Food for Cause: Navy SEAL Foundation

For a chain, I like Burtons Grill. I like them even more now that they are hosting a fundraiser to benefit the Navy SEAL Foundation. One-hundred percent of sales on September 1, 2011 will be donated to the foundation. The mission of the Navy SEAL Foundation is to provide immediate and ongoing support and assistance to the Naval Special Warfare community and their families.

The event will take place at the Virginia Beach Hilltop location at 741 First Colonial Road from 4:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Reservations are recommended by calling 757. 422.8970 or visit www.burtonsgrill.com.

Perhaps Lieb Family Cellars of Mattituck can take a lesson in charity from Burtons Grill.The winemakers have produced a 9/11 memorial wine in an effort to commemorate the upcoming 10^th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Many think it is in poor taste including my food hero Antony Bourdain.

Bourdain's Twitter feed on the subject.

Lieb Cellars says proceeds of all sales will go towards the National September 11 Memorial Museum and then in an interview with the LA Times said that amounts to six to 10 percent of sales. Wow, really? A whole 10 percent? It is insulting when businesses approach charity for selfish reasons, like the consumer is too dumb to see through it.

Hawaiian Honeymoon Wedding Shower for my BFF

My best friend recently got engaged. She has been dating Chris for over ten years so I’m sure you can imagine how ecstatic I am for her. I’ve known Stef since we were in kindergarten; both being the best dressed kids in the class. (We have pictures to prove it.) It wasn’t until grade nine that the official “best friend” status stuck. It was then that we also discovered the beautiful (and somewhat crazy) story of our births. We were both supposed to be born on August 12, she was 12 days early and I was 12 days late. Her mom wanted to name her Jennifer and my mom wanted to name me Stephanie. Our fathers prevailed, but it is that story that lets us know we were meant to be soul sisters.

Stef is the sister I never had. If we took a family vacation, she was there. She was the one girlfriend I had when I was too young, shy and awkward to know how to really make anymore. We went off to college together, lived together, grew together and supported each other. I cheered her victories and wiped her tears. She did the same for me. I’m thankful to have a friend that I’ve known since I was five. How many people can say that?

After all of these years I was finally able to host a bridal shower for my BFF. She and Chris are headed to Hawaii for their honeymoon so I decided on a honeymoon shower with hopes of arming her with beach goodies and charitable contributions to help them enjoy meals and excursions.

The recipes for the brunch just seemed to come to me. It was like the internet was dialed into my mojo and just kept sending me the right food blogs via my reader and Pinterest.

Instead of a traditional mimosa I wanted something more tropical. I found a Party Mimosa recipe on allrecipes.com with mango nectar and pineapple juice. It was perfect! (We used the leftovers with vodka that evening.)

The entire menu was new recipes for the exception of the Spinach and Strawberry Salad. I had this at a girlfriends a few years ago, it knocked my socks off and has been knocking the socks off of my guests ever since.

Spinach and Strawberry Salad

Ingredients:

2 bunches of spinach, rinsed

4 cups sliced strawberries

½ cup vegetable or canola oil

¼ cup white wine vinegar

½ cup white sugar

¼ teaspoon paprika

2 tablespoons sesame seeds

1 tablespoon poppy seeds

In a large bowl, toss together spinach and strawberries. In a medium bowl, whisk together oil, vinegar, sugar, paprika, sesame seeds and poppy seeds. Pour over salad and toss to coat.

I sometimes add celery or slivered almonds for a little extra crunch or punch of color.

I also served the following:

•  Pineapple Cream Cheese Spread – shaped to look like a pineapple so it was perfect for the theme
• Broccoli and Italian Sausage Egg Muffins
•  Avocado Egg Salad – served on whole grain bread
• Apricot Chicken Salad with Basil and Almonds – served on croissants
• Self-frosting Nutella Cupcakes – these looked awesome but were WAY too dry, no clue if it was me or the recipe. If you have better luck please let me know
• Mini-Pineapple Cakes

I also ordered petit fours from Plaza Bakery. If you live in Hampton Roads and haven’t sampled these little bits of heaven I suggest you get on it. These morsels of almond deliciousness are my favorite and Stef loves them too.

Guests left with a copy of the mini pineapple cakes to remember the day. Stef left with enough reading to relax on the Hawaiian shores, beach totes, sunscreen and embarrassing unmentionables from her mom and her soon-to-be mother-in-law. (Creepy, but so fun to watch Stef get embarrassed.)

Lemon-Blueberry Cake. Lemons make me smile.

I love lemons.

The beautiful, bright shade of yellow reminds me of the sun, bright skies and summer. It leaves me feeling fresh. I love the taste of lemons in water, in baked goods, with chicken, in fact – I’ve yet to try something with lemon I haven’t liked. I have a pretty large picture of lemons hanging on my kitchen wall. That’s how much I love lemons; and when I look at the picture I can’t help but smile. It’s like the feeling of sunshine on my skin.

Lemons to me are a lot like my Aunt Judy’s personality: sweet, a little sassy and bright. Aunt Judy, like lemons, made me smile. Being one of my mom’s three sisters, she was the one who seemed to be a free spirit. Most of the Long girls are conservative and have unbelievable cooking skills. We knew dinner at Aunt Judy’s would consist of chicken from Pollards.

Aunt Judy and her grand-daughter, Caitie

She just seemed to approach life differently. Her laugh would welcome anyone. She had an ease of conversation. I got to tease her for being “Creepy Aunt Judy” as she liked to ogle my boyfriend. She appreciated a well-built man and enjoyed checking him out in his swimsuit. While I would tease her about how odd and unnatural that was, it really didn’t bother me – heck, she had good taste.

