Starfruit Upside Down Cake with Cardamom Rum Glaze

Disclosure: At press time, I am a contracted employee of Frieda's Specialty Produce. Some products are given to me as samples, some are leftover from a photo shoot, and some I purchase from an employee sale for personal use.  My opinion on this blog whether it's about Frieda's products or anything else are all my own and does not reflect that of my employer's. 

I've known Starfruit my entire life, having grown up in Thailand. I've seen them around all the time. But frankly, I don't recall having eaten any.  At least not in the past 20 years.  I got to taste it for the first time in recent memory a couple of weeks ago as we tried in vain to make a Vine for Star Wars Day.

We're now producing the new Specialty Produce 101 YouTube video for Starfruit and I was tasked to see if we can make something different with them outside of blending them into a smoothie or adding them into a fruit salad.

To be honest, there are not a lot of recipes out there for Starfruit that look appetizing or are simple. But then I read that Starfruit can be used instead of pineapples in some recipes.  And it seems I've stumbled on a winner on Epicurious.

The recipe calls for ground cardamom and comes with a warning that many people feel that 3 teaspoons of ground cardamom are too overpowering.  I already have cardamom PODS--green AND black!--in my pantry from my faux-Indian cooking, but I thought I probably should pick up a thing of ground cardamom anyway.  Then I saw the whopping $13 price tag. Never mind!

There has got to be a way around this!  Suddenly, I remembered my cardamom-infused bourbon I made a while ago for a cocktail.  So I did just that with the rum needed for the recipe.

The result is just a hint of cardamom that lets a little bit of pineapple shine through, a warmth that compliments the refreshing taste of the cooked Starfruit, and something just a tad savory to cut through the chewy sweet caramel.

Vacation on plate, I tell you.

Starfruit Upside Down Cake with Cardamom Rum Glaze
Adapted from Epicurious Pineapple Upside Down Cake

You'll need a well-seasoned 10-inch cast-iron skillet for this.

Cardamom-infused Rum

Crush 3 cardamom pods in a small bowl. Add 3 tablespoons of rum. Let stand for at least 30 minutes. Discard the pods and seeds.

Topping

1 large Starfruit or 2 small ones
3/4 stick unsalted butter
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar

Thoroughly wash Starfruit and slice it crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Melt butter in a cast-iron skillet. Add brown sugar and simmer over moderate heat until sugar is melted and the mixture is sticky, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat. Arrange Starfruit on top of sugar mixture.  Set aside.

Cake

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon cardamom-infused rum (recipe above)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup unsweetened pineapple juice*
2 tablespoon cardamom-infused rum for sprinkling

*I used the juice from in a can of pineapple rings in pineapple JUICE--NOT the syrup!  Brandon loves pineapples so I just poured out my 1/2 cup of juice, and dump the rest of the content into a container for him to eat later. :)

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Sift together flour, making powder, and salt. Beat butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, then gradually add sugar, and eggs, 1 at a time. Beat in vanilla and 1 tablespoon of cardamom-infused rum. Add half of flour mixture and beat just until blended. Beat in pineapple juice, then add remaining flour mixture, beating just until blended. (Batter may appear slightly curdled.)

Spoon batter over pineapple topping and spread evenly. Bake until golden and a tester comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Let cake stand in skillet 5 minutes. Put a plate over skillet and invert cake onto plate. Replace any fruit stuck to bottom of skillet. Sprinkle the remaining 2 tablespoons of cardamom-infused rum over cake and cool on plate on a rack.

Serve cake just warm or at room temperature.

I think next week I might repeat this recipe but using Zululand Queen Baby Pineapples instead!

Full of (First and) Hope

In an unsuspecting strip mall in downtown Los Angeles, a luxurious supper club is tucked away in the corner. And tucked away inside that is a speakeasy that sends you right back to the 40s.

Look up "hidden gem" and you’ll find First and Hope.



A friend told me about the place and the fabulous and innovative flight of mac and cheese. Where else would you take a girl who loves cheese for a pre-wedding last blast with her girl friends!

The party was started an hour before our dinner reservation as Amy and Celeste ended their days early. It didn’t take long before Amy, well known for her friend making prowess, chatted up First and Hope co-owner Parker Martin, restaurant designer Jeremy Ingram, and special event manager Mark Shunock. By the time Nhien the Bachelorette and I got there, we were whisked off to a tour of the restaurant and the Fedora, their “speakeasy” performance space, by Jeremy himself.

