Table For Two

Salam, Hello! We just landed our flying afghan after seeing “Aladdin” at the movie theater. We disneybounded as Aladdin and Jasmine for a trip to the farmer’s market in Saratoga. 

We tasted the fruits of the people’s labor, a chocolatier with different bars full of nuts and salty caramel, 3 cheese makers with delicious combinations and rinds, a lady with protein-packed oatmeal, a mutton loving butcher and his wife who brought their haul in their own freezer and a Hispanic trio of women with an acre’s worth of fresh vegetables and gold-colored potatoes.

I see my little Asian monkey has stolen a small round of sheep cheese from our haul. I’ve told him many times the cost of stealing is greater than that of the trinket, but he refuses to listen!

How many animals other than a cow can you imagine giving milk that could be made into cheese? We have a Facebook post on our page where you can give your responses. We’ve already gotten 3 from our top followers. Besides cows, you can make cheese from the milk of sheep, goat and buffalo, but I’d wager there are more. 

We also had a chat with the fish monger next to the guitarist who had pieces of shark, john dory (No, not the blue tang Dory, we mean the gold St.Pierre fish with the thumbprint mark.) It sounded tasty, but for $2 less we bought something novel, blowfish tails! The monger cleaned them out and advised us to cook them like shrimp. 

We got some Middle Eastern seasoning from the first vendor on the block, Saratoga Spicery:  she called it Za’atarr. It smelled like being smack in the middle of Cairo. White sesame seeds, marjoram, coriander, sumac, thyme and oregano with a pinch of sea salt. The Mrs was sweet and let us sample her dips with pretzel sticks.

This is what they look like after a dose of olive oil in the pan and a minute on each side with some baby garlic and chives. The monger may have called them the chicken NUGGETS of the sea, but with the bone in and a tail on the end, we had to eat them with our hands and pick around. We’re going with the trends and calling them the chicken WINGS of the sea. I tried mine with some BBQ sauce and found myself at the sports bar in 1 bite. These would be so hipster for a superbowl party. 

To make this into a complete dinner we oven-roasted some potatoes and carrots, 25 minutes in a 375 degree oven with a heavy sprinkle of dill. Using olive oil added a little flavor as opposed to boring unappealing vegetable oil, or corn oil.

I guess we used a bit too much oil on the vegetables because they came out REALLY slippery. Good thing we tossed a salad on the side. That way we could use the excess oil as dressing with the Peter Rabbit secret ingredient, a cap-full of lemon juice. Ranch and thousand island dressing can have 58-73 calories per tablespoon. Do you really want that much to go to a topping alone? I didn’t think so.

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As the night concludes, let’s raise a glass of strawberry kiwi infused water to another Arabian night of exploring new cheeses, innovating fishy ideas, and Disney-clad fun!

SALAM!

Hi Everyone! Jeremy speaking. (I’m wearing a smaller shirt these days. Like it?) Memorial day is a time for remembrance, honor and outdoor cooking. With that storm we had on Friday night, we had no chance to fire up the grill. We decided to go with shrimp – always a good option, one of Lauren’s favorites. According to health line, they are very nutritious – containing various minerals not normally found in most diets, like iodine. They are also low calorie, contain no carbohydrates, and high in HDL cholesterol, (that’s the good ones)

Jeremy took the lead this time with our mise-en-place. He has a keen eye for knife-cuts. We decided to wrap these up, so we needed red bell pepper, avocado and little cherry tomatoes.

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I took on the polenta. It’s basically a porridge from northern-central Italy like where my family originated. In Roman times, polenta was made from a variety of grains, since corn had not been introduced yet to European culture. We added a little dab of butter and a few grates of Parmesan cheese to our water and cornmeal for that nice bonus layer of elegant taste and comfort. I stirred until it was a thick but smooth consistency. This served as a nice counter-balance to the spiciness of the shrimp. I don’t know about you, but my mouth can only take a medium heat spice-level.

We got this recipe from Jo Cooks. “Blackened” refers to a style of Cajun cooking. All it takes is a mixture of spices: cumin, paprika, chili powder, oregano, and brown sugar with some lime squeezed on top. The brown sugar is key here – it serves as a counter-balance to the intense spice of the cumin and chili powder, but when it is put on the heat, it forms a nice caramelized crust. Best of all, as exotic as it looks, it’s super simple to make. We let, per the recipe, the shrimp marinate in this warm spice mixture for a little bit so it could all soak in.

