beXnlog

Cool Cucumbers

On Sunday we never made it to Dim Sum. be's mom was making atole and wanted us to go for lunch. It's this super thick, bright yellow milky warm corn drink that i actually hate! - not because it's milky, but because it's sickeningly sweet and i don't like the texture. Luckily, we also had pupusas that his grandmother made.

Later that night, we hosted an impromptu dinner party with O, Miss N and Ishle. Items served: falafel, toasted pita, hummus, baba ganoush, tahini sauce, black olives, tomatoes, lettuce, feta cheese, tabouli and cucumber salad. The falafel and tabouli were from Fantastic Foods mixes but we made the baba ganoush, hummus and cucumber salad* from scratch. Everything was pretty easy except deep frying the falafel; one batch came out nicely browned while the other ended up slightly burned. (In addition, one guest kept referring to himself in the 3rd person as "The Lazy Chef.")

For dessert, we served Samoa Girl Scout Cookie and Andes Candies Edy's Ice Cream with chocolate syrup and chopped hazelnuts. The Samoa flavor was super yummy, although i wish it contained more cookie pieces. The Andes flavor wasn't as good as it could have been. It was basically mint chocolate chip with eh-quality chocolate. For post-dessert, we had some pieces from the See's Candies Nuts & Chews box that Miss N brought us all the way from California! I'm a huge fan of See's because they don't skimp on nuts - it's a good & simple, down-to-earth candy company. Note you can order custom boxes from their website; i've done this twice and it's awesome getting only the pieces you love! My most favorite See's pieces: Almond Square, Dark Almonds, Milk Peanuts, P-Nut Crunch, Marzipan, California Brittle, Cocoanut and Datenut.

And on a final note, i picked up a jar of Strawberry Fluff! Today i made a sandwich of Strawberry Fluff and natural peanut butter (i don't like that ultra-processed Jiff stuff) on cinnamon wheat bread. So yummy!

*The cucumber salad was a surprise hit. I just made it up using what sounded good together. It's refreshing and super easy!

be's Cool Cucumber Salad

1 medium cucumber
1.5 T extra virgin olive oil
1.5 T fresh lemon juice
1 small handful fresh parsley
1 small handful fresh mint
salt to taste

Score or peel away the skin of the cucumber (optional) and chop into a small dice. Wash and dry both herbs well, and finely chop. Mix all the ingredients together; feel free to adjust the seasonings to your liking. Cover and let cool in the refrigerator until ready to serve. I didn't do this, but a little finely chopped onion would be good, too.

posted by beXn @ 1:09 AM