May Flowers For Your Table

   Many years ago, I attended a party at the home of an older couple. I was terribly young and was thrilled to be included. When we arrived, we were greeted by the hostess, a petite grandmother with a twinkle in her eyes. She introduced us to her helper, who did everything from take coats to mix drinks.

St. David's Day

St. David's Day is the feast day of St. David, the patron saint of Wales. It falls on March 1 each year in remembrance of the death of St. David on that day in 589.

In 2010 in Cardiff, Wales the celebration will include concerts, a parade and a food festival.

Many Welsh people wear one of the traditional emblems of Wales on their lapel on this day...either a daffodil or a leek.

Cawl, a traditional Welsh dish (recipe link follows), is usually prepared and served on St. David's Day.

http://britishfood.about.com/od/maincourse1/r/welshcawl.htm

     Just in case you happen to have any Halloween candy left over Lisa found a really good recipe to use some of it up. And remember chocolate basically keeps for years as long as its sealed so even if you unearth a bag of forgotten Milky Ways in the pantry after Christmas this will still taste good!

Milky Way Shortbread Cookies

Recipe is from Mom's Big Book of Cookies by Lauren Chattman

Ingredients:

1 cup unbleached all purpose flour

1/3 cup confectioners sugar

2 TBSP cornstarch

1/4 tsp salt

7 TBSP unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 14 pieces

20 fun size Milky Way bars

Preheat oven to 350.

Line an 8-inch square baking pan with heavy duty aluminium foil, leaving at least 1 inch overhanging the top of the pan on all sides.

Combine the flour, confectioners' sugar, cornstarch and salt in a medium sized bowl and, with an electric mixer, mix on low speed to combine.

Add the butter and mix on low speed until the ingredients just come together in little clumps.

Sprinkle the mixture across the bottom of the prepared pan and press with your fingertips into an even layer.

Place the dish in the freezer for 15 minutes, then bake the crust until the edges are just golden, 18-20 minutes or so.

Place the Milky Way bars in 4 rows of 5 over the hot crust and return the pan to the oven.

Bake for 10 more minutes and remove the pan from the oven and then spread the melted candy into an even layer.

Bake an additional 5 minutes until the candy is all melted and bubbly.

Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let it cool completely.

Grasp the overhanging foil and lift the cookies out.  Put it on a cutting board and use a sharp knife to cut it into 20 pieces.

These Milky Way Shortbread bars will keep in an airtight container for about 3 days.  Makes 20.

        Halloween is rapidly approaching this week and we would be remiss if we did not point out some drinks recipes for the discerning party host. Of course most party guests are primarily going to be concerned with the actual alcoholic beverages being available to them. They will be happy so long as the spirits abound, whether or not they look Halloween-ish. So if decorating the booze is not your style I wouldn't worry.

       However if it IS your style (and it is ours because honestly how often do you get an excuse to serve people things that look disgusting and expect them to be delighted by it and not revolted) then we have a few recipes we can recommend your way.

       Many of the recipes we found looking over this involve the use of black vodka which I had not heard of before this year though it has been around for at least 4 or so. Blavod is one example. I have not tasted it so I cannot tell you how it affects the taste of the drink, although I think it's safe to say that most people will be expecting something disgusting or insane if you actually use this in a cocktail so where's the harm in trying :)

Eyeball Martini

3 oz. Vodka or Gin

(Gin does make the true martini, but vodka is certainly allowed if its more to your liking)

Dash Dry Vermouth

Stuff 2 radishes with olives for the eyeballs after first shaving parts of the red skinned radish down.

Pour ingredients into cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake and then pour into a chilled martini glass that can also be decorated as you choose. Of the course the eyeballs alone are more than enough gross for one drink.

The Headless Horseman

This drink could really make any number of strange looking cocktails because it uses black vodka. So really almost anything you make with it will look Halloween-gross perfect. Again there is a debate about the difference of flavor in black vodka versus a clear, but if you are going for a strange looking brew it certainly beats food coloring alone!

2 oz black vodka

3 dashes of bitters

Ginger Ale to taste

Pour the vodka and bitters into a glass, fill with ice and then pour in ginger ale. The recipe suggests a blood orange garnish but by all means use whatever gross thing you like for your own!

Spooky Screwdriver

2 oz black vodka

3 oz no pulp orange juice

Pour orange juice over ice and then gently pour black vodka overtop to create the orange/black layered effect.  Make sure to include a stirrer to blend the two once it is time to drink Because otherwise the taste of the vodka might overwhelm your guests entirely.

The other drink in the image is called a Black widow and works the same way as the screwdriver except it uses Red Bull. I am not a huge fan of energy drinks and alcohol mixing but if you are then this might be the drink for you.

Check out these cocktails and thousands more  at Divine Dinner Party. Bottoms up on Halloween!