The whole shebang started on Saturday night when I got a phone call from my sometimes lobsterman boyfriend. “I’m bringing you six lobsters.” It was a good catch day and so Dan got to take some (not a usual thing).
I began to cook. I made a garlic olive oil sauce and a scallion butter when I got another phone call. “I told Joe and Beth we’d go out with them tonight. Is that ok?”
Of course it was nice to meet some of Dan’s friends but Sunday, we also had friends over for lunch who are ‘sick of lobster’ from serving it to out of town guests all summer. In other words, Sunday afternoon, Dan Dan the Lobsterman went back to fishing for the week and I still had two lobsters and a couple ‘sauces’ left.
I decided to make lobster ravioli so that I could use what I had created in terms of Saturday evening sauces and try something besides boil and serve. Sure lobster is good boiled (especially with rice wine vinegar and butter!) but Too Cute Tuesday is all about trying new things!
I ended up modifying this recipe on the Food Network for Lobster Ravioli to not have to create the dough (not to say I didn’t try of course but see steps below to see where I went wrong). Tonight, it was just me crafting… in other words, nothing stopping me from consuming a large amount of pasta unattended.
I just got back two weeks ago from Savannah Georgia, home of River Street Sweets and their wonderful pralines. I bought some for Chef Dan and proceeded to eat them all in the hotel room (shhh). I brought him back some pecans (in a sealed bag) and vowed to make some pralines when I got back home.
Then, I proceeded to sprain my ankle for the third time this summer. Thank goodness my pantry is stocked and Chef Dan only needed to pick up two of the ingredients on his way to Craft Central. Also, thankfully, there wasn’t too much involved in praline making and people were able to 1) relax and give me sympathy for my injury and 2) recover from last week’s epic craft failure, the first in Too Cute Tuesday’s history.
As Sue said of the experience, “Our crafting egos needed a reality check anyway.” True. But we were back on game tonight with this super easy craft. Dan whipped us up a signature drink: The Sad Lemonade to celebrate him finding blue curacao in our geographic area (for those wondering, Global Beverage Warehouse in Ellsworth).
Materials:
1 1/2 cups sugar 1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar 1/8 teaspoon salt 3 tablespoons dark corn syrup 1 cup evaporated milk 2 tablespoons butter 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 1 1/2 cups pecan halves
wax paper
Cocktail of the Night: Sad Lemonade Put 1 oz vodka and 2 oz blue curacao in a glass. Fill with lemonade (or if you’re fancy like us,pomegranatelemonade)
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!
This past Sunday was Maine Maple Sunday and while sap production is lower this year than was expected (something to do with the relatively warmer weather we’ve been having), we are not letting that get us down at Too Cute Tuesday!
We decided to make maple flavored salt water taffy because it was easy and it involved sugar, two factors we often consider with crafting.
Ingredients:
2 cups white granulated sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons butter
1-1/2 cups water
1/4 teaspoon flavored oil
7 drops food coloring
maple syrup or other flavoring food coloring (optional- we didn’t use it)
candy thermometer sauce pan cookie sheet plastic wrap or wax paper scissors extra butter
Cocktail of the Night: Triple Phat Limeaid (two parts lime juice, 1 oz citrus vodka, 1 oz cognac, 1 oz orange liqueur. Shake and pour.)