FoodFash

Dinner Parties. All The Time.

July 30, 2013 by Kristin

I moved into my new place ten days ago and I’m happy to report that three dinner parties have taken place in my freshly decorated dining room! Mexican night, Hansell cooking night, and clam night. It’s so wonderful to be in the kitchen whipping up some dinner and see your favorite friends walk up with a bottle of wine. Perfect, actually.

I had been craving linguini with clam sauce for a while, maybe years, when Dickie asked if I’d make some after seeing a clam recipe on a Jacques Pépin rerun. “Dickie, have you ever even had clams before?”, I asked. I knew the answer was going to be no. But I also knew that if Dickie asked me to make clams then he’d already made up his mind that he was going to try some clams.

I found Giada’s Spicy Linguini with Clams and Mussels recipe and prepared it exactly as written with the exception of using only clams. Not only was this recipe extremely easy, but it was also fun to see the shallots separate so perfectly, the sauce thicken so quickly, and the clams burst open letting you know they were ready. The slightly spicy sauce complimented the egg linguini so well that I ate seconds. And then thirds. It’s safe to say that I will definitely be making this dish again for my next house guest!

July Primo Picks

July 25, 2013 by Kristin

A few weeks ago, HEB reached out to me about being a part of their Primo Picks program where they send you a sampling of products each month and you provide them with feedback. And since I love trying new things and receiving packages, I gladly hopped on board.

The biggest hit this month was the Whataburger condiments. Ordinarily, this wouldn’t be on my radar. But now that I live in Austin and have a slew of native Texans on my friend-roll, Whataburger is a talked about thing. I brought these condiments to a backyard BBQ and couldn’t wait to dig into the spicy ketchup – yum! I’m looking forward to testing out spicy ketchup in my turkey meatloaf recipe.

The Primo Picks box, that just happened to arrive on a Blues on the Green Wednesday, also included sweet potato chips and chile pequin salsa. We packed them up for our bluesy snack and passed them around the checkered picnic blanket. The salsa was a major crowd pleaser among the spice-lovers. And even though this salsa was a tad on the spicy side for me, I’m definitely interested in checking out the other salsa flavors that Central Market has to offer.

Thank you HEB for including me in the Primo Picks program – I’m already looking forward to the arrival of the August box!

As part of the HEB Primo Picks program, I received compensation to sample these products. The opinions in this post are completely my own and based on my experience.

Kickin’ Roasted Garlic

July 18, 2013 by Kristin

When I was brainstorming ideas for this video, lots of garlicky things came to mind. Lots of garlicky things that I’ve made and wanted to make. And then I realized I had never experimented with the most garlicky thing of all: roasted garlic.

I used a Pioneer Woman How To as my guide, making adjustments since most of my belongings are packed in giant plastic bins at the moment (I move to a new place on Friday!!). Pie plates… packed. Insert dutch oven. Black pepper… where’d you go? Insert crushed red pepper.

I coated the pan and garlic with olive oil, sprinkled the trimmed garlic heads with salt and crushed red pepper, and roasted in a 375 degree oven for about an hour. And what came out was a little bit of crack magic. I polished off an entire head with crostini before heading to meet Molly, Anna, and Lauren. And then I helped myself to a little more once girls’ night was in full effect.

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And… If you have a spare moment, please help me win a trip to Italy by voting for my “Share Your Taste for Italy” video!

Summer Camp

July 16, 2013 by Kristin

It’s been a while since I’ve been in FoodFash mode. I’ve made a conscious effort lately to blog less and accept social invitations more. And last week, launched by a boat ride and the arrival of Lucy X and Ryan, I decided to take the week off.

We were inseparable for seven days straight. Lunches, dinners, night swims, Blues on the Green.

Brunches and brunchy cocktails.

Rooftop chats and BBQs.

East Side late nights and festive cocktails.

A couple of planless kids running around the city and stumbling into fun, we quickly deemed our spontaneous seven days together as “Summer Camp”. And even though my voice is gone, my to-do list is long, and I already miss these memories like crazy – these seven days might have been of the most favorite seven days that my memory can recall.

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