Ashley's Taste of Chicago

It's time for another video blog. I decided to eat my way through the Taste of Chicago this year.

Come along with me and see the tasty and not so tasty treats that were at this year's Taste of Chicago.

Along with the help of my camera woman/understudy food taster Etta ( my mom) we sweatily wove our way through the plethora of food booths of all sizes and shapes.

So sit back relax and join me on my wacky culinary adventure through the Taste of Chicago 2010.

Gado Gado with Sambal Kacang- An Indonesian experience

For the summer I like to have food that is tasty, refreshing and not too heavy. Here is a great dish that I learned from my aunt Marianne. She along with her family lived for many years in Indonesia as missionaries. She picked up how to prepare and make many of the local dishes. This was when I was pretty young. I do always remember though that it was a family dish. It really brought everyone together. And it was such different flavors than I was used to. My young culinary palate was just starting to get tickled.  My aunt served this dish to us many times and it was always wonderful. It’s called Gado Gado. It’s an Indonesian vegetable dish topped with Sambal Kacang, a spicy peanut sauce.

This is a fun dish to put together and great for a crowd as well as for solo dining. I have changed the recipe a bit to fit my tastes, but I must pay homage to the roots of the dish in my family. I thank you aunt Marianne for bring this lovely Indonesian dish to our family here in the states.

This dish can be enjoyed very well as leftovers too. The sauce keeps well. For reheating the sauce, just microwave it and put a little water to thin it if needed. This is a great dish to try. It’s also a great vegan dish if you leave off the hard-boiled eggs and substitute in tofu (grilled is very nice). Otherwise it’s still vegetarian.

And for those of you with a peanut allergy, try substituting in another nut or seed butter such as almond, soy, sunflower, etc. You can also use the spicy peanut sauce as a satay dipping sauce for grilled chicken, shrimp or tofu. That makes an excellent appetizer.

So go ahead and enjoy a little Indonesian cuisine tonight, you’ll thank me for sure. Gado Gado is a simple and tasty dish that can be enjoyed alone or shared with friends.

Gado Gado with Sambal Kacang (Spicy Peanut Sauce)

2 T sesame seed oil

1 t garlic, finely chopped

1 t ginger, finely chopped

1 c natural peanut butter, creamy

¼ c coconut milk

juice of 2 limes

¼ c water, or as needed

3 T Ketchap Manis (sweet soy sauce)*

1 t dried red chili peppers

1 t Sriracha garlic-chili sauce

Salt to taste (if needed)

1.   -Heat sauté pan with the oil.

2.   -Saute ginger and garlic for 1-2 over medium-low heat till softened.

3.   -Add in the rest of the ingredients and stir over low heat till well combined.

4.   -Put in food processor or blender and blend till smooth.

5.   -Serve warm

Serve the spicy peanut sauce on top of vegetables and other food of your choice. Some are cooked and cooled and others are served raw. Cut them up and arrange on a platter and serve the spicy peanut sauce drizzled on top or on the side. Here is a list of ones I use for mine (but you can use whatever vegetables you like).

Hard-boiled eggs and/or grilled tofu

Boiled peeled potatoes

Steamed cabbage

Steamed spinach

Fresh bean sprouts

Fresh carrots

Fresh cucumbers

Fresh red peppers

Fresh red onions

*Ketchup Manis is a thick sweet soy sauce. You can sometimes find it at your grocery stores, but definitely at Asian markets. If you can’t find it at all, you can also use a combination of soy sauce and dark molasses as a substitution.

Recipe guide:

T= Tablespoons

t=  teaspoons

c=  cup/s

Hope you like the little slide show of my Gado Gado experience that I have posted here. Do you have a favorite dish that maybe is a little out of the ordinary that you remember from childhood? If so, please share. I’d love to hear about it. There is nothing better than great food stories to warm the heart and the belly.

Till next time live, love and eat some fantastic food.

COCKTAIL TIME- Cucumber Ginger Sake-tini

It’s cocktail hour and I have the perfect refreshing spring/summertime adult beverage to enjoy. I came up with this creation to pair with an Indonesian dish called Gado Gado. I was making a test webisode for the TV cooking show I’m working on. I made the dish in the form of rolls with a spicy peanut dipping sauce. This drink would be both great on its own, or with an Asian dish of some kind. These would also be great for a cocktail party. It’s fun to say, look at and of course to drink.