Talk about whetting your appetite! We were in the room in time for their lighting check. And the Fedora revealed herself to us gorgeously. Most bits and pieces in the room actually have history, not manufactured new. It was truly awe inducing. Mark informed us that wait until we come back in later to hear Brenna Whitaker perform to really be blown away. We didn't rush through our dinner but we could hardly wait to return to the Fedora for the show.



Back outside in the dining room, now fully alive with staff and diners trickling in, we were greeted by our waiter Johnny who was attentive, knowledgeable, and all around awesome. Not to mention handsome! I mean, the entire service staff came right out of a modeling catalog or something. And in those awesome uniforms!

At Johnny's recommendation, we ordered a bottle of wine and a mocktail crafted for our alcohol-allergic Bachelorette. And then we went to town with our orders.



First up, a potato amuse bouche. I inhaled that, more or less. Then pimento cheese and crackers I couldn't stop eating.



Then arrived BBQ Fried Oysters (Bacon BBQ Sauce & Celery Bleu Cheese Tapenade), tasty little morsels that were gone way too fast, and my mission dish, Praise the Lard! (And I was too hungry to take any pictures of these things. LOL!)

A trio of pork in a plate which I regretted that we share because I would've wanted it all for myself! Crispy Pigears over Heirloom Tomatoes, explosion of textures with crispy wisps of pigears and refreshing tomatoes. Kurobuta Pork Belly over Creamy Grits christened with warm Maple Dressing was superb, however my favorite has to be the Bourbon-Braised Pork Cheeks with a Crisp Soft Egg. The sweet, melt in your mouth pork with creamy egg inside crispy fried exterior. So. Effing. Good.

Then entered the grand finale, the Bachelorette's pick of Pecan-plank Whole Trout Stuffed with Baby Spinach and Lump Crab with a side of Heirloom Tomato & Cornbread Panzanella Salad. Nhien enjoyed this dish although I can't really tell you much about it because my focus was entirely on the Flight of Mac and Cheese.

All-About-The-Cheese Mac & Cheese Flight laid out beautifully on the table. First crock was Fiscalini Xtra Mature Cheddar, Lasagnette & Ritz Crackers. Creamy and homey. Next was Cypress Grove Goat Cheese, Conchiglie & Popped Corn. I had my doubts erased the moment I ate a forkful. Popcorn gave it the texture and the flavors were really good. Everyone else liked the popcorn/goat cheese best. But no, not me.



Naturally, my favorite is Porter Beer Cheese, Corkscrew Pasta & Rye Croutons with a sample of porter and small pile of what I think is pickled shallot/red onion. Put all the components in your mouth and sip the porter and all will be revealed to you!



Also came with the main event were our 2 side dishes collard greens and tater tots. The greens came with big hunks of thick bacon...which my friends left for me to destroy. (Good friends!) Tater tots were crispy outside and creamy inside, a texture I didn't expect from my tots but they were really, really good.

And of course, I wans't going to leave without dessert. I just didn't have room to go solo on what I wanted, the Porky Pig Banana Split (Bacon & Banana Ice Cream, Jalapeño Hot Fudge, Brandied Cherries & Caramel Pork Rinds) which no one wanted to participate in. LOL. We asked Johnny and went with his favorite LAPD Doughnut Shake Down. Boston Cream Pie Doughnuts & Chocolate Dipping Sauce with Strawberry Milkshake, Strawberry Compote & Strawberry Whipped Cream.



Seriously. Hit me with a bus. I can die happy.

And a surprise present from Mark and the boys for our Bachelorette was the Lemon Meringue Beehive. Coconut Macaroon, Lemon Curd, Lemon-Thyme Ice Cream & Toasted Marshmallow in a shape of a beehive. Sounds decadent but really refreshing. Definitely lighter than the doughnuts I can tell you.



As we wrapped up the dessert, music came pouring out of the Fedora. The fabulous Ms. Whitaker had taken the stage. And wow. What a voice! So back into the Fedora we went. With Brenna and her band on stage, the place really came alive. Intimate truly is the word for the place. It was simply amazing.

There are times when I really wish I live closer to downtown LA. And walking away from First and Hope that night was one of those moments. I wish I could hang out here any night there is a performance. The food. The vibe. The music. First and Hope has all I ever wanted.

