Melon Mondays V

For the last installment of Melon Mondays, I bring you dessert! It wouldn't be complete without it, right? I was a little worried about this one, as the whole meal was part-melon, I didn't want it to be overwhelmingly sweet. I finally decided on a recipe from The Ethicurean-- a Honeydew Custard Tart.

Honeydew Custard Tart

This was totally unique-- a crystallized ginger stud-ed shortbread crust (I used white WW flour and Smart Balance 50/50 sticks instead of butter) topped with a velvety honeydew custard!! Wowsa, I was really impressed :) I made a few modifications to the custard because I was running low on eggs and honey. My 3 eggs were actually 3/4c liquid egg whites, and I only used about 1/4c or less honey and agave nectar. My melon was sweet enough ;)


It was absolutely delicious, and I seem to recall a few of us going back in for a second slice ;) Well, that's it for now folks, hope I haven't turned you all into melon-heads by now!

Fang Bangers

Let's take things to the extreme.



As an example of sexual biters, Fang Bangers are in a class of their own. The Urban Dictionary sinks their teeth into a definition or two:

A sub-sect of gothic vampire culture, consisting of mostly, but not limited to, blacks and latinos.

They are characterized by custom fangs, theatrical contact lenses. Their form of dress consists of hip-hop/raver/fetish gear, all black or UV responsive.

Vampires are chic. The Twilight books and movie, and HBO's True Blood are evidence that the bloody link between lust and biting might be fanciful, but connects with a lot of people.

Much is happening here. There is the anthropomorphization of bats. Then there is the notion of blood as convenience food. Add to that the willingness of BYTs* to be a part of this ghoulish world, and we have a bite-based social group verging on the popular.

I fear however that Fang Bangers will only ever be a minority of women, more's the pity. What more to say about them? They're sexy folks who can't get by without a regular infusion of biting and bonking. Sounds perfectly reasonable to me. Next post I'll examine more mainstream bangers, those who perhaps don't seek sustenance from their partners' bodily fluids.



*Beautiful Young Things

Biting Part 1, Biting Part 3.

Bite Me. Please.

Consider the following statement:

Oh, man, I tell you, once we were alone she turned into an animal. An animal!

What starts with a kiss can lead to a nibble. A nibble can turn into a bite. And a bite can lead....well who knows where a bite can lead, because at that point the beast is uncaged, and the primal takes over.

A tacit agreement exists between consenting adults, that, during sex, the usual polite artifice of civilized people can be tossed aside. Turning into an animal is a good thing, viz: the above statement. We want our sex to be fundamental, so we can access the very deepest urges.

Pain - giving and receiving - is a part of our psyche. A little pain goes a long way towards heightening the pleasure of sex, especially I think for women. Even the thought of a little pain is a turn-on for lots of you, although how many admit to it is a question.

Male cats bite during sex. Bats do it. And I am led to believe there are creatures called vampires who are nourished by it. So this is Biting Week at K&B. I invite your participation.

Biting Part 2, Biting Part 3.

Taste of Park Plaza

On Tuesday night, I had the opportunity to attend Taste of Park Plaza, a sold out even to benefit the Greater Boston Food Bank! I had never been to the Park Plaza Hotel and didn't quite know how everything was going to be set up, so I was surprised when I got there and realized that all the participating restaurants were actually in the bottom of the Hotel!


I met up with a friend of mine (the owner of the cute dogs i have had the pleasure of sitting) at the hotel, where we received our Passport showing a map of the participating restaurants. The idea was to make our way around the hotel to try signature dishes and drinks.


While we contemplated starting with dessert first, we headed to Bonfire to get the ball rolling. The tastings at Bonfire were delicious-- on the top of the plate was a black garlic empanada, the lower half a surf and turf taco. We met up with Tina, Mal and Mary Kate here, and lingered over a glass of wine before moving to the next destination together.


Next up was the Melting Pot, who was a little ill-prepared for the amount of people that happened to go there at once! We were able to sample both the cheddar cheese and dark chocolate fondue here.


I think this is one type of dish that's hard to do in such large quantities, as the quality was not like my previous experience (different location).


We then meandered across the hallway to McCormick & Schmick's, which was pretty busy as well. After enjoying a glass of wine while looking at empty platters, we were finally able to sample their appetizers-- a Pan Seared Tuna w/Wasabi Dressing and Bruschetta. The wasabi on my piece of tuna was a bit overwhelming, but it finally subsided and I got to enjoy some nice garlicky tomatoes :)


On our way out, we spotted Anna and her sister Meg, who joined us at Swan's Cafe. Here I tried their Tea-Cured Smoked Salmon, which was good, but I didn't taste any tea. I kinda felt like if you were going to go through all the work to infuse the salmon with tea, shouldn't you taste it? They also had some Tea Brined & Spiced Chicken Wings, but I'm not a fan of wings so I passed. We all thought it would be neat to go to a proper afternoon tea here!


I was getting quite full at this point, but I really enjoyed the Shepard's Pie at our next stop, M.J. O'Connor's :) This would be perfect on a crisp fall day! They also offered up a Clam Chowder.


Rounding the corner, we found ourselves at Au Bon Pain where they had plenty of Watermelon Lemonade and BBQ Chicken Sandwiches! I was only thinking of dessert at this point, so I stuck to the delicious cup of


It was then time to make our way to one of the places I'd had my eye on ever since I moved to Boston- finale! Dark chocolate decadence indeed, this was fantastic :) Described as a flourless chocolate cake, I almost thought its texture was more like a dense mousse. Very delicious and gone all too quickly!


Our last stop was Ben & Jerry's, where they had the mini pints available for the event. A few bites of strawberry cheesecake and I was VERY happy to walk to the T!


