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dr.com 2012 Autumn Picnic, Sunday, October 28, noon-6pm, Fort Hunt Park Area C-2


Pat

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I'm bringing some cookbooks & the Twinkie mold/cowboy for the swap. I trimmed the spareribs yesterday, & after Fishinnards mentioned the crispy rice salad, I decided to take the trimmings & make Thai fermented rib tips (got the recipe/process off of SheSimmers, an excellent Thai cooking blog that Fishinnards pointed out), came down to the kitchen this morning, & almost passed out from the INTENSE aroma of garlic. This tip from the recipe is telling- "In the later stages of fermentation...Don't let the greenish hue freak you out, it's perfectly fine.". Sounds great for Halloween, right? I will lightly smoke the fermented tips before the picnic, & bring them for those who are brave enough to try them (you may have to sign a waiver).

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Anyone bringing pumpkin (food) to the picnic? I feel guilty, because I have not picked up any pumpkins for Halloween yet (or candy either), one of my neighbors 2 streets over has the largest pumpkin I have ever seen (except in print), it's got to be 4' wide & high, & they've built a hay bale chair for it, I'm really falling behind on the Halloween decorations this year...

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Anyone bringing pumpkin (food) to the picnic? I feel guilty, because I have not picked up any pumpkins for Halloween yet (or candy either), one of my neighbors 2 streets over has the largest pumpkin I have ever seen (except in print), it's got to be 4' wide & high, & they've built a hay bale chair for it, I'm really falling behind on the Halloween decorations this year...

Does Pumpkin cheesecake count? Gonna try to make this tonight--tomorrow is going to be a b^^ch.

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Well, the millet tabbouleh has morphed into some sort of Greek millet salad. It soon became a "that's a vegetable, let's throw it in!" type of salad as I looked through the fridge.

Also: two cups of raw millet is about all a 1-L rice cooker can do. It was...very close to the top of the bowl when cooked.

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I am going through my pantry taking out gluten free foods that have starch, and will bring to the picnic. Segregated by packages that are still sealed, and ones that have been opened, if anybody has a use for the ones that have been opened. Most containers are sealed. Quinoa, oats, beans, gluten free noodles, etc. I don't think a food bank will take the opened packages, but it's all good food.

I am eating very low carb these days and hate to see food go to waste.

I will bring plastic shopping bags, too.

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Things are starting to go FUBAR here, ran out to the store to get some last minute stuff & the rear lift gate on my SUV will not open, which will prevent me from loading the canopy, the stove, & will make loading anything else like the cooler, chairs, etc. difficult. I can't believe this had to happen today.

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Things are starting to go FUBAR here, ran out to the store to get some last minute stuff & the rear lift gate on my SUV will not open, which will prevent me from loading the canopy, the stove, & will make loading anything else like the cooler, chairs, etc. difficult. I can't believe this had to happen today.

I hope your SUV decides to cooperate. I hate it when the universe conspires against me :angry: .

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the lemon bars are not going well. They may be a no-show. Fingers crossed but early indications are pretty damn sorry.

Well, the pumpkin cheesecake seems to be a success. Won't know 'til I take it out of the pan tomorrow morning. If the lemon bars don't work out it won't be the first DR.com picnic fail. No, I'm not gonna name names. Let's just say that I am no longer intimidated. While there have been some truly wondeful dishes at every picnic I've attended, there have also been some "something's missing here" things as well. And, no, I will not make another carrott cake, either.

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There will definitely be ribs - non-traditional ribs, but ribs nonetheless. They're in the smoker now. I'm bringing a charcoal grill to finish them. That won't take long, so there will be grill space available if you need it.

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I would like to suggest that a DR.com picnic NEVER again be held on the same day as the Marine Corps Marathon. What is normally a perfectly uneventful 30 minute trip was 90 minutes today. An hour of than was spent creeping down Constitution Avenue looking for a way to Virginia. The posted info about Rock Creek Parkway opening up again at 11 am was a complete LIE. Still, at the end of the ordeal was a lot of very good food and, more importantly to me at this particular time, a lot of friendly faces I would drive through a storm to see. The drive home took the usual 30 minutes and we made it back in time to secure some of the stuff on the patio. I didn't see our "official" photographer there today, so I'm not sure anybody took pictures. It isn't hard to imagine the spread, though. Though the crowd was smaller than usual, those who showed up were the stalwarts.

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Thank you to everyone who braved the pre-Franken prep day to come share food, drink, and company. I wish I had more time to talk to everyone, especially those who had to duck out early to take care of things at home. Many thanks also to Ilaine for bringing GF items to share.

A wonderful afternoon, as always. See you all next spring!

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My favorite was Old Iron Stomach's ribs, especially because they were hot, and I was cold.

Also, ridiculously tasty. Tender, falling off the bone.

Old Iron Stomach, the man with the hot meat. Huzzah!

I wish I had tried the gluten free lemon bars. They looked sumptuous. I am doing low carb so felt virtuous at the time but now feel like a putz.

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So many good things there, but I especially liked the Yam Naem Khao Tod (sp?) that fishinnards made, and Antonio's fried chicken. I also think it will be 2-3 days before I'm hungry again, I ate so much at the picnic.