Suddenly, living behind the Orange curtain becomes a serious inconvenience. I envy you, Downtown LA!

Hot Chocolate on a Stick

I know, I know. You guys would say, "I could've used this during the holidays!" Pretty much, so did I.

But hey, you can give this wonderful gift at ANYTIME. So hush. And read on. :)

Just Spotted OC tweeted about this fantastic gift idea of Hot Chocolate on a Stick on Giver's Log website.

Sounds like fun! You know, stick this in a hot cup of hot milk and make yourself an AWESOME mug of hot chocolate.

[ETA: Many have asked if you can just eat it from the stick. My answer would be, why not? LOL. But the purpose is to get melted into a hot cup of milk though.]

So I set off to make a batch of 40 sticks for my coworkers. The recipe is simple enough so I was all cocky about it. And I got my butt kicked a couple of times before I got it right.

If you make sure to do the following, you will NOT fail.



Ingredients

• 8 oz. chocolate bars, chopped up. Bittersweet, semisweet, milk, OR white! Just not chips. I used 4 oz. each of Ghirardelli 65% Cocoa and the Bittersweet chocolate bars from the baking aisle.
• 1/4 cup dutch process cocoa, sifted. I also used Ghirardelli here.
• 1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar, sifted
• pinch of salt

Melt the chocolate hunks over double-boiler, in a bowl over simmering water, or in the microwave. Whatever your preferred method is. Then add the dry ingredients. Stir until smooth. It'll have the consistency of chocolate frosting.  While still warm--careful when handling this!--transfer chocolate gooey goodness to a ziptop bag. Cut off a corner and pipe the chocolate in your the mold of your choice. This recipe gives me about 8 oz of chocolate at the end. 

Just FYI that about one ounce of Hot Chocolate On A Stick to 1 cup of milk is the ratio.

For my version, I used 1-oz Dixie condiment cups (from Smart & Final) for the mold and fancy bamboo skewers from Cost Plus World Market.  But you can find  one-ounce cube ice cube trays anywhere, really.

Now the tips to follow strictly.

1. Not a drop of water or any other liquid anywhere. A drop of water and the chocolate will seize up. There is a fix by adding some oil, but seriously, would you want THAT?

I found online that someone said I could add liquor to chocolate before melting and it will not seize up. Sure, that works if you're not adding anything else to said melted chocolate. It does NOT work here.

After my first semi-successful batch (see next), I put some Grand Marnier in with the chocolate chunks. They melt just fine. But then, once I added the dry ingredients, it seized. Completely. No saving it.

2. Measure the dry ingredients AFTER they have been sifted. Yep. I got lazy there with the first batch and put everything in the sift and sifted onto the melting chocolate. It started to look like it seized up but I added more chocolate chips (see next) and it melted out. However, the end result had a bit of a dull and slightly gooey finish and refused to come out of the shot glasses I used as molds.

3. Use good chocolate BARS. My first batch I used good chocolate CHIPS. Apparently, not the same thing. I learned my lesson.

4. Keep your eyes on the sticks. It may be standing up when you first put it in the chocolate, but it might not stay there. Keep adjusting. I didn't have too much time to get it properly straight but that sort of added to the charm.

To wrap the finished products, I used snack-sized Ziplock bags. Sure, I could've wrapped each of them in cellophane--or even with the sandwich bags--then tied them up with bows and cute little labels. However, I was pressed for time. So, I printed a sheet of return labels of what it is and "Melt into 1 cup of HOT milk" instruction and slapped that on the ziplock bags. Heh.



It was so much fun to make, I'm a bit addicted.

Now I am a proud owner of a couple of plastic ice cube trays which do hold 1-oz each per cube. And a couple of the silicone ice molds from IKEA. (Word of warning. The IKEA molds, each of the heart- and flower-shaped ones only holds 0.5 oz. Yeah, I'm thinking maybe I can use hot metal skewers to put 2 hearts together afterward? Hmm....)

I'm thinking up ways to incorporate booze into this. I mean, booze + chocolate chunks = well melted chocolate. Maybe I can dip the finish stick in a coat of boozy chocolate melt? Then again, I can always give someone a jar of the 0.5-oz nuggets and a baby bottle of Kaluah. Right?

I am also thinking I can use the molds to make, wait for it, chocolate-covered candied bacon...ON A STICK!

So much fun. So much possibilities!