Yeah, I accidentally grabbed the COOKED shrimp instead of the raw, so we couldn’t achieve that nice crust on the little buggers. Sorry, Darling. Normally blackened shrimp are supposed to have a nice crust to them. These ended up having too much of a gritty texture on them as a result. Either we didn’t have enough shrimp or the recipe called for too many spices. It’s okay, Darling. Since they were pre-cooked, I was able to try one with the spice combo on it before it hit the pan. Mom’s Kitchen Rule #3: Those who help get to snitch!

Like I said, we wrapped it up at the table. There are 3 ways we know to do a wrap: Tortilla, Rice Paper and Lettuce leaf.

First one up is the Flour Tortilla: A Mexican flat-bread. Ours is of the flour variety. This is your most BREAD-LIKE option. Some people like corn ones better.

Pros: It’s easily kept together, easy to find at the grocery store and holds the most stuff inside. 

Cons: Ours were flour, so we could fold them up unlike those corn ones. This one doesn’t have the best flavor profile. It’s just about the same as having a shrimp sandwich with a bowl of porridge. We have the polenta for the “Shrimp and Grits” aspect, so it seems redundant to have 2 breads in the same meal.

Our Second Candidate is Rice Paper: We found out about this from when we did those summer rolls. It’s super pliable, but very easy to rip coming out of the pie tin.

Pros: Nothing falls out of here. It has a great capacity. Not much flavor to mess around with your inside combination

 Cons: Rice paper rips like crazy. You have to prep these before you try and use them.

This new-comer at the end is what’s called a lettuce wrap: This is a trendy way to cut the calories and add a little roughage to your diet.

Pros: This is easy to grab at the grocery store or the farmers’ market. Nothing is going to alter any flavors because it’s mostly water. Most important of all, it’s the only one with a chance of crunch to it.

Cons: Where do I begin? Everything kept falling out during the rolling. It couldn’t stay inside when I picked it up either. There was no “Wrap” to this or nutritional value outside of “It’s just water inside”.

The winner for us is……the Tortilla!! YAY!

But as you can see, we have enough here for every combination possible. We didn’t slice up the lime and cilantro for aesthetics. Excuse us while we dig in with our photographer, once he puts down the camera and grabs a plate. (and I do my signature sneak-hug from behind)

 

 

Easter was 2 weeks ago, which means Lent is over! YAY!! Being Catholic, that means Good Friday, Ash Wednesday and ALL FRIDAYS in Lent are considered fasting days- the rule is no warmblooded meat like beef, pork, chicken, or duck, but coldblooded fish, turtle, frog, snake and shellfish are acceptable. We’ve got the full story here. It’s no problem if you’re a 24-7 pescatarian, vegetarian or vegan like Mayim Bialik, Adam Cumming, Paul McCartney, the couple from “Boho Beautiful”, Ellen DeGenerous or Liam Hemsworth. (Thor’s brother doesn’t eat meat? SHOCKING!) We’re not, but we want to be super considerate to all of our friends and fans out there who aren’t so fond of Texas cow and Buffalo chicken wings.

In the words of Frank Gorshin, “Riddle me this”: What do you do as a pescatarian when you want a burger? Switch the beef for a fillet of salmon. It’s LOADED with Omega-3 fatty acid, which is AMAZING for heart and brain health. We want to stay sharp and stick around for a long time and hope you do too. My favorite sashimi is salmon. (that’s the word for sushi that only has rice and some fish on top, not wrapped in nori) We buy salmon pretty cheap in the packaged refrigerated fish section. NOT FROZEN! That freezer taste is super hard to eliminate. It’s possible, but not pleasing to the well-seasoned mouth. Besides, these have a nice deep color if they’ve been on a healthy krill and shrimp diet. Some farms use coloring in their fish’s food, FYI, but it’s the color that tells us if it’s wild caught $$$ or farm-raised and given slump for supper. Since 2003, they have to say it on the package if any added coloring was involved.

We love having salmon for breakfast. It’s very wholesome and savory. I like it broiled with a slice of lemon on top, a few shakes of garlic, capers, white pepper and shallots. I feel so fancy imagining I’m eating it in a fancy restaurant with a string of pearls around my neck discussing fine culture with the other high-society folks. 

I like my salmon sauteed or smoked so you get that unique fish-taste and the fire-roasted flavor. Like I say, anything cooked over a morning campfire is good eating. It’s not as good as bagels and lox, but I won’t EVER say “no” to toasted onion bagels with that special cream cheese mixed with fresh salmon to get my morning going on a full stomach. It’s a ton of carbs, but it’s worth it. 

