In the event that any FMC members don’t have anything better to do today, you’re welcome to swing by the ADVentureLoft™ for egg painting and easter brunch.
Yea, it's spring!
As you can imagine, we take both quite seriously.
Artists at work
No one goes home hungry 
That's paleo, man.
Anytime after 11a – until, well, whenever.
Hi Folks… I know this is long over due. Life has been a little crazy in our world. I would love to have an FMC this month (April) before we change seasons but Im not sure that will happen before summer is in full swing. Aside from that, we have had a few great foodie series that I hope everyone will enjoy. Here are the going ons…..
February theme….the Oscars. Create a dish as a spin off from a film of your choice.
Let me introduce you to some new players….
Andy and Tina
Andy was responsible for snacks and cocktails. He started off the evening presenting us with a golden oscar award of salmon mousse covered with sesame seeds upon a base of paté.
And for those trashy films that never made it to the oscars; well, they received Oscar the Grouch consisting of polenta topped with dates, black olives, and a little red pepper
The cocktail consisted of punch ginger ale made with simple syrup, absinth, and hand squeezed calamondin juice from a tree that Andy and Tina have growing in their apartment.
The evening was off to a great start.
Next up…Lisa with appetizers.
Lisa worked off the film Julie and Julia and made an amazing gougéres, parmigiano puffed pastry. This is Julia Child’s recipe Lisa always wanted to try. She paired the gougére with an Ina Garten tomato-basal soup.
The beverage was a chilled Cava.
Julia Child would have been proud. The gougéres were delicious……and so was the soup
For the table, instead of bread, JDavid made Soylent Green crackers with spinach and spirulina. (Check out the clip — I think he got the color just right.
Tastes like grandmas!
Next, Alicia made a soup dish consisting of tea-smoked duck over rice noodles. The idea was conjured up by combining two movies; Marx brothers’ 1933 movie Duck Soup
and the film Enter the Dragon representing the Chinese year of the dragon.
Paired with a glass of sake.
Our first main course was a tribute to every zombie movie ever made. Brian incorporated the fine art of creative brioche toast carving, creating a fist coming out of a grave of finely prepared beef tartar paired with a watercress salad.
The process….
The final product:
Paired with
Impressive!
Our second main course was a Silence of the Lamb. Lamb meatloaf with a yogurt-mint sauce prepared by me (Francine).
Not so aesthetically appealing but it did get eaten.
The pairing was a Greek white wine.
David presented his version of the film Ratatouille, following the actual Thomas Keller recipe developed for the film… here’s a nice video that melds a how-to recipe with some clips from the film:
Technically, it’s a Confit Byaldi
paired with a simple red table wine from the south of France
Next up was Tina’s dish, our 3rd main course representing the conflict featured in the move The Help. Her dish was symbolic of “saucy, crabby white folks”: Filet Oscar
The prep work.
Here is what it looked like plated:
No meals complete without that last course called desert.
Richard imagined a play on French new wave film and a late night early morning breakfast with the likes of Jean-Luc Godard, Francois Truffaut, Claude Chabrol in his creation of a decadent blueberry french toast paired with a steaming cup of coffee.
I would like to thank Andy, Lisa, Alicia, Brian, David, Tina, and Richard for another great FMC. Thank you to the academy for generating this event. I would also like to thank past participants and future participants for keeping this social foodie idea afloat. Finally, A big thank you to all of you who continue to hold an interest in this ongoing blog in spite of the delays in posting. Thank you to all and have a good night.
Geetha was responsible for supplying the hat, and for pulling names and assignments out of it… If you find the challenges difficult, it’s her fault.
There will be some food restriction preferences on this one– please avoid beef, pork, and shellfish (regular fish are OK, but mollusks / crustaceans NOT) If anything possibly shellfish-related is a critical ingredient to your dish, it’s not the end of the world — just make sure everyone knows, cause a shellfish allergy is involved.
Also, Richard will be photographing / documenting, and eating, but not cooking, so there will be 9 at the table. Remember, small portions. If you will be pairing wine as your beverage, one bottle is perfect.
Here are the assignments:
1. Prep-time Snacks & Cocktails: Lalit
Triadic secondary color chord: Your dish must be composed the 3 secondary colors: green, violet and orange.