And for a treat, I also have a little video of how to make this terrific drink. This video is just a part of what we filmed for the test webisode.

With out further ado I give you the recipe to my sassy Cucumber Ginger Sake-tini!

CUCUMBER GINGER SAKE-TINI

Serves 1

Ingredients

2 T chopped fresh cucumber

1 T chopped fresh ginger

1 T chopped fresh mint

2 T agave nectar or simple syrup* or to taste

2.5 oz. Vodka (I like to use an organic vodka called Square One. It is very smooth and delicious.)

2.5 oz Sake (I like to use a clear sake from Osaka called Junmaishu from Akishika.)

Ice cubes

Thin cucumber slices and mint leaves, for garnish

*Simple syrup is made of equal amounts sugar and water heated until sugar is dissolved and then cooled.

Directions

Add the cucumber, mint and ginger into a cocktail shaker and muddle. Add the agave syrup, vodka, sake, ice and shake to combine. Adjust sweetness if needed. For the garnish lay a cucumber slice down with a mint leaf pressed onto it. Slice through the cucumber slice with mint leaf from middle to end and put on the rim of a martini glass. Strain drink into a chilled martini glass, serve and enjoy.

Till next time, live, love, eat some fantastic food AND drink some sassy beverages.

Day 4 of the NRA show- Dance-a-riffic

Last day of the NRA (sniff, sniff). The ending is a bit bittersweet for me. I loved all of the wonderful cooking gadgets, tasty food, oodles of freebies and impressive culinary demonstrations. But I will not miss all that darn walking and carrying/dragging of said freebies. But this last day did hold something fun and new for me and a first for the world as well. I was in the first Foodie Flash Mob Dance at the NRA restaurant show ever. Dancing and food, right up my alley.

For today I was lacking my usual camerawoman, aka my mother. But I did have the help of my friend Emily and the help of my arm and hand as well : ) Check out my last day at the NRA and be amazed, be wowed………or just be slightly entertained for a moment.

Till next time, live, love and eat some fantastic food.

Day 3 of NRA-Chef shoe shopping

Another fun filled whirlwind day at the NRA restaurant show. I’m choosing to be creatively different and formatting my day in the form of a free verse poem.

 



A Day at the NRA- Monday

Walking ever so quickly to take 2 trains down to the show on time,
Going chef shoe shopping,
Cracking up the crazy fish man,
Watching a fantastic but slightly raspy Rick Bayless,
Trying to find that fabulous macchiato again and having to settle for mediocre,
Finally having some good gelato,
Arguing with mom before I had food in my belly,
Hunting for more free bags,
Accidentally getting body spray spilled all over my handwritten nutrition flash cards,
Bumping into my old boss who had fired me, that said I had been there #1 server,
Eating way too much creamy and stinky cheese,
And finally, quickly jumping back onto the train to go take Nutrition test at school.

Whew, my cats and dogs are barking. So here is the video blog for today’s fun times.






Till next time, live, love and eat some fantastic food!

Oh, My Aching Feet! (NRA Day 2)

Second day finished at the NRA and boy I’m tired, but pleasantly so. I have experienced an intense amount of sensations and new discoveries today.  From tasting some spicy lemongrass faux chicken,  to weird gadgets that turn potatoes into long spirals on a stick that are then deep fried, to finally some super wine glasses that are constructed so strong that they can pound a nail into a piece of wood and not break. I did lots of walking up and down aisles with a barrage of colors and experiences exploding at every turn.

My day started out with a nice educational class called “Gluten-Free: Easy as ABCDE.” It was a panel with a variety of different speakers discussing celiac disease and gluten-free foods and cooking. This is also an area that I would like to explore more in my cooking and for my catering.

Later in the day I went to a cooking demonstration at the World Culinary Showcase. It was on simple and fun Turkish dishes. The food was lovely, but the demo was about as lively as a saltine cracker. I believe the chef was a “kitchen-only” chef and not meant for presentations. I respect that doing live or on-air cooking demonstrations in not easy. It is truly a special skill, to not only to cook well and have excellent knife skills, speak clearly, be informative and be entertaining--all while on stage and in front of an audience. This is what I aspire to have and to craft as my culinary adventures unfold.

So for now it’s time to sit down, put my feet up for awhile and get ready for Day 3 at the NRA. And since I’m also a student, I have a little homework to attend to as well.