Sweet Sensations

Once again, I followed Elizabeth to one of her cooking classes. This time at the Cypress Community Center. A very nice facility with the industrial kitchen which fit 12 people a wee bit too snugly but we managed.

On the menu were three summer desserts: Fruit Crisps, Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting, and Dark Chocolate Mousse.

I was happy with my decision to grab a small dinner before heading out the class. The torture some of the hungry students had to suffer while busying themselves with all these lovely ingredients was tremendous, apparently.

Our class was split into essentially 4 groups. 2 to attack the fruit crisps and one each to the red velvet and chocolate mousse.

I was there purely for the chocolate mousse. Brandon LOVES chocolate mousse, and, as I found out from Elizabeth, it's actually a non-dairy dessert. And this whole time I thought it was chocolate and cream! But I digress.

I was in the group with Darlene whom I met before at the basic cooking class at PREP and another girl. Darlene was in charge of the chocolate. The other girl whipped up the yolks. And I did the egg whites and final assembly.

Elizabeth would stop whatever everyone was doing so we could watch the key part about each of the recipe.



For the fruit crisp, she explained how the size of the fruit cubes is important to the texture of the cooked product. Smaller chunks of fruit = mushier fruit filling.

For the red velvet cake, a recipe Elizabeth adapted from her aunt from Arkansas, we watch to see where we'd stop with the red and that the secret ingredient is buttermilk and vinegar.



For the mousse, we watched closely for the "ribbon stage" as we whipped the heck out of egg yolks, and the soft peak for the egg whites. Elizabeth could be heard several times, "Oakley, stop banging on the bowl!". I kept forgetting that hitting the bowl would settle all the air I was trying to whip in. Whoops.



And of course, the fold.

Folding the fluffy ingredients correctly will maintain the airiness. (No. Banging. On. The. Bowl!) I've folded stuff before but put on the spotlight in front of class, somehow I was like a neanderthal being handed a stick for the first time. I was quite frustrated as to why I couldn't fold properly.

It wasn't until I got home did I realize that DO know how to fold. I usually hold the spatula in my LEFT hand, folding to the right. Elizabeth was showing the class with the right hand going to the right and that was how I held the spatula, and THAT was why I couldn't do it right.

Ah, the joy of being ambidextrous.

In the end, we all enjoyed the fruits of our labor--almost literally. The fruit crisps were yummy. The red velvet cakes were just right...even the little baby ones!



The dark chocolate mousse? It definitely rivals my all-time favorite Belgian Chocolate Mousse from Fresh & Easy.

Oh god. Now I crave the rich chocolatey goodness. ARGH!

2009 Goal #4: Crepes

Fluffy buttermilk pancakes. Done that.

Puffy and custardy Dutch Baby. Yep, made that too. (Actually, it's qualified as a new recipe made this year. Will have to blog that later.)

Crepes. Never done it. Until this morning.

I have a little bit of history with crepes. The first I've ever had was one of the several Crepe Suzettes we had growing up. It was my mom's favorite dessert. And of course, in Thailand, they made it table side. With the flambe and all of that, it was a spectacular childhood memory. That and watching my mom watching the table side service, learning how it was done so she could make it at home later...which she did.

She made hers with cognac instead of Grand Marnier because, well, "We already opened the cognac. Until we run out of this, there's no reason to open another bottle." But I totally digress.

Now it's my turn to make the crepes.

This morning, I whipped up basic crepes from The Big Book of Breakfast to fill with Nutella and strawberries.

The recipe tells you to throw everything in a blender and wait 1 hour. I was too lazy and hungry for that, respectively. So I hand whisk everything and sit the batter down for about 10 minutes while I prepped the strawberries and Nutella.

Whisk together 1 1/4 cup milk and 2 eggs. Then whisk in 1 cup flour (whole wheat in our case as I completely forgot to buy AP flour), a pinch of salt, and 1 TBS melted butter.

Voila! Batter up.

Low-medium heat. A dab of butter on non stick pan. Lift up the pan. Pour in batter and swirl. Put pan on heat, let cook. Flip and let cook 10-15 more seconds, and you're off.

Stuff with whatever you'd like. We just happened to have all these strawberries to eat.

The first crepe was scrapped. COD: Inability to swirl the batter around the pan, resulting in "scrambled" cake. First thought to be because of the batter was too thick, so I added a splash more milk. As my experience grew, I think the pan was too hot so the batter cooked up before I could even swirl anything.

