food, food, food!

it's been a busy week for food! on the 30th, we had dinner at the keg, where i enjoyed my filet classic (it's the bacon-wrapped steak!) w/caesar salad. on new year's eve, we went to chris' parents house for dinner.....roast beef was on the menu! we ate beef, roasted suckling pig, roast potatoes, caesar salad, yee mein, and rice, of course.

then we had sandra, mike, vic and rita over for the countdown to 2007. i actually didn't really know what i was going to serve in terms of appetizers, so i hit kraft canada and entered in some ingredients and came up with a hot crab dip. i also made my teriyaki chicken wings (1 cup japanese soy sauce, 1 cup golden sugar, 2 cloves of garlic - this is good for 3-4 pounds of wings). i was at my parents' in the afternoon where i managed to score some smoked salmon, so i chopped up some red onions and capers, and i was all set!












hot crab dip (from Kraft Canada)

preheat oven to 350 degrees. combine 1 pkg (250 g) cream cheese, softened, 1-1/2 cups shredded swiss cheese, 1/3 cup miracle whip, 1 cup crab meat and 2 chopped green onions, in a pie plate or oven-proof serving dish. (i actually used almost 2 cups of crab meat!)

bake for 15 min., stirring once during baking. garnish with toasted nuts. serve warm with vegetables or crackers. (i'm not a fan of nuts, so i didn't garnish)

sandra and mike brought over their nintendo wii and we had a great time! i think the only sport i excelled at was bowling. sandra totally smashed me in tennis and then TKO'd me in boxing :P i was never an athletic type :P but that's ok.....when i get my wii (hopefully soon?!) i'm going to work on my skillz and then i'll be ready for a re-match :-) but i've always got DDR to fall back on! the only friend who's got faster feet than me is ryan....i'm gonna work on those skillz too!

we rang in the NY with a quail's gate ice wine that Mike brought over. i chugged that glass back....i love dessert wines, they're so yummy! so much for needing the sparkling apple juice. and then as a follow-up, i served green tea ice cream and a lychee sorbet. my first attempt at the green tea ice cream wasn't very successful, so i had to make a second batch. it didn't turn out exactly like what you find at the grocery store, but then again, it's all natural ingredients, no additives or preservatives to give it that fluffy appearance. the lychee sorbet was the winner.....it was sweet, refreshing, and just what heaven should taste like! i'm going to make a few more batches for this weekend :-)

lychee ice cream (the ultimate ice cream book by bruce weinstein)
2 - 20 oz. cans lychees in heavy syrup
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
2 large egg whites, lightly beaten

drain the lychees, reserving the syrup. puree the lychees with 1/2 cup reserved syrup in a blender or food processor until smooth, about 20 seconds. pour through a sieve, scraping with a whisk or wooden spoon to push as much of the fruit through as you can. set aside.

combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan and place over low heat. stir until the sugar dissolves completely. raise heat and boil the syrup 1 minutes. remove from the heat.

in a medium mixing bowl, lightly beat the egg white with a whisk or an electric beater until foamy, about 10 seconds. slowly beat in the hot sugar syrup. continue to beat until the meringue cools down slightly. add the lychee puree. cover and refrigerate until cold or overnight. the mixture will have foam on top, but will incorporate into the sorbet when it freezes.

stir the chilled mixture, then freeze in your ice cream machine according to the manufacturer's instructions. when finished, the sorbet will be soft but ready to eat. for firmer sorbet, transfer to a freezer-safe container and freeze for at least 2 hours.

having an ice cream maker is pretty dangerous. i now have 2 recipe books to experiment with so all my "cooking" will now come from my cuisinart 2 quart maker. good thing i didn't make any NY's resolutions....i'd have to break them all before the weekend's over!