Till next time, live, love and eat some fantastic food.

NRA day 1

Today I attended the fantastic first day of the NRA here in Chicago. (That's the National Restaurant Association, folks. Food, not guns!)
I had an awesome day full of tasty treats and fun culinary gadgets. With the help of my filmmaker mother Etta Worthington, we filmed a bit of my experience at the show. This is my first attempt at a video blog, which I am super excited about. So click play and enjoy.

Till next time live, love and eat some fantastic food.

Fun with food- Orange Basil Granita

Been awhile since my last blog (feels like I’m in the confessional at a Catholic church) and I’ve had many intense feelings and experiences with food. I like when food appeals to all the senses, even the sense of humor. I enjoy finding the laugh and smile in my food. I feel it eating should be pleasurable as well as fun.

So recently when making a dinner for my mom, I found a great recipe for a really fun and simple dessert. It was for an Orange Granita that you serve in a frozen hollowed out orange. I would love to say this is my recipe, but it is from Wolfgang Puck and it turned out awesome. And it has me thinking about some other fun ways to serve a granita. 

For those of you not familiar with granita, it is a semi-frozen dessert made with sugar (or another sweetener), juice and flavorings. It is made simply by freezing the liquid and scraping it with a fork to fluff it up/break up the ice crystals. It’s like a really gourmet and grown-up version of a Slurpee. You know that fun "brainfreeze that makes your tongue every color imaginable" bit of sugary goodness you had as a child. This is just a bit more "refined", yet still very fun. It is a dessert originally from Sicily. 

So for this dessert, you hollow out an orange that you have cut off about 25% off of the top and freeze it. This makes a wonderful little serving dish. Then you pile in the finished granita so it looks like a whole orange again. And since this recipe calls for basil, you can slip a small basil leaf in to make it look like a leaf. This dish is super easy and fun. 

 Here is the original recipe. Though since my mother doesn’t eat sugar, I used Splenda instead. You also may use other sweeteners such as honey or agave syrup as well if you don’t want to use sugar. It also calls for an orange flavored liquer and I used Cointreau for this recipe. It adds a really nice intense flavor to the granita. 

Orange Basil Granita

Serves 6

Ingredients

• 6 oranges
• 4 cups freshly squeezed orange juice
• Sugar, to taste
• 3 sprigs basil
• 2 tablespoons orange-flavored liqueur (recommended: Grand Marnier)

Directions

Clean and wash the oranges. Cut off the top 1/4 of the oranges and shave a small slice off the bottom so it stands easily.

Using a grapefruit knife cut out the flesh of the oranges and place in a strainer set over a bowl. Be careful not to cut through the bottom. Stand the oranges on a cookie sheet and place in the freezer and freeze until solid.

Press the flesh of the oranges through the strainer to extract all of the juice. You should end up with about 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 cups of orange juice. Add the extra 4 cups orange juice. Stir in sugar, a tablespoon at a time, until the mixture is of desired sweetness. Add the basil and orange-flavored liqueur and let sit for 15 minutes.

Strain the mixture into a roasting pan or baking dish. The dish should be large enough so the liquid is not more than 1-inch deep. Freeze the mixture for 1 hour. Remove from the freezer and scrape with 2 forks to break up ice. Return to the freezer and freeze until solid, about 2 to 3 hours, scraping with forks every hour or so.

When the granita is frozen, scoop it into the orange shells and serve immediately.

Some other ideas I had for granita flavors are watermelon-lime that you serve in frozen hollowed-out limes. I think this would be good for parties for a fun passed dish. It would make a nice palate cleanser as well.  Also a nice coffee granita that you serve with a dollop of cinnamon whipped cream for a fun play on iced coffee. But those will be future recipes/future blogs to look forward to.

I too hope you can find the fun and whimsy in your food. Because food I feel should be more than just about feeding your hunger, but about feeding all of your senses.

Till next time live, love and eat some fantastic food.

Favorite appetizer- Grilled Artichokes with a Spicy Sweet Remoulade Sauce

I have a lovely local restaurant that has some tasty treats called Dunlay’s On The Square. It’s located in the heart of Logan Square in Chicago. I had this awesome appetizer there and wanted try to recreate it at home. Grilled artichokes with a spicy sweet remoulade sauce. Sooo tasty and smoky. The combination of the grilled flavor of the artichoke with the spicy sweet of the creamy remolade was such a delight on my taste buds.