The second crepe was also scrapped. COD: Wrong tool to use to flip resulting in structural instability and eventual collapse. (Also contributed to the COD of the first crepe.) Toss everyday plastic spatula. Deploy rubber spatula.

The rest was lots of yummy goodness.

Go! Sushi Go 55

Ever had food so awesome that if you were to get hit by a bus on your way out of the restaurant, you can truly say that you die happy?

It happened to me yesterday. Not the hit by the bus part, but having the food so good my life is complete part.

My boss/good friend Nhien took me and my coworkers Celeste and Pat to Sushi Go 55 in Little Tokyo. Voted best sushi in 2005 and 2006, this place really does have good stuff.

What they're famous for is their $15 Chirashi Sushi Box. According to their website, this double stacked, round bento box is packed with "assorted sashimi, tamago yaki (sweet egg omelet), shitake mushroom, fresh green seaweed, fish cake, yamagobo (root vegetable) on top of shredded daikon." In the bottom features "shredded egg omelet, toasted nori seaweed and ago on a bed of sushi rice".

For all means and purposes, I'd still call that box, "Heaven".

The real thing is just a wee bit different. The mushroom has moved to the bottom half and there wasn't any green seaweed or yamagobo insight. The bottom doesn't have toasted nori but red seaweed salad, pickled ginger, and a generous heap of masago (smelt eggs). (ETA : And the day I took the picture, the fixing changes from the red seaweed to nori. I guess it's just up to the chef.)


Yesterday, our sashimi selection included 2 slices each of salmon, tuna, yellow tail, toro (I think), and sweet egg; and one each of cooked shrimp, saba (mackerel), octopus and fish cake. (There might have been 2 more slices of one other fish...)

We also ordered appetizer plates of mixed tempura and the Oh-so-divine panko crusted fried oysters. Pat, not big on fish, ordered teriyaki chicken lunch.

I stuffed myself silly at this place. I mean, I ate all of my sashimi (except for one slice of the egg and fish cake) plus a few extra pieces of mackerel and octopus from Nhien and Celeste. They were totally amazed at how much I could eat at Sushi Go 55. I mean, I NEVER eat that much anywhere else.

I don't know what it is but when it comes to Japanese food, I seem to have the ability to pack it all in.

That's the way to die for me, with a belly full of food I totally love and enjoy. :)

With our bellies full of fish (and chicken), we moseyed downstairs to pick up some divine creation that is cream puffs at Beard Papa's...to go, of course. We still have yet to show up on the day to taste the super good looking fresh strawberry cream ones. But there will always be another visit to the mall, another occasion to feast at Sushi Go 55.

Black and Tan Cake and Cupcakes

My Saint Patrick's Day tradition of the Guinness stew continues this year as I just put the big ol' vat of the stew in the fridge, awaiting tomorrow's reheating.

*UPDATE -2010* I have since found a different Chocolate Guinness Cake recipe by Nigella's recipe that is a complete and total hit. I will not let you suffer through this dry cake so I have removed the recipe and link for this one.*

For dessert, this year I am going with the Chocolate Guinness Cake, a recipe directly from Guinness Proposition 317 campaign kit. But instead of using the chocolate granache that came with this recipe, I frost the cake with the Bailey's Dip/Frosting I made last year.

Not only you will have yummy Guinness treat, the color of the chocolate and the cream frosting does look like a pine of Guinness, the black and the creamy foam on top!

I made a regular cake version of this for Paul's birthday yesterday. The cake was a little dry, but the frosting saved the day. Today, I made the cupcake version of it with the whole bottle of Guinness instead of one cup in attempt to add more moisture--it's only a splash more beer than a cup anyway--and it worked okay.

Chocolaty AND Refreshing

For the office birthday party this week, I decided to bake the cupcakes instead of buying them. So, I went with Giada's recipe for Chocolate Orange Cupcakes with Limoncello Frosting because a) it sounded good at the time and b) it gave me a valid excuse to buy my first bottle of Limoncello.

Again, I used Duncan Hine's Devil's Food Cake Mix and I beat it on high a little while longer. Instead of the manufactured orange juice, I used the fresh squeezed organic one from Trader Joe's. As for the chocolate chips, I used semi-sweet.

The cake was moist and fluffy, not too sweet. Even the sweet icing had a little cut from Limoncello and zest. Despite the rich, chocolaty flavor, the cake was surprisingly refreshing. Perfect in every way for a summer day. (I know, the recipe was for Halloween...but it was a VERY summery cake!)