~phew~ What a night! This was a great way to get introduced to some new restaurants, for them to showcase their food, and to support a good cause! Great food and company, not a bad way to spend your birthday ;)

Kissing Cousins

A friend has a world-class nose. Yes, it's cute from the outside, but she must have a freakishly large number of receptors up there, because she smells the world better than a bloodhound. Not only that, but she can apply word labels to the smells, which means she can verbally communicate smell to dopes like me. It's a rare talent.

I tell you, she should be working designing perfumes or judging wine. I'm in rhino-love.

Presumably this is good: she says I smell like popcorn. My immediate mental image (smellage?) is of movie theatre lobbies, which stink of grotty carpet and that stuff they call popcorn. I hope I remind her of home-popped corn. In either case, it's way better than being told I remind her of sauerkraut or space junk. (Not that I know how space junk smells. I just don't want to have the dreaded 'space junk' rep.)

This being Kiss Week @ K&B, I have been investigating just why we kiss.

Scientific American has a detailed and fascinating article. Astound friends with facts like 80% of us tilt our heads to the right.

Here's another short piece that talks about the importance of smell in kissing. During a pash session, women (unconsciously) sniff the man out for immune system compatibility.

Apparently my immune system is made from corn. Does that mean I'm compatible with women from Iowa? I wonder.

The Discrete Charm of Cooking: Julie & Julia

There are a handful of films that celebrate the pleasure of cooking: Big Night, Eat Drink Man Woman, Babette's Feast, and Like Water for Chocolate.

Add Nora Ephron's Julie & Julia to the list.

Meryl Streep owns the best parts of the film. In her portrayal, Julia Child has a goofy, good-natured flamboyance as she shambles around Paris first eating and then cooking classic French dishes.

In his comic masterpiece, The Discrete Charm of the Bourgeoise, Luis Bunuel refuses to let his characters eat a delicious-looking roast chicken. While Bunuel wanted to torture his bourgeois for their vices and indulgences, Nora Ephron celebrates people who enjoy eating and cooking. For Julie and Julia, two very different women in very different times, cooking changed their lives.

Julia Child became the teacher extraordinaire for a generation who wanted to master the Art of French Cooking. Her book became a standard along with The Joy of Cooking. Her PBS show, The French Chef, ran for ten years and made complex French techniques seem positively fun.

As her blog, book, and the movie make clear, Julie Powell was living an unglamorous life in a very small apartment when she stumbled on an idea that would make her famous. Blogs were becoming popular and Julie needed a project that would put shape to her life. Putting 2 and 2 together, she came up with the inspired idea of cooking every recipe in volume one of Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking in a year.

Blogging allowed an internet audience to follow her daily diary entries as she struggled to learn French kitchen techniques so she could master classics like boeuf bougoignon which is featured prominently in the film. Unedited and spontaneous, the blog struck a cord and her online audience made her famous.

Amy Adams brings real charm to the character of the blogging-novice cook, but Julie's cooking always seems a means not an end. Cooking everything in Julia's book is a project. Mastering boef bougoignon is a task. What she cooks is enjoyed by her husband and their friends but only in the scene where Julie tastes a poached egg for the first time do you see her really enjoy eating.

Julia's part of the movie, mostly her days in Paris when her husband, Paul, was stationed in the American embassy, is culled from her posthumously published memoir My Life in France. In the book and the film, she talks about her love for classic French cooking and Paul.

For a foodie, watching Julia eat her way through the best of French cooking is sheer pleasure. And for someone who likes to cook--that would be me--I was deeply moved by the way Nora Ephron, herself a dedicated cook, lavishes attention on the details of cooking.

Sour Cherry Pie

I almost squeeled with delight when I saw sour cherries at a farmers market out in Bedford, and happily picked a bunch up. After convincing myself that the bug I brought home with them just meant they were freshly-picked, I got to washing and pitting!! Yes, a cherry pitter is a very good investment (especially when you've gone through a season w/o one) :)


Sour cherries are slightly smaller and brighter than their sweet counterparts, and you'd certainly know if you accidentally popped one in your mouth! Like all of nature's bounty, cherries are great for you-- full of vitamins and minerals (potassium, Vit C, complex B Vit). Tart cherries are also particularly high in antioxidants, contain melatonin, and have been touted to have anti-inflammatory properties. (For more information try here, here or here)

It didn't take me long to settle on making a cherry pie with my gorgeous red rubies.

Sour Cherry Pie

Looks great, right? Yeah, that's about where it ended :( When I went to cut into it, I was met with a see of red. After draining out the liquid, I saw a soggy crust and was utterly defeated. We're talking Julie-style meltdown here. It wasn't pretty. Which reminds me, I have to thank Bakespace and Erin for the opportunity to attend an advanced screening of Julie and Julia! I had no idea Julia Child was such a character, but I loved the movie :) Erin wrote a fantastic review here, I urge you to check it out!


After scraping myself off the floor, I knew that the filling would still be delicious. Indeed, my Sour Cherry crisp was awesome :) As was the banana soft serve I finally tried with it!

Sour Cherry Crisp w/Banana Soft Serve

To finish off the sour cherries I had, I made 1 jar of Sour Cherry Jam that I can't wait to dig in to!

Sour Cherry Jam

Have you tried sour cherries? What's you're favorite thing to make with them? And to any bakers out there... any tips? (I was listening to Lynne Rossetto Kasper at the time, and ironically enough she said to prevent a soggy crust, prebake your crust. Prebake I did, and it did not help. I'm thinking the cherries were just too wet, even with patting them dry and adding 1/4c cornstarch to the mix...)