I knew that I had to probably pre-cook the artichokes some how and then make up a mayonnaise-based sauce with both spicy and sweet notes in it. I first tried it out on my mother who loved it so much, that it now is I believe her favorite appetizer for me to make for her just short of the Caprese salad. Mom does love her veggies! So here it is, my version of grilled artichokes with a remoulade sauce. This is a delight for any occasion.

Grilled Artichokes with a Spicy Sweet Remoulade sauce

Grilled Artichokes

Ingredients

4 large artichokes

1 lemon, halved

4 tablespoons olive oil

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

-Spicy Sweet Remoulade Sauce, recipe follows

Directions

Preheat an outdoor grill to medium heat.

Break off the artichokes' small outside leaves. Cut off the top with a knife and trim the sharp points of the leaves with scissors. Slice the artichokes in half, rubbing them with cut lemon as you go to avoid discoloration. Squeeze the lemon halves into a bowl of cold water, soak the artichokes for 10 minutes, and then wash with cold water to remove sand.  Place artichoke halves in a large steamer insert over simmering water and steam until heart is tender, about 15 to 20 minutes depending upon size (inserted knife blade will go in smoothly). Allow to cool. Remove the choke with a spoon.

Prep the cooled artichokes by brushing on the olive oil, salt and pepper. Grill the artichokes on both sides until golden on the surface with nice grill marks and heated through, about 5 to 10 minutes. Serve with the Spicy Sweet Remoulade Sauce.

Spicy Sweet Remoulade Sauce

Ingredients

1 c mayonnaise

1/4 c ketchup

1/4 c garlic cloves, finely chopped

1/2 t cayenne pepper

1/2 t chili powder

1/2 t paprika

1/2 t salt

1/4 c cilantro, finely chopped

Dash Worcestershire sauce

Dash ground black pepper

Dash lousiana style hot sauce (I prefer the original Louisiana hot sauce)

Directions

Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl and serve as a dip with the grilled artichokes.

Leftover sauce will keep, refrigerated, for up to 3 or 4 days.

Recipe guide:

T= Tablespoon/s

t=  teaspoon/s

c=  cup/s

Boy, do I love this dish. It was really fun for me, trying to recreate what I had in a restaurant at home with no recipe. It was a challenge, but a good for me to fine-tune my taste skills.

For as long as I can remember I’ve had a knack for tasting food and being able to pick out what spices and flavorings were in the dish. I guess I have a very sensitive palate. I’ve also read that women on the whole tend to have more taste buds then men, but start to lose them earlier around age 40 as opposed to 60 for men. Not sure how exactly accurate that is, but I have read many articles along those lines. And I sure do love to read about food, especially other blogs about food. And here is a great one that talks about movies and food. Who doesn’t love dinner and a movie?

So till my next yummy food blog post, live love and eat some fantastic food.

A tasty dessert at Revolution Brewing

I thought I would change things up a little and do a restaurant and dessert review. Recently for one of my classes at school (Culinary Science), I had to do a report on a plated dessert at a nice restaurant.  The assignment was to pick a nicer restaurant, no Arby’s or TGIF’s allowed and order a plated dessert. We needed to do a review of both the restaurant and the dessert we ordered. We had to comment on the different aspects of a plated dessert as you will soon see. I hope you enjoy.

Revolution Brewery is a new Logan Square Bar-restaurant. Since I live in the area and it’s new, I thought I’d check it out and also do my plated dessert review. Revolution Brewery is located on Milwaukee Avenue just north of California. It's a  brewery, bar and restaurant. When I walked in, I was really put at ease. It has a very warm and comfortable feel about it. I picked this location because their online menu looked fantastic, especially the desserts.

The service was great, very friendly and almost over the top. I think because this restaurant is so new they are being very eager to please. I went with a friend of mine and we were seated in these awesome tall booths that over looked the bar and had a great view of the open kitchen in the back.

For my dessert, I ordered the cherry bourbon cake. Here is the description it came with: Cherry bourbon cake, Michigan sour cherries soaked in bourbon and baked in an almond-rosemary upside down cake with a vanilla bean cream. The dessert was $6. It arrived in a simple but elegant big white bowl.