The only obstacle I had with this recipe is finding the candied orange peel. I went to Trader Joe's. No dice. Even Bristol Farms doesn't have any, to my surprise.

Oh god. The endive flashback!

Thank goodness, as a back up plan, I looked up Giada's candied orange peel recipe ahead of time. So while at Trader Joe's, I picked up 2 navel oranges.

I followed the recipe except that I use 2 oranges instead of one. Come to think of it, I think you can even candied peels from 3 oranges with all the sugar there was in that pot. And of course, I didn't chocolate-dip the peel.

At first I was worried. After I left the peel out to cool/dry over night, it was still sticky in the morning. But by the time I got home later that afternoon, they were dry. And they were perfect.

Indoor Picnic Dinner

A friend's uncle passed away yesterday so we went over to be with his dad. To cheer him up, I decided to go for a home cooked dinner. Pops always loves to be my lab rat. :)

Last weekend's episode of Everyday Italian was stuck in my head. Giada's "Picnic Planner" looked yummy and super easy I wanted to make everything. But I didn't have a chance during the week.

• Penne with Beef and Arugula - serves up well at room temperature as well as cold.
  
• Parmesan Popovers
• Almond Blueberry Cookies
• Iced Tea with Grenadine <-- I didn't make this one.

I was in the kitchen most of the afternoon as I baked the cookies first then made the batter for the popovers and started the pasta and steak at about the same time. (If you don't make cookies, this could count as a quick fix meal.) I did follow the instructions on all of them this time...except for the Herbes de Provence part . You know the history. I used Penzey's Parisien Bon Herbes plus lavender instead.

The penne and steak makes a LOT of pasta salad, folks. The portion I served today, we would've fed six. So, tomorrow Brandon is going to take 2 tubs of this on his trip to DC, one for him and one for his coworker, and I will eat one for lunch.

Also, one tip on the popovers that Giada mentioned on the show. Don't peak at the popovers while they cook or you'll end up with deflated ones. Hey, they were still tasty. Just didn't look too pretty.

We showed up at Pops' door with the picnic pack. We ate and talked. We talked about his brother and his life, boxing, tennis, politics. We talked about his day at work. We just talked. Or more like letting Pops talk. While sitting there listening to Pops and Brandon, I just realized this would be the first time I cook for a sad occasion.

I am humbled and amazed at the power of food to bring people together.

Irish Feast...sort of

For the past 5 years, I have been cooking up this recipe of 1996 Bon Appetit Beef Stew with Stout Guinness.



(ETA: Picture above is from 2009 St. Patty's feast.)

I kept to the recipe more or less every year, adding a bay leaf or two and doubling the portion to serve 4. A few more spoons of cornstarch to thicken, and pinches of brown sugar and a few dashes of Worcestershire sauce has been added to round out the taste.

The recipe called for the stew to be served with a side of Colcanon, mashed potatoes with kale. I used to just do mashed potatoes, but the public demanded potatoes IN the stew. And I obliged.

The challenge wasn't the stew but the proportion. Let me just say that I have NEVER cooked with 4 lbs. of meat before.

Yep. 4 lbs. of stew beef, 6 carrots, 2 bags of baby Russet potatoes, 3 onions, a pack of whole white mushrooms (because I have it laying around), 2 bottles of Guinness, 1.5 cartons of beef stock, 2 bay leaves, a few sprigs of thyme, about a table spoon or two of brown sugar, a few shakes of Worcestershire, and, as always, a few spoonfuls of cornstarch + broth to thicken things up.

And a VERY big pot.

I fed all 8 with leftover of maybe 4 servings more.

For dessert, I searched the web and found a recipe for a Bailey's Irish Cream Fruit Dip which I modified slightly. Now it doubles fantastically as frosting for Giada's almond cupcakes. (I just did the cake and instead of the raspberry cream, I use the Bailey's dip.)

Mix together:
One 8-oz. tub CoolWhip, thawed
One 5-oz. packet vanilla instant pudding
1/2 c. Bailey's
1/2 c. milk (Original recipe called for one cup. I think that may just be too soupy.)

Served with fruits, white/angel food cake, a bar of chocolate. Whatever! Just don't let the kids near it. It has quite a kick for a harmless looking sweet treat. :)