Le Spoon Drop Café

This week we decided to explore our French side a little bit. We haven't done a drink recipe since the refreshing Orange Swizzle for our Labor Day picnic, we thought it was time for a warm drink, and we got very excited when we found the French Chocolate recipe. And it became an inspiration for our Halloween theme this year.

Let me just explain here that Halloween at the Chandler house has never been a "ghouls-and-goblins" affair. Growing up, my brothers and I took Halloween as a creative make-your-own-costume opportunity. I think my most memorable costume was Sleeping Beauty - with a nightgown, satin slippers, and red lipstick, laying down in a red wagon, pretending to be asleep. One year, Kevan was the Lone Ranger, and Andrew made a cardboard horse for the side of his wheelchair. Andrew was the master of disguise, and still is. From the scarecrow, to the Rocketeer, to the Flash, his costumes were always impressive. Halloween is just a time of good, clean creativity (and chocolate) for our family. 

So this year, Mom made a little French café in our parlor, we dressed up as French as we could, we put a kerchief on our handsome Beau puppy, and made French Chocolate.

French Chocolate (from p. 36 of the BCC): This is a 4-stage recipe. You begin by making the chocolate sauce, which is just chocolate chips, corn syrup, water, and vanilla stirred together over low heat on the stove until smooth. Stick that in the fridge to chill. Then you make some whipped cream in a chilled bowl, and gradually add in the chilled chocolate sauce to the mixture, so you're basically making a chocolate fluff. Stick that in the fridge to stay chilled. Then you heat milk on the stove, but do not boil it. Then, you fill half a cup with the chilled fluff, and  pour the hot milk over it, then stir. What you end up with is an incredibly smooth, foamy hot chocolate drink! It was so delicious, I will never be able to drink "Swiss Miss" hot cocoa mix again.

The recipe recommends: "Serve in your best china cups for a note of elegance on a special day." We did this, and while the cups just weren't big enough to hold a satisfactory amount of chocolate, it did indeed add a note of elegance. I would add to the recommendation: "Wear French-style outfits and pretend to sip your drink at a Parisian café." It makes the whole experience all the more delightful!

Bon appetit!

Not your average hot dogs and orange juice

(Is it just me, or do other people out there grin and drool at the phrase, "wrapped in bacon"?)

It is Labor Day, and Mom and Dad and I spent the day outside - Mom was working in her garden, Dad was washing the cars, and I was sunbathing and chilling in the jacuzzi. After all of our hard work, Mom made a classic Labor Day picnic lunch... with a Betty Crocker cookbook (BCC) twist.

  

Orange Swizzle (from p. 40 of the BCC) - 

This cool summer drink was super easy to make, with a can of frozen orange juice and a quart of ginger-ale, mixed and poured over crushed ice. And it's really pretty too, with a garnish of an orange slice and maraschino cherry speared together with a toothpick, and a colorful swizzle straw.  

Cheese Boats (from page 262 of the BCC) - 

Hot dogs, cheese, and bacon are three of our favorite things, so why not use a recipe that brings all three of these together?? Split a hotdog halfway through the middle from end to end, and stuff the split with sharp cheddar cheese, then wrap the hotdog up with a piece of bacon, and secure the bacon on both ends of the hotdog with toothpicks. Place the hotdogs - split side down - on a broiler pan and broil them for 15 minutes at 500 degrees, flipping them over halfway through. SO GOOOOOD... Melty, cheesy, crispy, salty, sizzly, meaty, mmmm... Best hotdogs ever!

Both recipes were new for Mom, and in fact it was the first time she had used the broiler in her new oven that she got earlier this year. She served the hotdogs and swizzle with deviled eggs, pasta salad, and watermelon, outside on the back porch.

Dad ate three cheese boats, so I think he liked them. :) He also ate his orange slice garnish, and all the left over orange slices for which we didn't have enough drinks... which made me think (in a shocked, Meg Ryan voice), "You ate that orange?! That orange slice is a garnish!" But really, it was cool to see him enjoying this special (and successful) BCC meal... the first of many more!