Cooked: Tongue Wrastlin'

How beautiful is this?
On Halloween I went back to my friend David's. He lives in such an amazing home & neighborhood I knew I wanted to be there with him for Halloween to see & scare the bejeezus out of some proper trick or treaters. David like myself LOVES tongue. We decided to swap tongues & have a Tongue-Off. He made a veal tongue with a green sauce I made Beef Tongue in a Veracruz sauce. HA! What's scarier & yummier than tongue?!?!? I think a new Halloween tradition has started, enjoy the pics!

Candy IS dandy


David our Master of Ceremony carried around a shovel & blowhorn & chased the kids in this... terrible!Bribe money for whatever kids we made crap their costume!
Alan waiting for them at the gate!
Bill was in charge of passing the candy. It took 3 hours to turn him into Dr. Manhattan... brilliant!
I LOVED our decorations



I found my costume in the storage unit at my building... so cool! I wasn't even going to dress up this year. It was a size small & I didn't rip it... spank you VERY much Halloween Gods for bestowing this on me... *snort*Yup kid scored some loot.. he pissed himself!
Is there anything scarier than leaf blowers in LA?
Long lines ALL night. The kids emphatically said this was the best house in the whole hood in Hollywood!



Little Red Riding Hood & I rocking the white thigh highs!
Spooky Dinner. Beef Tongue, Red Beans & Rice & Tostones (fried green plantains) Nicole (Little Red) mad the SWEETEST yams I have ever had!!! Great dinner

My favourite (yes I added the U in favorite again... get used to it xo)

Nicole's yamstastic yams! *swoon*

David's green Veal Tongue & my Red Beef Tongue... safe to say it was a tie. Both so different yet so flavorful. His was tangy & savory while mine was decadent & spicy too good for words, honestly
Call me Hot Chocolate, Swiss Miss at your service

Cooked: Haitian Spareribs

I know, I know ribs again, but they were on sale & call me B.O.B. (Baller on a budget). Aside from Korean, Mongolian & Chinese BBQ I don't like barbeque. The smoky flavor gets to me & although I can tolerate a sweet sauce I can do without it. Haitians, well Islanders usually boil the ribs before hand, some Latin cultures too, Costillas they call them. Then roast in a thick sauce.

I chose to skip the boiling process to keep my ribs whole. Nice & tight. My family likes to use a mix of mayo, mustard & tomato paste as the thickener. I once again helped myself to Dan's Jamaica Me Crazy spices & mashed some garlic, oregano & mixed with some of the virgin (olive oil) & made a mojo sauce. Then it was off to the oven.

I found this Ore-Ida Steam n' Mash at the 99 Cent Only store, thinking heck it'll save me some time & costs me a buck.... EW that stuff was so gnarly! It looked just like diced up frozen potatoes but tasted just like powdered boxed ones with nasty processed cheese, definitely not worth the buck, 11 minute cook time & the damn near steam burn I got opening that puppy. Gross!

The ribs on the other hand were slam-MING!♥

YUMMILICIOUS!
GRODY-ICIOUS!

Cooked: Hot Stuff! Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Cornish Game Hens with Fruity & Nutty Saffron Quinoa

So I have four major Dan's in my life, 3 Dan B's & 1 Dan O... they're my 4 Dan's of the Apocalypse. These men encourage me, support me, humor me, entertain me & are my lifeline. Dan O' Connor & my 3 B's... Berman, Bennett & the last one I won't say cause he HATES his name being "dropped" *snort* HA! 

They keep me on my toes & I love having the opportunity to cook for them. This time it was finally on for my Ber-Man♥. He's the leader of our Taco Tuesday crew & has really been essential in supporting me & keeping my spirits up during this turbulent fiscal year for me. 

My kitchen was a WRECK & he had been dying to show me his new wood floors he just put in. Let me fill you in on Berman, he works insane hours, drinks like nobody's business whenever he has the chance, is super low key, no frills, laid back, shops online ONLY, science loving Atheist, history buff,  smack talker, loves his cat... is it normal for a dude to love a cat so much?

I'm such a dog person I always flip when I find a guy I know has a cat... maybe it's because I don't like cats except for Hello Kitty, but she doesn't have a mouth & can't do nasty stuff with her genitals with it like other cats... oh & she's not real so she can't act like she's too good for me & she wears a dress so I don't get the hotdog end in my face... sorry rambling again, I don't like cats!

Here's proof of how much he loves the kitty, he commissioned a painting for his cat sitting in on a World War 2 summit with Stalin, FDR & Churchill... HA brilliant! ♥ 

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AND I need to emphasize again, he works very, very hard so he can be able to afford to spend the time with the people he cares about all over the Country... I have a massive amount of respect for him, well except for the fact he's a chronic texter.

I LOATHE text messages! I blog, Facebook, email even freaking Twitter... I'm a single woman that lives with a dog with an unlimited talk plan on my cell... sometimes I can go days without hearing or speaking to another human being therefore I completely oppose text messages & people who love to text can KISS my ass! Word.

The Berman doesn't do 4 legs so I settled to make my infamous stuffed cornish game hens, I wanted a twist so I wrapped mine in bacon... how could ANYONE not eat bacon?!?!?! Remember I said he was low key, I had NO idea what I was walking into. 

First off the floor was... stun-NING dark wood. He didn't tell me he re-did the kitchen countertops... sleek in black. Now mind you, I assumed his pantry would be bare except for a can of tuna, a jar of peanut butter, red bull, jerkey & some muscle fuel garbage... 

I came with bags of crap, even brought my own pots. The boy had a FULLY stocked spice section, I was blown away! All the utensils & rad KitchenAid cookware. I LOVED his spices especially this Johnny's Jamaica Me Crazy stuff, fantastic! 

This is really why I can't stress enough cooking at other people's homes & trying out ingredients you normally wouldn't buy. Of course this too he bought online, it's available on Amazon & Ebay I used both the seasoned salt & seasoned pepper flavors.

I was so comfortable in his kitchen it was really hard for me not to take my pants off... EW you guys! It was because my jeans were too tight & stuffy... you PERVERTS! I like cooking in a dress or just a long shirt... duh! Anywho, so now I was in like Flynn, time to get my cook on. I started with frying some sage & putting them aside. 

I browned the ground turkey & added crimini mushrooms & dressing. He had beautiful Fuji apples literally minutes from eating dust so I decided to add those to the stuffing mix too, I've never done that before again the cooking at other people's homes aspect. Now I will add apples to my stuffing for good. 

Stuffed the bird, added the spices, wrapped mine in bacon & started the quick sear for that golden crispy skin I just adore so much then it was the big finish in the oven. The Quinoa I settled to cook in the microwave so I can keep the heat off my hair that I just got done.. damn Black girls & their hair. 

We drank Vodka & he put on MC Hammer's greatest hits mix tape... it was awesome. We laughed & ate our butts off. 

It felt so good to, in my own way, repay someone for all that they've done for me. Even though it was small, he REALLY enjoyed it... I'm still smiling just thinking about it. Thanks Berman, I will be raiding your kitchen more often, be ready! Please Hammer don't hurt 'em!

The star studded cast Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Cornish Game Hens:

I LOVE this Trader Joe's Trail Mix, loaded with Antioxidants & I usually add it to my Couscous thought it would be fun to add to my Quinoa also... it was, delish!

2 Legit 2 Quit.. HA! 

♥