Monday, March 30, 2009

Slumber Party

How to host a slumber party for the girls when the boys go to a cabin in the woods:

1) Make reservations at a good, sexy restaurant downtown.
2) After dinner, come back to the house and give party favors: little bottles of flavored booze, funny pins, sparklers.


3) Change into comfy clothes and cuddle up on the couch and velvet chairs with the pets and tell stories until 3am.


4) Crash.
5) Get up in the morning and put the breakfast you put together the day before in the oven. You'll have cardamom rolls and baked eggs with greens, feta, and fennelseed. Drink little lattes and grapefruit mimosas. It will all taste delicious.
6) Go for a hike and wander in the nearby woods for hours and hours.



7) Finally disperse around 3pm, everyone going to their own homes for a satisfied nap.
8) Look forward to the next time.


Make-Ahead Egg Bake with Greens

I tinkered greatly with this recipe from Sunset.

You will need:
1 tablespoon butter plus extra for greasing the pan
A large bunch of mixed greens (I used chard, Tuscan kale, and arugula because that is what my garden gave me), cleaned and cut into 1/2" ribbons
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/4 teaspoon fennelseed
1 cup crumbled feta
1 dozen eggs
1/4 cup cream
generous pinch of fennel pollen
freshly ground pepper
a handful of grated gruyere

To make the egg bake:

The day before you're making breakfast, toss the butter in a pan over medium heat, melt, and add the greens to saute until they're bright green and almost-tender. Stir in the garlic, red pepper, and fennelseed, then add a shake of salt. Cook for another 30 seconds or so.

Grease a 13"x9" baking pan then spread the greens across the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle the feta evenly over the greens.

In a large bowl, whisk together the cream, eggs, a shake or so of salt, the fennel pollen, and a hearty grind or two of pepper. Carefully pour the mixture into the baking pan over the greens and feta. Sprinkle the gruyere over all, wrap carefully with foil or plastic, and place it in the refrigerator.

When you're ready to make breakfast, heat the oven to 350, and once the oven reaches temperature, remove the cover of the eggs and place them in the oven for 40 minutes, or until the cheese is beginning to brown.

Serves 4-6 with sweet rolls, good coffee, and even better conversation.

3 comments:

Making Love In the Kitchen said...

Great blog. Happy to have found you.

sarahww said...

You forgot to add: fall asleep to the most fantastic cacophony of birds outside the jungles of Panama.

I am definitely #8. I 8 it.

NerdMom said...

Ahhhh, I remember those days (she says like she is 60;). NerdDad would have a retreat and I would have a girls' weekend with some friends. The 4 kids really put a crink in that now;). Sounds like you all had fun!