount of food & fun.

[herbacidal]

Can I get on the guest list for next year ? What an undertaking... the prep pictures look like it's going to be amazing amount of food & fun.

yea me too.

yet another reason to come to chicago.

i'll even come out a day early to help prep.
i miss helping prep and bartend and stuff.

hey wait, i'm your brother.

i have to be invited.

[Shiewie]

Open house for 150? Wow !!! I want to be invited too - and it 's a long flight from KL to Chicago .

Didn't know what carnitas .... but now I do - thanks!

[ronnie_suburban]

Okay, having jumped into this mid-week I should probably take a step or two back.

I live in Chicago's northern burbs with my wife and my 6 year-old son. We have access to a great variety of authentic foods because of our proximity to Chicago and its distinctively ethnic neighborhoods. Of course, being in the middle of the country also has its culinary limitations but I'm nowhere near maxing out on what this town has to offer. Between my work, my family and my generally limited free time, I don't get out to eat nearly as often as I'd like, so for me, there's always somewhere new to try. This town is a hot dog, pizza and steak town--it's true. But there is so much more here.

I also like to cook, although I am, admittedly, a hack. There are a few dishes that I do very well, and many others which carry my signature of mediocrity. But, as the primary meal preparer in my household, every so often I just get tired of cooking altogether and when my heart isn't in it, the results usually show.

I go through periods where I just want to order out every night. That would be okay except it's expensive, you end up eating like crap and out here in the 'burbs, the choices just aren't that great. Before I gave in completely and became Ronnie "Suburban" I last lived a lot closer to the city--in Evanston--and the food choices there and in the area surrounding it were fantastic. Out here in the northern reaches, you'd better be able to fend for yourself or you pay the price in variety of ways.

I do miss living right near the city (or in it for that matter) on occasion but one day I woke up and realized that I was truly ready for some peace and quiet. Every now and then I long for the old days of jumping in the car and being somewhere 'good' in just a few minutes. But, we made our choice and we're very happy with it. What my life lacks in culinary perks is more than made up for in other areas. But, I'm not saying that there aren't good food opportunities in our immediate vicinity, only that they are more scarce than in urban areas.

Our major local grocery chains (Jewel & Dominick's/Safeway) are generally horrible. There is one smaller local chain in our area (Sunset Foods) that does a fine job, but they really charge a premium. There are all sorts of great ethnic groceries and specialty shops just a few miles south of us so we're never hurting for 'real' ingredients. Although I will admit that it's very hard to find good produce anywhere near us during the colder months. We live very near a Whole Foods store, but their produce really lacks.

What else? I work in the food industry selling fruit juice concentrates, purees and other related processed fruit products. Our company is basically a boutique where large and small grocery, ingredient and foodservice manufacturers source raw materials. We fulfill product and service requirements that large fruit processors can only dream about. Nearly everything we sell is 100% natural, 100% fruit (no blends, bases or flavors, etc.) and we also carry an organic line. I often describe us as value-added commodity resellers...are you asleep yet?

Anyway, I've learned a lot from working at my job and it's very satisfying. We solve problems for people and I love that aspect of it. And...I have access to multitudes of funky fruit products which are fun to play with. For the party this weekend I am making a punch using thai pineapple juice, chinese apple juice, mexican tangerine juice and lemon juice from the usa. At any one time we carry up to 70 or 80 products in our inventory, so there is always something great to experiment with. I've also had some great travel oppotunities because of my job. Some I've taken and some I've passed on, but I expect to be doing more traveling in the future.

Family-wise, my son is a good taster but just an okay eater. He'll give anything a shot but he doesn't love everything. Still, he's not really fussy in any way. He does have his preferences. He takes a lunch to school everyday which usually consists of a sandwich (ham or turkey) , sliced apple, some chips and a dessert (fruit roll up type thing, gummi creatures or pre-fab cookie paks). When we have leftovers, he'll willingly take them for lunch and eat them, but he'd probably prefer a Lunchable. He enjoys ribs, lox and bagels, liver, pretty much all meats too. He's also seemingly exceptional in that he loves most all green veggies including broccoli, peas, green beans, asparagus--and he loves salad too.

He's not particularly interested in helping out in the kitchen. He will from time to time, but he'd rather sit and watch tv in there while we work--and that's fine with me. We occassionally do cooking projects together, but he's far more interested in the finished product than the process.

My wife generally goes with the flow. She gives me so much help keeping us fed that I really couldn't do it without her. Not only does she do a fair amount of the shopping (under my annoying direction) but she also takes the clean-up duties upon herself most of the time. I don't particularly mind doing the clean-up--it's somewhat theraputic for me--but when someone else offers, well then

She's not a picky eater and she's very appreciative of the effort I make. She's been learning to do a few things in the kitchen lately and she's very good at them...assorted roasts--beef, pork and chicken--and she's the master of steamed brocolli. When she makes it, it's always perfect; not too firm, not too mushy.

Anyway, I was so busy with the jambalaya tonight that I didn't really eat anything--except for 1 ramekin of the jambalaya and it was really good if I do say so myself


Here's a few pics from tonight's jambalaya prep...



from the bottom center...parsley, garlic, tasso, onion, andouille, pork, green bell pepper, baked ham (in the center)



5 gallon pot, ~80%? full)



hopefully there will be some left for the party

=R=

[ronnie_suburban]

hey wait, i'm your brother. 

i have to be invited.

I'm glad you're coming, I really someone to keep mom from boozing it up again this year.

=R=

[torakris]

WOW!

I hope I get an invitation next year too!