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Yes, it was AGM. Probably the glasses threw Iliane off :-)

I think perfectly cool was an understatement, seeing how both little man and I were huddled under two THICK layers of clothing/jacket/vest. The most fashionable award goes to Mr. LPerry, though ;-) (sorry Gavin!) (And cucas!)

Always great to see everyone and sorry to those I missed! Am super happy to be the proud owner of Barbra's last piece of super scrumptious pumpkin cheesecake. Also happily scarfed down Scott's ubër fab deviled eggs. Finally, am super grateful to thistle, who has provided my emergency rations for the week, with her ribs and pulled pork. Many thanks to DCDeb's +1 who put up with my corny humor. ^_^

Also goes to show how flexible this group picnic is, I didn't have time to make pie, picked up a few desserts from Dawson's and zero complaints from the peanut gallery. Made my day see you all!!!

PS. Little man asked what a Twinkie was, whether we can make one soon and why the "Twinkie Kid" doesn't fit inside the Twinkie pan, says the proud new owner of the Twinkie pan!

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We were the few, the proud,..

You know, I've only seen you at the picnics (with the possible exception of one other time many years ago) and wish it were more frequent. Gotta figure out how to remedy this. You have such a nice family. I'm rather fond of little redheaded girls. :)

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Sorry for getting the names confused but the ribs were spectacular!

I can confirm that my Fat Bread (first time making this) is actually low carb. Ate about half a loaf slathered with pasture butter, took a nap, just work up, and my blood sugar is 81. Not saying it's low calorie, not at all, but it did not bump the BG.

The ribs had a sweet, and tasty, balsamic glaze but that did not bump the BG, either.

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This is the Sicilian cauliflower recipe I used, with theses changes:

pistachios instead of pine nuts,

no wine or vinegar (but with some caper brine),

1 small yellow onion instead of shallots,

and I added about 1/2 of a large red bell pepper.

Oh, and leave out the halibut :lol:

http://www.cookingchanneltv.com/recipes/michael-symon/pan-roasted-pacific-halibut-sicilian-cauliflower-capers-raisins-orange-brown-butter-recipe/index.html

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Boy, am I relieved the picnic was yesterday, instead of today-we really lucked out. Thank you to everyone who came out & brought wonderful food & drinks, it was great to talk to so many folks who I mostly know only through their online presence. Hope everyone stays safe, dry, & warm throughout the storm....

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You know, I've only seen you at the picnics (with the possible exception of one other time many years ago) and wish it were more frequent. Gotta figure out how to remedy this. You have such a nice family. I'm rather fond of little redheaded girls. :)

Barbara, thanks. Next time we have a get-together over here we will let you know!

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Thank you to everyone who tried the fermented rib tips, I will admit that I was too nervous to chow down, but I think it could be a good element in other dishes. I think it was a great picnic, slightly lower attendance, but for before hurricane, it was great....I'm so glad that so many people showed up, & brought great food...the folks on this site continue to amaze me- we discuss, we cook, & we post...Are you guys thinking about a spring picnic, you have several months? ...

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I really enjoyed the fermented rib tips and the fermented pork salad...and the ribs and the fried chicken and the pulled pork...I kind of went on a protein bender!

Fortunately, I was able to enjoy some of the lighter items post-picnic. The beet-lentil salad was great, as were the millet tabbouleh/Greek salad, the shrimp-edamame salad, and the rice salad. I'd love recipes for all of them, if possible! Biscotti, both pound cakes, and the pumpkin cheesecake

I'm happy to see that weezy posted the cauliflower recipe - that was a delicious dish, especially for someone who hasn't always been a fan of cauliflower. (When you say 'no wine' - what did you use to plump the golden raisins, if not Marsala?)

We had a great group, lots of great food, and pretty decent weather, all things considered.

I appreciated hearing the story of the first picnic, and that we could take a little time to remember Mrs. B, who was, and will be, greatly missed.

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...millet tabbouleh/Greek salad...I'd love recipes for all of them, if possible!

This one is pretty easy. I followed a recipe from a rice cooker book (for cooking millet), but I searched around online and found this recipe for...Greek millet tabbouleh! And it's essentially what I did. I cooked up two cups of millet actually (which is a *lot* of millet) and added a big cucumber, a red onion, pitted Kalamata olives and some artichoke hearts from one of those cold bars at the store, a pack of dill, a bunch of Italian parsley, a couple lemons, salt and pepper. Frankly, millet is a pretty bland grain, so that also makes it versatile. I'm going to try a "dessert" milllet soon wherein I cook the millet in, say, orange juice. Just to try it.

Oh, and don't skip that toasting step. I tried it without once and it just didn't taste as good. And using a rice cooker is a good idea. Overcooked millet is...ugh, but a rice cooker makes it pretty simple to cook up well.

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I'm happy to see that weezy posted the cauliflower recipe - that was a delicious dish, especially for someone who hasn't always been a fan of cauliflower. (When you say 'no wine' - what did you use to plump the golden raisins, if not Marsala?)

Just the juices from cooking the rest of the ingredients was enough to plump them up. And they were in pretty good shape to begin with - they weren't hard leathery nuggets when I started.

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