(dinner party) charlie's postbirthday

Pitched this blog project to the rest of the group last night during our April dinner party (huge turnout with nine people!). Got an enthusiastic response, although Sarah of course strongly voiced her opinion that we should rename it “Wednesday Ink Tank,” even if that would limit our art media to mostly writing. Which it probably will be . . . but what about photography? Cooking? Sketching? (Don’t know about you all, but I sketch exclusively in pencil.)

The “assignment” for this week is to get photos and little mini-blurbs about everyone so I can complete the members page, which at the moment is very incomplete. I’d like to instill a consistent voice for the most organized sections of the blog — i.e., the parts that aren’t meant to be super-eclectic because they give the whole project some structure.

Anyhoo, I have yet to get the recipes from everyone’s dinner contributions, but as it was a belated birthday celebration for Charlie, I can at least share the recipe for our very makeshift, yet adorable, lemon cake that we piled into a bucket from his birthday night out at Howl at the Moon:

Cutest, and tallest, lemon cake ever.

Ingredients

Cake

3 cups self-rising flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 cups white sugar

4 eggs, at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons lemon zest

1 cup whole milk, divided

2½ tablespoons fresh lemon juice, divided

Lemon Cream Icing

2 cups chilled heavy cream

½ cup powdered (confectioner’s) sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Butter and flour cake pan to prevent sticking. Recommended: use a pan with removable circle, which makes taking the cake out a lot easier (at least, this is my opinion).

Sift the self-rising flour and salt together in a bowl. In another bowl, beat unsalted butter and sugar in an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, beating each egg until incorporated before adding the next. Mix in the vanilla extract and lemon zest.

Gently beat the flour mixture into the butter mixture, one third at a time, alternating with half the milk and half the lemon juice after each of the first 2 additions of flour. Beat until just combined; do not overmix. (I accidentally put in all three thirds of the flour mixture and then realized the milk and lemon juice needed to be added — don’t know if this aversely affected the outcome of the cake, though.)

Fill the prepared cake pan with batter, and bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 40+ minutes (in our experience). Let the cupcakes cool in the pans before removing them to finish cooling on a rack.

To make the icing, beat the cream in a chilled bowl with an electric mixer set on low until the cream begins to thicken. Add the confectioners’ sugar and lemon juice, a little at a time, beating after each addition, until fully incorporated. Increase the mixer speed to high, and beat until the icing forms soft peaks, about 5 minutes. Spread on the cake, which we de-crusted and divvied into thirds.

I yoinked this recipe from Allrecipes.com, which is originally for cupcakes, but I just made a giant cake in an 8" pan. Yuko definitely contributed dexterity and innovation with her idea to cube the crusts in order to create a “nest” for the three-layer cake that I decorated with organic strawberries on top.

Note: the recipe is altered slightly to conform to what took place on Wednesday.

We had some issues with the number candles, which we discovered don’t live past three uses. In the end, the cake was moist, crumbly, and tasty, if I do say so myself.

birthday boy Charlie . . .
with a failed candle.

"How do you cut this?"

 As for the earlier parts of dinner, Charlie had been so kind as to provide crackers, smoked cheddar, and Mediterranean hummus from Trader Joe’s that was scrumptious as an appetizer (which I pigged out on and subsequently prevented eating much of the rest, unfortunately). He also brought seasoned chips, which turned out to be rather prophetically romantic:

How sweet!

 Anthony prepared “brandade,” a French concoction, apparently, of fish and bread, and Shannon put together a savory salmon dish. Yuko brought a side of vegetables, and Sarah tossed together a beautiful salad with homemade dressing. Yum!

If only I’d had the room for it all . . . sigh.

Stay tuned for recipes from the rest!

In the meantime, I am happy to announce that a certain old friend and member of the group is now back in Chicago!

Scotty's back!

Good times. Haha.

It will be a treat to have him back with us, if we can ever get him out of Evanston, that is.

Update to come with the remaining dinner party recipes.

(anecdote) some things borrowed + something new

Just say no! The power of the veto.

I set out to create this blog today, because if it didn’t happen when the idea was new — and as soon as possible after that, for that matter — it was never going to happen.

Today’s turnout was meager at best; Sarah and Stephanie showed up mid-evening bearing a pound of seasoned, crispy chicken on a bed of French fries from Pappadeaux — sorry, Debbie (the personal trainer). I thought, as moderator and organizer of most things pertaining to the group, that I would ask them if they’d be interested in the collective art project that Anthony and I had thrown around vaguely over the weekend. Sarah was immediately onboard, and Stephanie was a little hesitant, only because we haven’t yet completely clarified fundamental things like its structure or what media we can support on this forum. So I told them I wanted to set up the blog today so we’d have something solid to present to the others next week.

“What should we call it?” I asked, and chaos ensued.

Over the course of two hours, we had compiled a list ranging from the generic to the ultra-specific, no-one-would-get-it-but-us, and the oh-so-ridiculous. It wasn’t to say that we had nothing — no, we had a whole lot of something, but a panel of three makes for a resounding crowd of vetoes, it turns out.

We knew we wanted the Wednesday group theme to be apparent, as well as it being a project, or a collective, on art, and after an hour, I decided it was time to settle upon something.

“The more I think about it, the more I like ‘Eat, Play, Love,’ ” I offered. “Because we always eat together, we play board games, and in theory, we love each other.”

“. . . But it’s such a rip-off,” said Sarah. “Our blog is called ‘Eat, Play, Love.’ Original.”

“How about ‘Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Wednesdays’?” quipped Stephanie, who immediately set Sarah into uproarious laughter.

As great as that title was, and as simple as “The Wednesday Group” was, “The Beginning of Something Great” was just too long, and my personal 1984-inspired favorite “Groupthink | Artfeed” was too “robotic” (??) for them, so we considered our options:

Wednesday Thread. Wednesday Feed. Wednesdays for Sale. Humpday Rejects. Heyday Collective. Wednesday Collective. Wednesday Stir-Fry. Just Add Sugar. Groupthink | Artfeed. Project Wednesday. The Real Wednesdays of Oak Brook. Gallery237. Board games + M&Ms. Eat Play Love. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Wednesdays. Just Add Art. Just Add Wednesday. Creative Wednesdays. Finding Wednesday. Frienditions. Thanks, Merc, It's Been A Real Slice. Butterscotch Wednesdays. Wednesday Artfeed. The Wednesday Arts. Wednesday Arts Section. Artspeak over Dinner. Wednesday Irrelevance. It Began Over Dinner. Once Upon a Wednesday. Wednesday Wind-up/Wind-up Wednesdays. Wednesday Rendezvous. The Beginning of Something Great. Starting Wednesday. Photographists & Astronophers. Learn, Love, & Eat Cake

. . . and because Sarah and I were forever at odds, Stephanie broke the tie at “Wednesday Arts Section.”

And here we are. I dare to hope that this is the beginning of something great. . . .