Day Six, HS 2008

Yesterday was a very long day.

I worked from noon to 8pm and when I got home Jenny had already completed the Beer and Cheese dip. We were hungry and needed a little girl time, so the two of us went to Chico's for dinner and then brought takeout home to the boys.

Once we returned we got started on our list of things that needed to be completed last night:

• Beginning the Arnold Palmer
• Tomato sauce for the Ricotta/Chickpea Gnocchi
• Decorating a Cheesecake
• White Bean & Artichoke Dip
• Key Lime Couscous Salad
  
• Beer & Cheese Dip

When Jenny started chopping ingredients for the tomato sauce (onion, garlic and jalapeno), the entire house filled with eye-watering fumes. We decided to keep ourselves able to stay in the kitchen by wearing a pair of scooter goggles and sunglasses.

My main task was sous chef, keep the dishes clean and to decorate the cheesecake.






I began by making hearts of chocolate and carmel by drizzling the sauces inside a heart-shaped cookie cutter and freezing teh cheesecake for a few minutes, then ground up some bite-size Butterfingers and made more hearts with crumbs, then spread more crumbs around the edges. It didn't turn out as pretty as I would have liked, but I didn't want to sacrifice taste for beauty by using Magik Shell instead of regular chocolate syrup.





I also started the vat of Arnold Palmer by dumping an entire box of Lipton "Black Pearl" tea into the empty bucket and pouring two boiling kettles over it. I put the lid on and let it steep overnight.




Each time we complete an item on the menu, we have to play tetris with the contents of the fridge to get everything inside.