Enough with the facts and on to the fish. We’re boring the poor people. We took this recipe from Tasty. It’s actually quite simple, you don’t even need to buy ground fish. You just need a functioning food processor, a fresh fish fillet, and some spices. First, you dice the fish into 1/2 inch cubes and throw them into the food processor with your spices and a diced red onion; pulse a few times until everything is well combined and form the mush into patties. We used dill, garlic powder, and some chives- so the fish would be the star of the dish.

We broke out the griddle (Yes, they trusted me with it!) and cooked them just a few minutes on each side until they have a nice color on them. Since we made these for breakfast, we topped ours with a fried egg. They were absolutely amazing! I thought they could use a little white pepper- but otherwise they were delicious. The runny yolk from the fried egg added a nice flavor boost.

What do you think? Is fish a breakfast food? A lunch and dinner food? Anytime you want food? Tell us in the comments section.

P.S. Do you think your salmon burger is better? Talk the talk and we’ll try it out. We love hearing from our subscribers. See you next week!

There are so many different kinds of bread, there’s even a bread-only cookbook. We were looking through Bread, the breads of the world and how to bake them at home by Christine Ingram and Jennie Shapter the other day and saw some similarities in the varieties. A bunch of them weren’t the puffy loaves of warm soft bread that we know, but rather flat, yet not quite crackers either. Bread often stems from its culture’s origins.

Israel is famous for their cracker-like Matzo bread dating back to the Jews escape from Egyptian slavery. They packed up and left so quickly before the pharaoh could catch them, there was no time for any yeast to rise. At Passover Jewish families host a seder, where the youngest at the table asks The 4 Questions called “Ma Nishtana”, and the oldest at the table reads the aloud the tale of their ancestors’ liberation. It’s a very meaningful holiday that I have yet to see in person.

Apache tribes have a fry-bread that can be cooked in a frying pan because they could only take with them what they can carry on their back. There’s an authentic recipe HERE for your own Navajo tacos, or a sweet dessert. Skye’s grandfather Shidaleh, from “The Puzzle Place” made a batch in this episode. HIT IT, Weebus!

Naan and paratha are found in Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India. They’re very soft and round. perfect for eating plain, or alongside curry and chutney. 

Italians didn’t have much money in some regions, so most food was cooked with only a few ingredients. This flat bread called piadine, is only made with flour, water and olive oil. We picked this bread because it’s super easy to make and we had all of the ingredients in the pantry. All you do is mix the oil, salt and four. Slowly mix in a cup at a time of cold water and knead your dough for a few minutes. Let the dough rest, cut out small snowballs of dough, (That’s what the scrapper is for in the cutting drawer. IT looks like a scroll unraveling) roll them flat and finally pan-fry them like pancakes until you have crispy brown piadine.

We took it one step further and after some heat, we broke out the veggies and made flat-bread pizza! Make a funny face, self-portrait, picture of animals or places, or whatever abstract thing you can imagine. The yogurt can get a bit heavy if you don’t spread a thin enough layer. Don’t forget to cut your pieces of fruit and veg small so it can all fit and doesn’t give you uneven bites.

 

Clara made a face on hers with an orange mouth, carrot hair, avocado eyes and a tomato nose! Isn’t it cute, Lauren?

Hey, wouldn’t this be perfect for an arts party? Everyone can make their own edible palette. If you use the piadine as the canvass instead, everyone can eat their pictures! Isn’t that fun?Everyone can vote on their favorite face, who made the funniest face at a “Hunchback of Notre Dame” themed party, or Scariest monster for Monster/Zombie parties, maybe who designed the best makeover face for future beauticians or make a big mosaic out of them. Like Pappy Drewitt use to say on “Pappyland”: “There’s no limitation to your imagination!” Have fun!!

This past week was rough on me. I need a little something sweet to soften the blows. Nothing makes me feel better after dinner on a bad day than an ice cream sundae with my darling Jeremy. Remember that leftover pie crust dough sitting at the bottom of the fridge? We broke it up and put the pieces on a baking sheet in the oven at 475 degrees. Oops! Some of it burned! That smell is impossible to eliminate from the kitchen. Okay, next time 450. Let’s not burn down the kitchen like Shady Pines.

