Every Tuesday night, it’s friends, a craft, and a cocktail. Nothing like accomplishing something small while hanging out with friends. (Let’s face it—everyone is busy on the weekend but Tuesday…people could stand for a bit of weeknight fun!) Feel free to suggest crafts to us, start your own Too Cute Tuesday chapter, or otherwise participate either on this blog (all the archived entries are at www.toocutetuesday.com) or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/toocutetuesday.
Awhile back, my friend Kate/enthusiastic supporter of Too Cute Tuesday sent me the cutest little cupcake recipe involving chocolate, beer, whiskey, and Baileys. For two weeks now, we’ve been meaning to make these cupcakes.
It worked out perfectly that we decided to make them when Sarah was visiting. (You may remember Sarah, who moved to St. Louis about a year ago and started a Too Cute Tuesday chapter there.) Sarah arrived in Maine just in time to get unpacked and craft with the group.
Every Tuesday, it’s a craft, a cocktail, and friends. To get in on the fun, check us out on Facebook or read all the posts at www.toocutetuesday.com. Comment, suggest crafts, or start your own TCT chapter. It’s fun!
When my friend Sue said her wine expert friend John would be in town and asked if I’d want to hold a wine tasting/lesson instead of our usual craft format, I knew I’d be crazy to say no. I also knew I’d be doing this writeup on Wednesday.
On my way to Craft Central, my car broke down on the side of the road. I called up and John and Sue’s husband Andrew came and rescued me. They popped open my hood and started talking about belts and fluids. Andrew kept going in his car and getting liquids to pour in and John told me that before becoming a wine person, he was a mechanic. That’s versatility!
After making my car safe enough to drive to my favorite garage, we left it and off we went to Too Cute Tuesday.
After this incident, John didn’t skip a beat and we all had a great experience. Here’s how you can approximate it without your own car mechanic/wine expert on hand:
Materials
6 bottles of wine, shoot for the same kind of grape and same year but different regions. We did Cabernet Sauvignon in 2008-2009 vintages from four regions of the world.
Baguette, fancy crackers, and fancy cheeses: both palate cleansers and dinner substitutes.
Ideally one wine glass per wine type per person. Ideally, the same glass size and shape. We only had three per person so we worked with it.
Container for dumping the wine (there is probably a better technical name for this and, while it is sad to throw it out, six people drinking six whole bottles of wine would not have made for a nice Wednesday morning)
Cocktail of the Night: Um… wine!
1. Line up the bottles (don’t tell people prices or specifics).
2. Pour small glass of each wine to excited TCT participants. First smell, then swirl the glass and smell again. Discuss how the smells change.
Three weeks ago, I had planned to make car bomb cupcakes from a recipe on Smitten Kitchen sent in by my friend Kate. I had not planned for it to be a million degrees outside (actually 90 F). Way too hot to bake, my friends… but who knew that it would get to be this hot in May?!
Inspired by this post at Readymade, we decided to carb it up this week with gnocchi. In May, we’re doing food as crafts. It’s technically making something and, quite honestly, spring is making us hungry.
All this month, we’re making all those food items we’ve always wanted to try. My friend Morgan sent me this link way back about how to make Naan bread via Videojug. Only 10 minutes to rise and 10 minutes to bake with 10ish minutes prep? Sounds easy to me. And with mint to use up in my fridge, it’s mojito time! (I mean, come on, what else are you supposed to do with mint?!)
7 oz. flour 1/2 tsp. baking soda 1/4 tsp. salt 1 tbsp. vegetable oil 2 tbsp. natural yogurt 2 tbsp. milk
If you want to hear an authoritative-sounding British woman give you the instructions, watch the video below. Otherwise my overly simplified instructions
1. Mix ingredients in group one together. Put aside in oven (not warm- just warmer than your kitchen) for 5 minutes.
2. Mix group two ingredients together and put aside. Add group 1 (now frothy mixture) and stir. Knead for five minutes, cover with wet towel and stick in the oven (not warm).
3. Make mojitos. Debrief with TCT friends about firefighting training and dog behavior while bread rises.
4. Take out dough and cut into four sections. Roll out but not too thin.
5. Spread vegetable oil on cookie sheet and add dough. Preheat oven for 275 degrees F and cook naan for 10-15 minutes. Serve warm, in our case, with chicken marsala (also in Videojug series).
6. Eat Indian food with a chocolate chaser. Aren’t you crafty, and now full of tasty food!
A few of our members have requested different food items so the month of May is dedicated to food. Dorrie requested we attempt lettuce wraps à la P.F. Chang a few weeks ago so we’re starting with that. And if you have requests, let us know!
Materials
