Keep on Runnin'

Our latest dinner was for Girls on the Run. It is a great organization that our friend Ann suggested to us. In total we donated $300 to the charity! We had 10 amazing people show up and we enjoyed a big Italian family style meal:

• Caprese salad
• Assorted Olives
• Mushroom crustini
• Roasted asparagus
• "Working girl"pasta
• Fig and honey semi-freddo
• Venetian spritz

The spritzes were a big hit, but so was the food as there was not a bite left at the end of the evening. Enjoy the photos from evening.

p.s. A recipe for the semi-freddo may follow soon.

A Donation Dinner Away

We put the offer out to our friends that we would help them host a donation dinner if they wanted. We had a great friend actually take us up on the offer! We helped Alejandra and P.R. host a dinner to raise funds for Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. We had a huge offering of great eats and even goodie bags for the kids!

SE Asian Test Kitchen

Last night we tested out some recipes for next weekend's dinner. We are trying recipes from Vietnam,Thailand and Laos...only the best make the cut! Lots of chilies were harmed in the making of these dishes....We had to bring out the big, heavy, scary mortar and pestle to bash a couple into shape too.

Thank you for a phenomenal year!

When contemplating the idea of hosting dinners for charity last year, it never occurred to us that our friends would consistently and gracefully restore our faith in humanity in the face of very disheartening world events. That has been the primary result of this experience for us. You all are amazing, generous, kind and very good sports. Thank you! 

Here is the year in summary: 

• We hosted 7 dinners total, so not quite making the one per month target (or not at all).
• As a community, you all contributed a total of over $1,850 to charity! That is about $265 per dinner, which far exceeded our expectations. 
• The largest dinner had 17 attendees and forced us to get creative with seating. 
• We had two outdoor dinners, and the heavens thankfully kept the rain to themselves on both of those days. 
• Finally, we learned to make a slew, bevy, myriad, ton, abundance (you get the idea), of new recipes. My personal favorites were palak paneer, slow cooker mac 'n cheese, baba ganoush, frittata, rugelachs, and latkes. 
• If you are curious, here are all the charities that received donations in 2015: American Cancer Society, Feeding America, Bike the US for MS, Alexandria Animal Welfare League, Books for Africa, Jayna Troxel Murray Foundation and Comfort Cases. 

So, 2016? Trying to hit one per month was a bit stressful, so we are setting a more realistic target this year of one per quarter. Now that we know we can seat 17...the maximum limit is going up. Hopefully these things balance out. 

Also, we would love to help someone else host one. If you have a charity you love, work for, endorse, adore, etc., please consider hosting a donation dinner at your place in 2016. We will make ourselves available for cooking, decorating, cleaning, and anything else you need! 

Happy Holidays Donation Dinner

2015 has come to a close as has our last donation dinner of the year. We had a lot of food (too many cookies! just enough latkes), friends and good times. Not only did we get a lot of great items to donate to the cause, but we also raised over $200 for Comfort Cases. Thanks to all who came over and participated! 

Are you ready...

The last Donation Dinner of the year is upon us. We are getting prepared...

Irish Soda Bread and Pecan Waffle Recipes

Amanda, this one's for you. Sorry it took so long to post.

Irish Soda Bread: 
1.5 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1.5 cups whole wheat flour
2 tbs sugar
2 tbs rolled oats
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp sea salt
1 cup dried currants
1.5 cups buttermilk

Preheat oven to 375F and lightly flour a baking sheet. Whisk together flours, sugar, oats, baking soda, salt and currants in a large bowl. Create a well in the center and add one cup of buttermilk, mix with hands. Add remaining 1/2 cup of buttermilk and mix until the dough is soft and moist. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and gently kneed into a round. Place on the baking sheet and cut a cross into the center of the dome. Bake for 40-45 minutes until lightly browned.

Patrick, this one's for you: Sour Cream Pecan Waffles via Alton Brown 

Looking forward to our next meal on December 20th!