Caramel ice cream, that’s brilliant! We made an apple pie sundae. Rainbow sprinkles are one of my staple sundae components because I love colorful edibles. After all, they were invented by the French as a decorative touch to everyday desserts. We skipped the dry sugar-made sprinkles -which don’t really work with pie- and went towards the fruit drawer. I sliced up a ripe red apple -much more appropriate for pie crust- and threw out the core.

Caramel is a browned mixture of different sugars, and butter and/or cream heated at 340 degrees. Werthers Original makes the best caramel lozenges, but Hershey does have a very appetizing caramel sauce too. But what’s the difference between caramel, butterscotch and toffee? It BOILS DOWN to a science, like this.. https://www.finecooking.com/article/the-science-of-caramel

Guys, I’m REALLY trying to be good and not eat a ton of sugar. Even though I had a frustrating stressful day too, I don’t want to eat my feelings to try and make them go away. We’re going to skip the sauces too.

Darn it! We’re out of heavy cream to whip for the top! That’s my favorite part!! 

YAY! I won’t get whipped cream on my face! Lauren can’t be trusted not to smear whipped cream on my face. But if we don’t have whipped cream, then I can’t try and get her back. Oh, Man!! 

As much as the pie crust pieces looked like chips that could scoop up some ice cream like an edible spoon, it didn’t work out that way. Our crust was thin and flaked as we dug in. It’s easiest to use your apple slices if you don’t want to make your spoon wet and sticky.

I have to tell you, I was in HEAVEN when I took that first bite of the trio: an apple slice dipped in caramel ice cream with a pie crust piece on top! MMMMM!!!!! Lauren is a genius in the kitchen, I tell you! I could eat up her ideas all day long! Om-nom-nom! Jeremy, if we do this one again, I could bake the slices and add some cinnamon and nutmeg. You know, give it a deep filling apple pie flavor instead of just bare bones basics. What did I just tell you? She’s a GENIUS!! and she’s all mine…okay, I share her with her family.

This is our first anniversary of our blog, and 3 years for us as a couple. We decided to spend our dating anniversary (March 25th) watching our movie, “Beauty and the Beast” from 2017 (We saw it in the theater 2 years ago and stuck with the tradition like candle wax) and bake a berry-lemon tart on our blogging anniversary.

My mother has a Betty Crocker cookbook which shows the basic Crisco crust, great for pies and tarts. Usually she uses her tried and true half butter half Crisco crust so it flakes but still has that real buttery flavor. Crisco crusts give it that flaked texture with the added bonus of it’s packaged softened in a giant can instead of 4 hard sticks per box. Butter gives it that irresistible flavor that makes you crave it more and doesn’t take up as much space in the refrigerator. Flour, butter, Crisco and a few tablespoons of ice-cold water are all you need.

Here’s a tip for measuring cups of lard-like substances. Fill a liquid measure of water with the amount you need of the Crisco. Add in your Crisco until the water is twice as high as you started.

Example: You need 1 cup of Crisco…put 1 cup water in a liquid measure. Keep adding Crisco to the water until it reaches 2 cups all together. 

Oops! We have an extra ball of pie crust dough unused! Oh well, We can roll it out and put it in the fridge for another time.

Just a few minutes in the oven at 475 degrees and we were ready to go.

This turned out to be much simpler than I had imagined it to be. All you do is make the filling in one bowl and the pie crust onto some wax paper. My mom, Cindi gave us a gift card to “Whole Foods” so we picked out a jar of gooey lemon curd to try. It was extra sour and thin in comparison to the depth of our pie. We tried adding berries to sweeten it up, plopped them in one by one without care. Not exactly our best idea. In hindsight, I think we should have made a syrup or maybe a compote. What if we tried making a mixed berry curd and used a smaller pan? Those are good questions, Lauren. Let’s keep them in mind for next time.

We thought things would improve if we chilled it in the fridge over-night, but nothing happened. To make matters difficult, we made too much crust dough and had to keep it in the fridge since we were up until midnight and could barely keep awake.

In the end, we gave it to my mom as a just-because gift. She loves sour stuff. It’s better than wasting edible food, especially if the ingredients were expensive.

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We’re very happy to have been able to share our first year of cooking with you. From apples-zeppolis, there’s plenty more to come.

Cooking is one of our favorite ways to bond as a couple. Food brings people together in ways words and music just don’t understand.

Thank you all for supporting us here and on our Facebook page. Keep the stove warm. See you soon! After all, we still have extra pie dough! Check out our next post to see what becomes of that.                       The best is yet to come!