The textures in the dessert were very good. The cake was soft and had a nice crumb to it. There was a nice crunch with the toasted almonds spread around.  The vanilla cream had a cool creaminess to it. The sauce spread around was tasty, but needed to be thicker and have more of it. It was too thin and soaked right into the cake and sort of layered there around the plate without a nice body.

The flavor of the dessert was fantastic. The cake was very aromatic with almond flour and rosemary. The rosemary was subtle and didn’t over power the dish. The light vanilla in the cream was a refreshing balance to the sweetness of the cake and the tartness of the cherries.

The color was attractive on the plate. It had a golden brown hue for the cake, speckled white for the cream and a bright red for the cherries and sauce. It was sprinkled with some of white with flecks of brown in the toasted almonds. I personally wanted a more contrasting color to make this dish pop more. The dessert was presented very symmetrically on the plate. I think my eye would have been drawn to it more, if it had been a bit off center and more care was taken in plating it.

The temperature of the different elements on the plate where pretty much the same. The cake was slightly warm and the cream was at best room temperature.

But all in all the dessert was very enjoyable and the service throughout was fantastic. I give it a 91%. I look forward to going back and trying not only more of their desserts, but the food on the rest of the menu as well. The rest of the menu had a nice variety of vegetarian, fish and meat dishes, which looked very tasty. 

Also they have their very own beers that they brew and serve which are only a few at the moment. But I'm sure they will have more to choose from the longer they are open. I was also delighted to discover they have Three Philosophers beer on the menu, which is a truly flavorful and potent beer that is newly a favorite of mine. I do recommend if you get a chance, to stop on by and check out Revolution Brewing. 

Till next time live, love and eat some fantastic food.

Revolution Brewing LLC

2323 North Milwaukee Avenue
Chicago, IL 60647-2924
(773) 227-2739

Day 7- Caramelized Onion Quiche with Portabella Mushrooms and Gouda

Last day- “The Week Of Eating In Challenge”

Whew, my final day of the challenge. And I have a very yummy recipe for you. You can use this for brunch, lunch or dinner. It is a very versatile dish. It’s a quiche. But not just any quiche, a caramelized onion with portabella mushroom and Gouda quiche. Yep, I had to “Ashley” it up. You can serve it with a nice salad for lunch or dinner and maybe some nice roasted potatoes for brunch. Whichever way you choose, I’m sure it will be super tasty. Enjoy and Bon Appétit!

Caramelized Onion Quiche with Portabella Mushrooms and Gouda

Makes 8 slices or 1 quiche

Ingredients

• 1 pie crust (either use Pate Brisee recipe below, or store bought)
• 2 c thinly sliced onion rings (about 1 large onion)
• 2 T olive oil (1 T to sauté the mushrooms and 1 T for the onions)
• 2 c small chunks of portabella or baby portabella mushrooms
• 4 large eggs
• 2/3 c half and half
• 1/3 c whole milk
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/2  t freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2  t freshly grated or ground nutmeg
• 1  1/2 c (packed) coarsely grated Gouda cheese (about 7 ounces), divided
• 1/2 c chopped fresh basil

Preparation

1.     Preheat oven to 450°F.

2.     Unroll crust completely. Press firmly onto bottom and up sides of 9-inch-diameter deep-dish glass pie dish. Bake until light golden brown, pressing on sides of crust with back of spoon if crust begins to slide down sides of dish, about 17 minutes.

3.     Pull crust out and reduce oven temperature to 325°F.

4.     Meanwhile, heat 1 T of olive oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions;   

sauté until beginning to soften, about 2 minutes. Then reduce heat to medium low and stir occasionally as the onions begin to caramelize. Toss in a little salt and pepper to taste as you are doing this. When done, set aside.

                5.    Heat in another skillet the other 1 T of oil and saute the mushrooms until soft, about 3-4 minutes. Salt and    
                       pepper to taste. 

6.     Whisk eggs, half and half, milk, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and nutmeg in large

bowl to blend. Put caramelized onions, mushrooms, 1 c of the Gouda cheese and the chopped basil into the prepared pie shell. Next pour the filling into the pie shell. Sprinkle remaining 1/2 cup cheese over quiche.

7.     Bake quiche until puffed, golden brown, and just set in center, about 45 minutes. Cool 30

minutes. Cut into wedges.