Tomorrow we say goodbye to Aunt Judy. Cancer took her last Friday. In her honor I’ve made a Lemon-Blueberry Cake. Sweet and bright, just like Aunt Judy. Hopefully everyone will smile at the taste of lemon and the memory of an exceptionally loving aunt.


Lemon-Blueberry Layer Cake, from Sweetapolia via Pinterest.

Ingredients:

2 cups plus 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

3 cups fresh blueberries

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup whole milk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3/4 teaspoon pure lemon extract

1 teaspoon lemon zest

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened about 20 minutes out of refrigerator

1 1/2 cups white sugar

4 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare three 8" round cake pans with parchment paper, butter and flour. Sift dry ingredients into medium bowl. Transfer 1 tablespoon flour mixture to larger bowl. Add fresh blueberries and toss to coat them with flour. Set remaining flour mixture and blueberries aside.

Stir whole milk, sour cream, vanilla extract, lemon extract and lemon zest in small bowl. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar, until pale yellow and very fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in eggs one at a time, until well combined. Mix in flour mixture alternately with milk mixture, starting and ending with flour mixture. Stir until just combined. Gently fold in blueberries. Divide batter equally among 8" round pans

Bake cakes until toothpick inserted into centre comes out clean, about 25 minutes (I had to bake it for about 10-15 minutes longer). Cool cakes in pans on racks for about 10 minutes, then invert onto racks until completely cool. 

Frost with Zesty Lemon Frosting.

Zesty Lemon Frosting, from Sweetapolita

Ingredients:

1 cup soft unsalted butter

2 teaspoons lemon zest

5 cups icing sugar (or 6 cups for sweeter version)

60 ml fresh lemon juice

6 tablespoons whipping cream (35% cream)

1/2 teaspoon pure lemon extract

2 tablespoons water

pinch salt

drop of yellow food color (optional)

Cream butter and lemon zest in bowl of electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment, about 3 minutes. Slowly add icing sugar, mixing on low speed for about 2 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and beat on med-high for 3-4 minutes until very fluffy. If using color gel, add a drop or two, then beat until blended. Yields enough to frost outside of three layer 8" round cake.

(I wish my cake turned out as beautiful as my recipe inspiration. I'm not going to scare you with a photo of mine. Check out the original recipe post from the links above for your own inspiration.)

Summer Dining at Terrapin

“Get me two Utah. Two.” Last night we visited Terrapin which was number two in a list of 10 of Hampton Road’s top dining establishments. I’ve had the pleasure of enjoying Terrapin on a few other occasions but it was nice to go back and discover that they have an outside patio. While it was still a little warm outside it made for a nice summertime option. I want to say the space is almost as large as the interior dining room. It would be a great venue for a cocktail or dinner party.

I decided to take advantage of the tasting menu. I enjoy sampling a variety of dishes with smaller portions. My man love seems to forget that “tastings” mean his meal would be a mini-version and about dislocated his jaw when he saw his kid portion of lobsta pasta (really lobster pasta, we’ve asked them to change the name).

For my first course I had the Bibb salad with roasted sweet corn, fresh guacamole, black beans and creamy cilantro - chipotle dressing. Fan-freakin-tastic! It was light, it was fresh and it had cilantro. I enjoyed more cilantro during my second course which was Prince Edward Island mussels with green curry and coconut milk broth, cilantro and dried Spanish chorizo. All those flavors in one bite = love. For my entrée I went with the crispy-skin Maple Leaf Farms duck with local, organic and wild mushroom mix with duck confit, local organic spring onion and local field peas and grilled summer squashes. The duck was done to perfection. The sides were a little heavy considering the heat of summer but that doesn’t mean they weren’t good. Finally for dessert I had the house made sorbets sampler with coconut, mango and some berry (for the life of me I couldn’t figure it out) served over macaroon crumbles and fresh mint. I sold a sample of the coconut to a dining companion saying that it was “a taste of Hawaii in your mouth.” He agreed and enjoyed it as much as I did.

As always, the service at Terrapin exceeds expectations making sure our motley crew felt just as special and the fancy, “established” couples sitting next to us.

“Back the bus up!” I took a look at the “About Us” portion of the website and saw that it is owned by Dr. Gerald Einhorn and his son, Chef Rodney Einhorn. Pretty sure that Dr. Einhorn’s brother, another Dr. Einhorn, was my childhood dentist that my family loved to pieces. He was (and perhaps still is) a pediatric dentist and they kicked me out when I turned 18. I was so sad. Now I love Terrapin even more because of the family behind it.

Tuna Marinade

I’ve turned my man love into a bit of a foodie and it is AWESOME. You should see this man work a knife now. One of his fishing buddies stopped by Sunday night with fresh tuna and since we still haven’t gone to the grocery store it made our Monday dinner pretty obvious. How perfect is fresh fish after hot yoga? He went internet hunting and found this little gem of a marinade recipe.

Marinated Tuna Steak from allrecipes.com.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup orange juice

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh oregano

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

4 (4 ounce) tuna steaks

Directions:

In a large non-reactive dish, mix together the orange juice, soy sauce, olive oil, lemon juice, parsley, garlic, oregano, and pepper. Place the tuna steaks in the marinade and turn to coat. Cover, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat grill for high heat.

Lightly oil grill grate. Cook the tuna steaks for 5 to 6 minutes, then turn and baste with the marinade. Cook for an additional 5 minutes, or to desired doneness. Discard any remaining marinade.

He omitted the garlic because I’m not a fan (and I return the favor with onions for him) and he added cilantro because he knows how much I love it. He’s a good man. He and this marinade are keepers.