Recently, Jeremy and I went to one of our favorite restaurants, Sushi Na-Ra. It is lent season, so on Fridays only: we can’t eat meat, so it seemed like the perfect place to go before the movies. As we were looking over the menu, we saw what looked like a giant pancake. However, this was no ordinary pancake. It was a kimchi pancake, and it was nothing like the buttery, sweet cakes we eat here in America  like these. So we decided to try it out. As I always say, when you go out to eat, it’s the perfect chance to try something new. -I never had sea urchin before. Now, it’s something I want my mom to taste, since she loves lobster tomalley.- It may be the best thing you’ve ever had. If not, you never have to order it again.

In Korean, Jeon (전) are a type of pancake made with a variety of ingredients (fish, meat, vegetables, etc.) mixed with egg and flour and fried until crispy. The one we had had kimchi in it (otherwise known as kimchijeon – 김치전 or kimchibuchimgae – 김치부침개). They can be eaten either as a snack, a side dish, or as an appetizer, and are relatively easy to make. Looking over recipes (from The Spruce Eats or Maangchi) it seems really quick, even more so than the regular pancakes. The key to each, as these websites and others talk about, is to make sure the kimchi is really juicy.

Our waitress informed us that they are popular over in South Korea and that they are a wide variety of different types of Jeon. The Wikipedia page confirms this with a relatively large list of different types – ones with seafood, – Perfect for Lent  ones with meat in it, great protein perks   scallion-based ones, etc.

When our order arrived it looked and smelt great, a hint of brininess but golden brown with a side of something like soy sauce. We picked it apart with chopsticks piece by piece like real South Koreans do. It’s much harder than fork and knife, but that’s why chopsticks are still used. It makes you slow down and enjoy your food rather than stabbing at it and shoveling everything in your mouth at once. Eating slowly is good for easy digestion. On that note, Lauren, people claim that kimchi is good for you. Fermented vegetables good bacteria and vitamins are productive for digestion.

When I used to teach ESL, I helped a lot of Korean students out while practicing their English. As a way of thank you, they would often make Korean dishes for me to try. They tended to have a lot of seafood and a lot of spice to them – perfect for me, but not so much for Lauren, though the seafood part is perfect for the two of us to try. While Sushi Na-Ra is a Korean restaurant, they are more focused on artful sushi dishes (which are all excellent and easy on the wallet, FYI). Check out these pics we took last summer:

Since none of my old students are around (or in the country for that matter), we’re looking for recommendations for places serving various Korean foods.

If anyone knows of an option in the NY capitol region, we will visit ASAP and post all about it. 

You have no idea how many pancakes there are in the world. Buckwheat, tamales, buttermilk, griddle cakes and silver dollars are only a few. My personal favorite are French pancakes. Crepes are very similar to these because they’re full of egg and with such a silky smooth batter, they lay out very thin, but these are slightly thicker. The recipe is so easy, I made them from the 1950 Rumford cookbook as a first-timer in the kitchen by myself. It’s awesome to make something for the first time by yourself! These make roughly 8 small pancakes.

The trick is to make sure you have sifted everything as finely as you can. Most flours come sifted in the bag. Less clumps means thinner batter. I’ve tried using almond milk once when we ran out of milk. It was loaded with almond flavor. What would happen with chocolate milk? I’m not so sure about that one because eggs and milk are the first things I usually taste here. Chocolate Reese’s eggs are one thing. Chocolate with eggs in the same mouthful is another.

Once the butter is melted in and the egg is mixed in with the milk, you can leisurely stir the liquid in with the dry. Better Home and Garden recommends making a crater in your dry bowl and pouring your wets inside, pulling and pushing everything together into one smooth blend. Lumps and bumps of flour in your pancakes will taste powdery and dry. If you want to deviate from recipe and add a few pinches of herbs like tarragon, rosemary, basil or mint go for it! Chocolate chips and fruit pieces are best saved for thicker cake-like recipes without the eggs.

 

The surface you pour it on will matter too, how you want to have them look at the end depends how they form here. If you want, this is where people usually put the batter in a squeeze bottle and make pictures out of it. Don’t try to pour it into letters, or try to make lines without the bottle. It makes a round blob every time, especially if you try to pour it slowly. Just wait for the bubbles and a firmness to the edges before you flip.

It’s really romantic to write your lover’s name in pancakes. What about “Happy Mothers’ Day”, “Good luck”, or “Congrats”. It’s a very nice personal touch. As for dressing the pancakes, usually that comes with food coloring, fruit, whipped cream and syrups. Lauren did a pancake tower covered in fruit slices and maple syrup once for me as a treat. It was so delicious, I ate it without taking the photo. SORRY!