Buttery pastry dough (Pâte brisée)
Makes a 9-inch pie shell

This dough refrigerates well after baking and reheats to perfection.
Sift together:
  2 c  all-purpose flour
  1/2 teaspoon salt
Add:
   1/2 c (1 stick) cold unsalted butter
  3 T chilled vegetable shortening
Cut half the shortening into the flour mixture until it has the consistency of cornmeal. Cut in the remaining half until it is pea-sized. Sprinkle the dough with:
   5-6 T ice water
Blend the water gently into the dough until it just holds together; you may lift the ingredients with a fork, allowing the moisture to spread. If necessary to hold the ingredients together, add:
   1 t to 1 T ice water
Divide the dough in half, shape each into a disk, and wrap in plastic wrap. Let the dough rest in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before using.

Recipe guide:

T= Tablespoons

t=  teaspoons

c=  cup/s

So this ends my week of  “The Week Of Eating In Challenge” offered by Huffington Post. It has been a tremendous learning experience for me. Especially on the do’s and don’ts of blogging. Thanks to you that have been following my blog. So up next after a week of eating in and making wonderful food at home, I will go out and review a local new restaurant in my neighborhood. And maybe even through in a wacky Ashley recipe to boot. 

Till then live, love and eat some fantastic food.

Day 6- Stuffed French Toast with Cherry Bourbon sauce

Day six -“The Week Of Eating In Challenge”

For today I thought I’d do a brunch item, it being the weekend and all. And who doesn’t love French toast. So, I decided to make it even better and stuff it with some delicious sweet creamy cheeses and then serve it with a fruit sauce with some bourbon in it. Yum! Savor and enjoy the pleasure it brings to your palate.

Stuffed French toast with cherry bourbon sauce

Serves 4

Batter:

2 eggs

1 c milk

1 t ground cinnamon

1 t pure vanilla extract

Filling:

8 oz (1 package) cream cheese

4 oz Mascarpone cheese

1/4 c powered sugar

1 T orange zest

1 t bourbon

Sauce:

1 c water

½ c bourbon

¼ c orange juice

1 c dried tart cherries
½ c sugar
1 T cornstarch

Dash of water to mix the cornstarch with

1.Butter, as needed 6 -8 (2-inch thick) pieces Italian or French bread (regular sandwich bread can be used in a pinch)

2.Batter: Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and whisk, mixing well until incorporated. Keep refrigerated until ready to use.

3.Filling: Fold all ingredients together in a bowl until well incorporated but not completely smooth.

4.Syrup: Combine all ingredients (except cornstarch) in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir until sugar dissolves. On the side mix cornstarch with a dash of water, just to make it a liquid. Add to the other ingredients. Bring to a boil and let reduce by 1/3.

5. French Toast: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Heat a large sauté pan and then add butter. Dredge the bread in the batter and place in the pan. Cook until golden brown on both sides, approximately 2 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool. Divide filling between 2 pieces of the bread top with the remaining 2 pieces of bread. Transfer French toast to oven and bake for 8 minutes.

6. Cut each French toast in half and serve with the cherry bourbon sauce and, if desired, a large dollop of fresh whipped cream (or whipped cream in a can).

Recipe guide:

T= Tablespoons

t=  teaspoons

c=  cup/s

And I thought since you already have the bourbon for the french toast recipe, why not have a tasty bourbon brunch cocktail to go with it. I found this on the internet, so I can't take credit for the recipe. But I plan to try it very soon. It sounds really fantastic AND a great way to use up that bourbon : )

Bourbon and Blood Orange Blast

Ingredients

       1 1/2  ounces  bourbon

       1/2  cup  blood orange juice

       8  fresh mint leaves, plus sprig for mint

       1  orange wedge

·      Turbinado sugar for garnish

Preparation

In a shaker, mix together the bourbon, blood orange juice, and mint leaves. Serve over ice in a low glass and garnish with a sprig of mint. Rub the rim of the glass with the orange wedge, then dip the edge in a dish of turbinado sugar (also called sugar in the raw).

Now there is only one more day of the challenge. I hope all of you are enjoying all of the recipes that I have put up. It has been a fun challenge for me to keep up with all of the blog posts. But this is just the start of something really big. Someday in the not so distant future, you will be seeing me doing all of this cooking on TV, on the internet and in person doing cooking demos at celebrity chef events (it’s nice the think BIG). Take care and get ready for the final and seventh day of the challenge.

Till then live, love and eat some fantastic food.