Cooking with Windows Phone in Seattle

Hi lovely readers! I'm writing this from Seattle where I'm staying thanks to the awesome folks at Windows Phone. They've given me the opportunity to come to Seattle for the BlogHer Food 2012 conference and also to try their phone and see how it fits into my life as a blogger, writer, chef, (and the other 50 things that I do).

As you know, I really rarely do sponsored posts (I think I've only done about 2 since I started blogging in 2008), but I'm so genuinely smitten with this phone that I'm really happy to be working with them.

In the interest of full disclosure, you should know that this is actually my first time owning a touchscreen phone.

(I know! So lame!)

Until a couple weeks ago, I used a [rhymes with SmashSmerry] that had pretty horrific internet access.  I pretty much only ever used the phone to type a few emails and would regularly leave the phone at the bottom of my purse with the battery drained for days at a time. (Not even exaggerating here.)

So, understandably, I was pretty excited to get my hands on a "modern" phone.

First of all...how gorgeous is it? It's this great bright cyan blue, super thin and sleek, with really bright graphics and pins on the home screen.

The phone is known to be the best for social media, with Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and other social media site functionality built right into the phone (vs through separate apps you have to go and download). It has this cute "Me" tile right on the front that I can click and instantly get ALL my notifications and mentions, plus access to my FB photo albums, and post new messages to all my sites in about 3 seconds.

There is also a dedicated camera button on the side that I can use without even having to unlock the phone. I've been using this feature a ton, especially at the event since it allowed me to switch back and forth from updating Twitter to taking snapshots in mere seconds.

A feature which came in handy Thursday night at the party.

We met up at Lark, which is a gorgeous, cozy restaurant in Seattle with big wood beams, art and wine bottles lining the walls, and gorgeous light fixtures dangling from the ceiling. It's headed up by Chef John Sundstrom. That night we sipped cocktails (French 75s! My favorite!), ate small bites, and worked together to prepare a few simple recipes.

My team worked on a Caramelized Chili Shrimp recipe that we got from the Betty Crocker cookbook app. It was a super easy "shake & bake" type recipe--we simply combined some spices and sugar in a zipped baggie, threw in the shrimp, and then sauteed them on a skillet.

The entire recipe literally took 5 minutes, and we then served it garnished with fresh cilantro and lime juice. It was sweet and smokey and salty and spicy--hit all my favorite flavor notes.

While we were working on the dish, the sous chef brought out a dish of live (live!) local shrimp for us to see. I've never seen live shrimp before and it was super fun. They were jumping all over the plate, so I whipped out my phone and took a little video. (Yes, that's me squealing and laughing in the background.)



After we ate, the waiters came around with these addictive tiny chocolate madeleines with little pots of chocolate dipping sauce.

I ate 7 of them.

Ok...maybe it was 8.

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Caramelized Chili Shrimp
Adapted from the Betty Crocker Cookbook App on Windows Phone

Ingredients

1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher (coarse) salt
1 teaspoon chili powder or smoked spanish paprika
1/8 teaspoon chipotle chili powder or ground red pepper (cayenne)
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 lb uncooked large shrimp (21 to 30 shrimp), peeled with tails left on, deveined
1/4 medium fresh lime
Fresh cilantro, minced

Directions
Combine all ingredients except the shrimp, lime, and cilantro in a large zipped bag or container. Add the shrimp, seal the bag, and shake to coat well.

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and add the shrimp and spice rub. Saute 2-3 minutes until the shrimp are fully cooked. Sprinkle with fresh lime juice and minced cilantro. Serve immediately.

Windows Phone is a sponsor of Always Order Dessert, but all opinions in this post are 100% my own. (Seriously, guys. I'm a little bit in love with this phone!)

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An Old Fashioned Cocktail Party

Eugene just pointed out the fact that I'm just a few days short of the finish line with this whole NaBloPoMo thing. I'm actually pretty amazed that I was able to make it this far considering my performance (or lack of) last year.

The irony is that during these past several busy weeks, I had less trouble thinking of things to write about than these past couple lazy days. It's the inertia of the holidays, I suppose!

The truth is that I've actually spent the past couple days planning for the next big holiday...Christmas! I usually throw a big cocktail party each December and all my friends make the trip up to our apartment where we go through dozens of bottles of wine and champagne and stay upright thanks to the various platters of canapes.

This year I decided to give in to my obsession for all things retro, and will be hosting a classic 60s era cocktail party...complete with a full bar, classy glasses, and an array of early-60s recipes culled from my collection of used bookstore finds. I'm talking rumaki and molded jiggly things here!


I've been busy shopping for vintage trays on eBay, practicing my bouffant hairstyle, and leafing through these wonderful vintage cookbooks. Like one book called "Thoughts for Buffets" which is filled with hundreds of party recipes, cocktails, and fabulous table decorating ideas. Occasionally I'll look up from the book and read out one of the recipe combinations to Eugene who grimaces and flinches and asks me if I expect people to actually eat this food.

That one is actually a bit wackier than my long-time favorite, a book called "Cosmo Cookery," which I picked up a couple years before I actually started working with the magazine. It's written by the fantastic (Still!!!) Helen Gurley Brown and offers up menu after menu for the Cosmo girl who wants to entertain her "beaus." (Plural!!!) Think breakfast for the morning after or a late night supper after a romp in bed. Not *quite* as useful for the party, but entertaining nonetheless. (Plus each menu comes with matching cocktails and table decorations in a way that makes me think Semi-Homemade Sandra Lee and Ina Garten must have both been gifted this book back in their youth.)


And then there is the Betty Crocker Hostess Cookbook, which I was determined to get my hands on the minute I spotted it propped up on a stand on Betty Draper's kitchen counter. It took me a couple On Demand "rewind and pauses," before I was able to figure out the title, but after that, it wasn't long before I located a first edition in fantastic condition.

A funny thing is the book was actually published in 1967 for the first time. And yet it somehow managed to show up in several episodes of Mad Men dated 1962 and 1963 (as evidenced by last years New Year's party and Kennedy's recent death). It's unusual since the set dressers for the show tend to be pretty fantastically accurate.


I'm happy to ignore the anachronism though because the recipes in it are just priceless. As it promises on the cover, it's filled with "a wealth of ideas for today's entertaining." And (even better) they're illustrated with absolutely awful photos. The kind of photos that would totally get rejected from Tastespotting for "unflattering composition," "lighting," and "not sharp."

The recipes and photos are accompanied with wonderful tips for the hostess, and delightful suggestions like "Salad is enough when it's just the girls, but if men will be joining you at lunch, be sure to serve a real man's meat."

Ahh...the sixties!

I'm ridiculously excited about this party, and as you can see, am diving into the preparation like it's my job. I thought I should warn you since it's inevitable that my "research" will soon start appearing here on the blog.

Molded salmon mousse, anyone?




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New to Always Order Dessert? Consider subscribing to my RSS feed, follow me on Twitter, or sign up to receive my once-a-week e-mail updates by filling in your address in the box on the right. And if you ever need any entertaining or cooking advice, please don't hesitate to e-mail me.

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