2. Appetizer: Francine
Contrast of temperature: Your dish must be composed of colors associated with warm and cool sensations.
3. Main course #1: JDavid
4. Main course #2: Alicia
Complementary contrast : Colors that are opposites on the 12-step color wheel are called complementary color pairs: yellow is the complement of violet, green is the complement of red, blue is the complement of orange, etc. Your dish must be composed of one or more pairs of complementary colors.
Complimentary contrast
5. Side / Salad / Amuse: HilaryB
The illusion of transparency: Your dish must use 3 or more colors to create an illusion of transparency. 2 parent colors seem to overlap, producing a 3rd color, a mixture of the parent colors.
6. Main course #3: Guy
Two different colors (center squares) appear alike
7. Main course #4: Geetha
Make one color (X above) look like two different ones
Good luck, everyone. Post comments at will regarding ingredient choices, questions, comments, ideas, etc. Switches allowed with both parties’ consent.
Tags: #11 Color theory
Sign-up is open for the next event. Comment below to confirm — we have four confirmed, and 4 more seats open for this one. We’ll convene Saturday evening, March 10, 2012. The usual times: prep 5-7pm, etc.
For this dinner, by executive decree, we will forgo the usual polling process to choose the theme. At the special request of RichardM, the FMC will be participating in a visual arts project involving color theory. Participants will be randomly assigned one of the following for inspiration of their paired course:
Photographic (non-food) examples of the above concepts will be provided in a subsequent post. The event will be documented for a project that Richard is working on — I’ll let him comment more on that.
Also, Francine has been updating the description of Episode #9 – World Peace, thank you all for your contributions of text! Episode #10 The Oscar’s write up may coincide with the actual Oscars if we’re lucky.
Tags: #11 Color theory
I’m sure everyone has been scheming wildly:)
Remember, before schlepping ingredients or equipment with you to the ADVentureLoft™, check the Batterie de Cuisine list to see if we already have what you need — especially pantry items, spices, oil, etc. If you have a question, or need something we don’t have, send an email, text, leave a comment here, or better yet, give one of us a ring… We’ll be taking a walk in the late morning to Chinatown, Whole Foods, etc. We’re happy to pick up anything you might need.
Oh, should we announce the movies we’re cooking in advance?
Tags: #10 The Oscars
OK… Oscars it is. Dishes & drinks will be cinema-inspired — it doesn’t have to be a current film, or even an Oscar winner. Just somehow movie-related. Fate, by way of a hat and little pieces of paper with names on them, has determined the course assignments: You choose the movie, you chose the dish, you chose the pairing. Switching will be allowed, both parties agreeing. I’m posting a vague schedule, just so people can plan their prep-timing, but you know how it is… the best laid plans…
8 courses:
5pm: ADVentureLoft open and ready for prep (earlier if necessary)
Amuse Bouche’s are open season — whenever they fit in. Aim for fancy-restaurant / tapas-sized portions, ie: a recipe for 4 is usually plenty. If your drink pairing is wine, one bottle usually suffices. We’ll have bread for the table, and plenty of house-beverages if you’re extra-thirsty.
Tags: #10 The Oscars
Tie ballgame. The poll has been revised to include only the top four choices. Also, there are two seats left at the table. Voting will remain open through the weekend. Monday, polling closes. Have at it.
Comment here to claim the last two seats of FMC episode #10.
Tags: #10 The Oscars
Remember, themes are nominated by event participants, but ALL FMC members can vote. Vote early, vote often. You can vote for more than one theme.
Poll closes Jan 27th, or earlier if there’s a clear winner.
Tags: #10 The Oscars
FMC Episode #10 will be held on Saturday, Feb 11th. We’re going to limit to 8 people total . Since Francine & I will both be there, that means the first 6 to confirm are in. Hopefully with a smaller cast we can have more frequent episodes and more people can participate. [Another idea we can toss around is to have some less ambitious mid-week school-night episodes with 6 people total. -- thoughts?].
Confirm you’ll be coming with a comment on this post nominating the theme you’d like to see cooked. If you don’t see a theme in the list to nominate, you can make up a new one.
Tags: #10 The Oscars