This is what you can do with colored pancake batter and a million practice batters: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCa0BnCIDBGzmw4daUGZ0yg

Maybe we’re not ready for THAT yet. But either way, these pancakes are a keeper even after almost 70 years.

 

Well, we’ve made it to the last day. (Aww,) Jeremy, quit larking about moping. We have to buckle down for our last lovers’ fix. It’s a bit unusual because Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks are by far the most unusual yet compatible couple we’ve ever seen.

He was a werewolf from a young age who never even thought he’d have a friend in the world, none to expect a girlfriend. 

A Grrrrrl friend?        Oh, hush up and help me with the berry syrup please, Jere-measles! We need 2 cups of “Lupin-berry Tonks”!

Okay, fine! Keep your fangs in! No need to claw your business partner’s eyes out. We’re using a classic syrup recipe using corn starch. Blueberries and Raspberries have to be cleaned first to be sure there aren’t any germs or dust.

1/4 a cup of water splashes with the berries and honey. Another 1/4 later so it doesn’t evaporate too quickly. We don’t use a 1/2 cup all at once because we want the same consistency throughout.

Tonks is a playful, quirky, metamorphmagus auror from Hufflepuff house who brings fun to the reationship complimenting Remus being so disciplined and focused. They go together like berries and cream though she’s a and he a protective wizard/werewolf in the teaching industry with a passion for swinging jazz music. Here is their full story.

We start off by melted our white chocolate…now for the syrup, warm up the milk and stir it all up over the heat until it’s all melted together. It’s rather difficult trying to keep the chocolate melted against the cold milk, but when you get the right texture, it’s heavenly. Ah-ah-ah, no wands for this one. we need to keep things slow. Neither of them rushed into love, marriage or having “Teddy”. You never know what will happen, but keeping things slow is more preventative of mistakes. Now, finish it off with a splash of hot coffee. Very good! You must be a natural barista.

We do offer a substitution of special dark cocoa powder if you don’t like coffee. My muggle-born mum gets nauseous over coffee. I myself never got to liking the taste of dirt.

A metamorphmagus can change the outer appearance at will. Tonks’ hair was usually a spiked pink, but turned red when she was particularly mad. Perhaps you remember her animal noses at the dinner table. This chocolate delight has turned itself a shade of periwinkle. Then with the coffee/chocolate, you can darken it down a few shades of brown. We sometimes add a bit of food dye to the white chocolate just for fun. Isn’t that an idea for fun? Colored chocolates! 

Oh dear me, the day is over. Time to head home. Any road, we’re very glad you enjoyed our 4-day special. The romances of the magical world truly speak of how we can all share love

and maybe a cup of hot chocolate

in different ways.

We’ll be seeing you soon, we hope!

Oh goodness, gracious is it ever hot in the kitchen today!

It must be our newest edition: “The Blazing Love Bugger” inspired by Mr. Ron Weasley and Lavender Brown.

She’s a feisty little cupid with no sense of practicality. She’s rather intense like cayenne pepper. Ron, on the other hand is a jocose best friend with a faithful and loyal heart. She always loved a man with a fan-following. He always wanted to be adored after so many years of being kept aside.

Her name may be “Lavender”, but this cutesy is as hot blooded as a handful of cayenne Pepper. She was very much attracted and would not let go for anything. She mixed with Ron, represented by warm and friendly cinnamon.

That’s right, Luv. Splash in the milk. Now let things boil up a bit on the heat for a minute and a half. We need a hot pot for the spices to seep through with less clumping.

That’s cayenne pepper in red. We thought that since they were so hot for each other that poor Ron couldn’t take it anymore, plus Hermione getting burned in the process, why not add an extra big hit at the end of your drink? It’s a fun little joke for cheeky lovers that want to make their darling’s face blush. The cinnamon brings a sweet harmony to lull the drinker into a sense of loving warmth. Smell that and you’ll never guess there’s a surprise inside!

Don’t forget the cocoa powder, 30 seconds later a tiny drop of chocolate syrup. Froth it all together and BOOM! Be ready to test your friends with this saucy little girl. If you want to really kick them in the pants, add a red-hot pepper-imp. Any kind of hot peppery sweet will do just fine. If it’s too hot, we can spare a small heart or 2 fruity hearts.

Ready, Lauren?          Set,        FIRE!!