Cooking for Seven

It has been such a pleasure for me to host the DMBLGIT event. Seeing all of the lovely entries has been so inspiring.

First, let me introduce you to the wonderful panel of judges for this month’s event:

Meet the judges

Asha Pagdiwalla, of Fork Spoon Knife, is Indian by birth and now enjoys life in New York. She started her blog in 2008 as a distraction from the impending recession, but it turned into an obsession. There, she shares delicious dishes accompanied by gorgeous photos.

Jennifer Bartoli is a food writer and photographer. She has been running her blog, www.chocolateshavings.ca for 3 years and is an online editor for Tastepotting.com. She absolutely loves anything to do with cooking, food styling and photography.








Emma Gardner, of Poires au Chocolat, is a 21-year-old student who spends most of her free time baking, trying to attain some kind of perfection in the kitchen. She resides in Oxford (England) during term time, where she studies English Literature, and returns home to the Swiss Alps in the holidays. She was taught to cook by her mum and grandma, along with many cookery books.

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Prerna, of Indian Simmer, is a learning wife, a learning new mom and a learning cook. She was born in a small town of central India. She met her wonderful husband and moved to the US where she cooks in the tiny kitchen of her small apartment in Charlotte, NC. She started her blog as a way to organize her recipes and make Indian cooking a little more approachable for everyone.

Overall Winners:

The judges scored each of the 39 entries in three categories: aesthetics, originality, and edibility. The overall winners were chosen by combining the scores from the three categories.

First Place: Pomegranate Rubies by Dario Milano of Food Pixels. Taken with a Nikon D700 and Sigma 105 mm f/2.8 lens.

Exposure: ~ ISO: 200 ~ Shutter: 1/200 ~ Aperture: 6.3 ~ No flash used ~

Comments:

“Love this. So rich and seasonal. Unusual too.”

“Great styling and perfect lighting brought the subject to life.”

Second Place: Spaghetti with Tomato Vodka Sauce by by Xiaolu Hou of 6 Bittersweets. Taken with a Canon EOS Digital Rebel XS with EF 50mm f/1.8 II Lens.

Comments:

“Beautiful compositon for a simple classic- especially when it can be difficult to capture the beauty of a plateful of spaghetti.”

“Gorgeous lighting/background tone. Like the styling too, especially the way the pasta is twirled. “

Third Place: corn bread, avocado, summer salad by Cathy x of aficionado. Taken with a Canon 450D with a 24-70mm lens.

Comments:

“This photo really caught my eye - very unusual. Love the colours. “

Individual Category Winners:

Excluding the overall winners, these are the highest scoring photos for each category.

Aesthetics Category Winner: Candied Orange Peel by Cookie of Cook, Snap, Repeat. Taken with a Canon T1i at 50mm.

Comments:

“Great composition - I like the choice of landscape. Lovely colours and depth of the white background. “

Originality Winner: Masoor Dhal Ingredients by Ananda Rajashekar of Pinch of Love. Taken with a Canon EOS 450D and an 18-55 Lens.

Edibility Winner: Shrimp with Scallions in Chile Tamari Sauce by Soma of ecurry. Taken with a Konica Minolta Dimage A200 at 40.3 mm.

Host’s Award:

As host for the DMBLGIT event, I am allowed to choose one winner that I think deserves a mention, even if it didn’t win in the main categories.

Noodle and Prawn Stir Fried by Asri of Food and Story. Taken with a Nikon D700.

My comments:

This is is very appealing to me. The lighting is very cheery and appetizing. I love the way the noodles and prawn are speared by the fork.

There were so many other wonderful entries not mentioned here. Please check them out here: {link}

Thank you to everyone who entered!

Next month’s edition of DMBLGIT will be hosted by Katharine of A Girl in Madrid

If you would like to host an edition of this event, please mail Andrew.

Almost two years ago I first published my favorite cheese ball recipe. Below is one of the photos that I proudly displayed. Ha!

We have continued to make the recipe as originally written. It’s one of our favorite snacks.

Check out my guest post on the Tasty Kitchen Blog for new step-by-step photos & instructions.

…a very Merry Christmas!

“This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.

This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

1 John 4: 9-11

Here’s what we’re serving this evening:

Molasses Spice Cookies

Homemade Lefse

What are ya’ll fixing/eating this weekend?

Scroll to the bottom to see the giveaway winner…

Our family has always enjoyed a good cup of eggnog at Christmastime. Mom would carefully pour out a small portion and add a bit of milk to make it less rich. We kids would savor the little we got and agree that any more would be too much.

These days I prefer to make my own eggnog. I know exactly which ingredients go into it. And it is such fun to make.

Homemade Eggnog

Adapted from a recipe from a friend.

Printable Page

Ingredients:

• 12 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups maple syrup (or granulated sugar)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 quarts (8 cups) whole milk
• 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg + more for garnish
• 2 cups heavy whipping cream

Directions:

1) In heavy 4 quart saucepan, off heat, whisk the eggs, maple syrup, and salt until well blended. Gradually stir in half of the milk.

2) Cook over low hear, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon, about 25 minutes

(mixture should be about 170 - 175 degrees F). Do not boil.

3) Pour custard in a large bowl. Stir in vanilla extract, 1 Tsp. ground nutmeg and remaining milk. Cover and refrigerate until well chilled, about 3 hours.

4) Just before serving, in a medium bowl, beat whipping cream until soft peaks form. With wire whisk, gently fold whipped cream into custard mixture. Serve with extra whipped cream on top and a sprinkle of freshly grated nutmeg.

Store in the refrigerator up to 3 days.

Makes about 16 cups or 32 - 1/2 cup servings

And now for the giveaway results!

Using random.org I selected a winner:

Commenter #156 Marty Rummel, who said: “CCC’s are hard to beat! Give me chocolate chips with walnuts, please!”

Congratulations, Marty! I will contact you with further information.

Thank you all for entering my contest. May you have a Merry Christmas!

Chai Tea meets Gingerbread in these scrumptious, soft, spicy bars. Find the recipe and my step-by-step instructions on the Tasty Kitchen blog.