Pumpkin Cookie Potlucks

Tomorrow is Friday. That is always a little like having a present at the end of the week. I don't know anyone who doesn't look forward to Fridays, honestly. Unless they're people who don't work from Monday through Friday and have weekends off but, even then, they have their own Friday even if it isn't actually Friday.

My Friday is looking good. We have a barbecue/potluck at our president's house tomorrow at lunch. We all have to drive out there. Afterwards, a group from the office are going to play paintball. I had originally planned to play paintball. I quite like a bit of organized violence. However, it's supposed to be in the 90's tomorrow. I don't find the idea of running around in layers of clothing (for protection) that appealing in that kind of heat. Thus, I backed out of the paintball. To my immense delight, our president, in a strange fit of office generosity, made an announcement that those who weren't playing paintball could go home after the potluck. Thus, I get tomorrow afternoon off.

I don't even mind the idea of a slightly awkward office barbecue. This time, I decided not to go gourmet with my offerings. Last time, people were a bit afraid to try my trio of salads because they weren't your typical midwestern potato salad/macaroni salad type of fare. This time, I'm baking iced pumpkin cookies. Yes, I said baking.

As I've said before, I find myself as more of a cook than a baker. I think you're pretty much one or the other. I like the flexibility of cooking. You can throw in some extra ingredients as you go along to enhance the flavour. With baking, it's precise. You have to get it right before it bakes. Otherwise you're left with a bit of a disaster.

Still, I thought I'd give the iced-pumpkin cookies a go. They're actually a cookie that my former roommate used to make in the autumn. They're quite easy but very delicious. I'm not sure if they'll turn out or the Luck of the Monkeypants will strike and they'll turn into disastrous little bullets but I'm giving it a whirl anyway.

I think I followed the instructions properly. The only hitch I had was discovering that while I was busy trying to be a precise baker, the puppies had somehow found some of my underwear and were running around the back garden with it. They were having quite a lovely time. Since I tend not to like my neighbours to see my underwear, I had to retrieve it. I'm not that much of a prude but I live next door to Dog Whisperer and his rather creepy way of just staring makes me reluctant to let him know that my underwear of choice is Halloween themed.

Yes. Now you know a rather embarrassing personal fact about me.

Still, the cookies are baking. They smell rather nice. The puppies no longer have access to my underwear. I'm just waiting to find out if the cookies are going to be a success or a failure.

I'm hoping that if they turn out, people will actually eat them tomorrow. There's nothing worse than attempting to make something tasty so that people will enjoy it only to find out that someone else's strawberry pretzel casserole or store-bought chocolate chip cookies are far more popular.

If not, I'll try to steal the cookies back. Is that bad etiquette, do you think? I never know whether you're supposed to take your leavings home with you if you go to a potluck at someone's house or you leave them there for the host and family to eat. I have no idea. I don't like to be rude but, on the other hand, if my cookies are nice, I might quite like to take them home. I supposed I should see how they turn out first.

Still, even if they don't get eaten and I do have to leave them there, I have the reward of having the afternoon off. I'm heading to my parents' again since it's the annual street fair and this year is the 100th anniversary. I'm hoping that I get to hang out with my niece again. We had fun last year.

In addition, I have to congratulate my clever little sister who managed to pass her nursing exam, the NCLEX. She's now officially an RN. I am a very, very proud monkeypants. I have a congratulations gift for her. It also occured to me that I should give her some pumpkin cookies.

Of course, there might not be any left.

Or they might not turn out right. I suppose I should go and find out.

Happy Friday and have a great weekend!

Potlucks and Rain....

It's turned into the type of evening where you just want to curl up inside, watching the rain fall heavily outside while your air conditioner fights the mugginess outside.

All day, it's been threatening us with a storm, coming over cloudy and blocking out the hot sun. It passed over all day. I got home from work and faced the reality that I really, really needed to mow my lawn. Just as I was getting the mower out, I noticed the sky was threatening a storm, once again. It's amazing how one side of the sky can be blue with puffy white clouds and the other side can be grey and ominous.

I managed to get my back lawn mowed with only a few tiny raindrops. The rain stopped and I went to the front lawn. It started to rain just enough to leave dobbles on my t-shirt but not enough to actually make anything wet.

Then, as I came inside to shower after getting all hot, sweaty and grass-covered, it started to really rain. It's been raining heavily on and off since then and it's the type of rain that makes you glad to be indoors.

Still, the rain held off for the barbecue at work which was...good?

I say that somewhat fasciously because they ended up setting up all the food in our kitchen/break room. This is on the second floor. They had the grill downstairs in our parking lot where there is a picnic table and carried the burgers and hot dogs upstairs for us to eat. Then we had to sit outside in the parking lot. There were plenty of chairs to sit. However, it was very, very hot and muggy and sitting there sweating while you eat is not the most pleasant experience.

The barbecue ended up being shorter than any I remember. The food was...interesting. It seems that I am a little out of sync with my coworkers as far as cooking goes. I made my pesto with a Mario Batali recipe and my zucchini salad from Giada de Laurentis. The caprese was just me knowing what makes up a caprese salad and putting it together. It seems that the cook du jour in the office is Paula Deen.

Now, I have nothing against Ms. Deen. I find her immensely likeable. She's a sweet, funny, blunt southern lady who loves to cook. She uses a lot of butter. I mean A LOT of butter. I've seen her cook and, well, I have to say, she's not for me though I'm sure, for her audience, she's perfect.

I once watched her make omelettes in a ziploc bag by putting a lot of beaten egg and a ton of meat and veggies in the bag and then boiling it. It came out looking like aeroplane food. Since then, I admit, I'm a wee bit dubious of her recipes.

