Written March 11th, 2015

We’ve been invited to Karl and Kimmie’s house tonight for dinner, along with another couple, Luby and Graham. Kimmie told us Graham was just like Steve, “He doesn’t talk.” Hmm. I guess I need to tone myself down a bit and give poor Steve a chance.

There is nothing that a bit of frosting won’t fix. Bad days, amputations, you name it.

I offered to bring dessert, and since Steve’s birthday is tomorrow there had to be a cake of some kind. But we’re also heading to our timeshare in Cabo San Lucas in a couple of days, so I’m cleaning out the fridge and beginning “the week in review” with the leftovers.

I had some very bready bagels and some really crumbly rolls, and a whole bunch of eggs, so I decided to make a bread pudding. Karl and Steve are both big chocolate fans, so I made it a chocolate bread pudding with chocolate sauce and whipped cream. I worked up a sweat whipping the cream with a whisk. No Kitchen Aid Mixers in Cabo Pulmo.

Since I had carrots, butter, cream cheese and lots of eggs I also made carrot cupcakes with cream cheese frosting to satisfy the cake requirement. I mentioned last year the oven in this house is akin to a pottery kiln. That sucker gets hot, and at it’s lowest setting (before the flame goes out) it still registers 420 degrees on the oven thermometer. So baking is always interesting. This carrot cake recipe says not to open the oven door before 35 minutes, but in cupcake form and with a blast furnace I needed to check earlier to make sure I wasn’t creating small atomic fireballs in the middle of the kitchen. They came out OK, but a tad denser than I would have liked, as they spread instead of rose. They also didn’t want to part from the muffin tins, which I greased and floured, after putting parchment circles in the bottom, as I had no muffin cups. So I sawed off the tops so I could loosen the bases with a knife and put them back together with a second layer of frosting. There is nothing that a bit of frosting won’t fix. Bad days, amputations, you name it. I used a plastic baggie as a frosting bag and piped on a swirl top.

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Kimmie and Karl’s house is beautiful, with cedar cabinets, granite counters and gorgeous green polished cement floors. It’s beautifully decorated and very inviting. Luby and Graham are interesting and lovely, and it was a great evening of easy conversation and a lot of laughs. Kimmie owned a Korean/Thai restaurant for 14 years and her cooking skills are superb. We had a whole deboned roasted chicken with a tasty stuffing with cashews, which was served with a spicy plum sauce. The presentation was beautiful, and like an idiot I forgot to take pictures. Her side dishes were just as delightful; I love vegetables that are not an afterthought and both the Napa cabbage salad and green bean and tomato mixture were seasoned and cooked beautifully. The combination of tastes, textures and colors made for a perfect meal. I hope we get invited back!

After margaritas (not for Steve) and wine (yes for Steve) everyone sang a boozy rendition of happy birthday to Steve (a night early), and we ended Kimmie’s feast with the bread pudding and carrot cake cupcakes. It was a great night.

Deborah