Today, however, Paula Deen was all over the picnic in the desserts and the macaroni and cheese.

I love macaroni and cheese. I like the box kind but I like to 'gourmet' it up by putting in some herbs, adding some cheese to the top and then baking it in the oven. Ms. Deen uses sour cream in her mac and cheese.

I don't like sour cream. I've tried. It just does not please my palette very much.

Of course, I am not being a snob and saying the food was terrible because it was wasn't. Sure, I still have to get used to the idea of Strawberry Pretzel Cake which I think is strawberry pudding and/or jello, whipped cream and pretzels. It doesn't taste bad, it's just..weird. It's like something you'd see in a Quickfire Challenge on Top Chef when the contestents had a mystery box containing four unaligned ingredients and they have to make a dish.

I know, I know...Top Chef again. I can't help it. Tom Colicchio is still in my head.

No, the food wasn't bad. It was just a mishmash. That's the thing with potlucks. You never know what's going to show up. It was an interesting array today with only one crock pot- very rare for a midwestern potluck. More than anything, it made me feel like I stuck out like a sore thumb with my high falutin' Italian salad trio. I should have gone less Batali, more Paula Deen.On the plus side, at least I wasn't the only Food Network inspired cook. Also, the chicken pesto and the caprese went over well even if I wasn't terribly pleased with the marinaded zucchini. It wasn't my best dish and it would have put me at risk for elimination on Top Chef. Eek gads.

Still, at least I didn't attempt to make dessert.

Because we all know on Top Chef, when you make dessert, you most often end up going home.

Happy Wednesday!

Potluck Day in the Office...

It's the day before a holiday today and we're having a potluck for lunch. Over the years, I have learned to embrace the potluck. This may sound like an easy thing to do but as a former picky eater and a person who is apprehensive about 'eating other people's food,' I had a bit of a worry about potlucks.

I know. I sound rude when I say that I didn't like to eat 'other people's food.' . I'm talking about those random coworkers/people who you don't know who bring in dishes to potlucks that, well, frankly look...a little scary. I'm also talking about people I do know whose kitchens I have seen and have been scared to enter. For example, I knew a woman who loved to bake. She also loved her cats. She would keep the litter box in the kitchen. She only cleaned it once a week so, inevitably the kitchen smelled very bad. I did attempt to eat her baked goods since she was a friend and, sadly, I got a mouthful of cat hair as did several of my other friends. Needless to say, I learned my lesson.

There was also another former coworker of mine whose food I learned to avoid. She was one of the people who just attracted disaster, no matter what it was. She would drop things on the floor and quickly shovel it back into the bowl. I saw her doing this once. I also heard stories about a time before I began to work with her in which she brought turkey for a Thanksgiving themed potluck. She apparently dropped the turkey onto her lap where it rolled down her substantial thighs and then proceeded to scoop it up and serve it.

So, you see, my fears about other people's food aren't too unfounded. As I said, if I know the person, I know they're sanitary and hygenic, I will at least attempt to try their offering unless I find that it is something I simply don't like. Potato salad, for example. I just can't get behind cold potatoes with mayonnaise or mustard. I also don't like those mixed together things like seven-layer dip. I tend to like my food...simple, no mixing.

Still, as I said, over the years, I have become more open-minded. I try new things now as long as I can identify all of the ingredients in them or at least the visible ones. That way, I'm not taken surprise when I bite into a plate of coleslaw and find that someone's secret ingredient is raisins. I love raisins. I enjoy coleslaw, as long as it's not sweet. I just don't like raisins in my coleslaw though, ironically, in my first home economics class in England, we made coleslaw...with raisins.

The one thing I enjoy about potlucks is that it's a good way to enjoy home made cuisine with a regional flair. For example, the potlucks I had in L.A. were always heavy on the salads along with Mexican-type dishes and fancy desserts. Somoene would always bring in El Pollo Loco chicken, a California/Western U.S. restaurant which specializes in juicy seasoned grilled chicken. It was a diverse group of people and they brought a diverse offering of foods.

In the Midwest, potlucks are quite different. They're much more 'homemade'. I used to shy away from some of the dishes such as smoky links in barbecue sauce, simmered in the crockpot. Then I tried them and, unhealthy as they are, they're horribly tasty. The same goes for the buffalo chicken dip someone always brings. Someone always brings chili in, also but as a non-chili lover, I usually shy away from those. Crockpots are a much bigger deal in the Midwest and when we have an office potluck, there's usually a fight to try to find an outlet into which the crockpot must be plugged. The food is...heavier. I hate to support a stereotype but in my experience, the Midwest, at least this corner with its Germanic influence, likes their food hearty, tasty and nurturing. People are getting better, using turkey instead of beef, using low-fat ingredients but the truth is...that just doesn't taste the same. In L.A. there was always some healthy person who made sure that there was healthy options.

I'm not complaining though. There's no better way to get a feel for an area of the country than to go to a potluck. For example, while I tried cerviche for the first time at an L.A. potluck, here in Ohio, I tried strawberry pretzel cake which sounds revolting but actually tastes quite nice. I was shocked, to be honest. In my mind, strawberries and pretzels don't go together but...they did. Yes...I found that weird too.

Normally, for potlucks, I like to bring in something I know will taste good to others. Sausage rolls are a popular option; they're relatively easy to make and everyone likes them. Today's is supposed to be Independence Day-y, sort of a summer celebration. Someone's bringing hotdogs, someone else pasta salad....everything falls neatly into the summer picnic category.

For me, since I'm in the process of moving and my apartment is sort of in an upheaval, I asked the potluck coordinator what to bring. With a look of glee, the coordinator told me to bring in...Smoky sausages in barbecue sauce in the crockpot.

How Midwestern for me.

Happy Thursday.