Conference turris::cooks

    
    
    Take him to the Bahama Beach Club in Nashua!
    
    
    bonnie

    Since you're in Sunny Charlotte, why not just take him to the beach?
    
    :-)
    
    When my group had a beach party last February (we're in Nashua) we had
    a lot of picnic type foods and we had a "Seaside Polynesian Village"
    with pineapple huts, carrot and pepper palm trees, cucumber sharks,
    zucchini whales, lemon and lime outriggers, and potato rocks.
    Oh and I put the "ocean parts" on a blue towel.
    
    Outriggers:  Cut wedges from lemon and lime, connect one wedge of each
    with two toothpicks.
    
    Palm Trees:  cut off ends from carrots, score sides to resemble palm
    tree.  the bud end of the pepper will be the top of the tree. Cut
    peppers around but longer on the rounder part and shorter on the ribbed
    parts.  After halfing and cleaning, make the cut a bit rougher or more
    jagged.  I found it difficult to make hte carrot stand.  Supposedly
    you can cut a potato in half and use a toothpick to hold the carrot
    into the spud but I couldn't make it work.
    
    Huts:  Half the pineapple, cut out all the fruit.  You now have two huts.
    Make a dour about 1" by 2".  You can use the former top as roof and
    door coverings by securing to hut with toothpicks.
    
    Sharks:  Cut bottom off cuke, about 1/4" to 3/8" thick.  Cut about a 3"
    by 1" section of each side.  Cut a wedge out of the mouth.  Then about
    3 gills on each side.  Use cloves for eyes.  cut a slit in each side
    and two on the back.  Youe want to carve the side slices to make swim
    fins and stick them into the side slits.  The bottom slice (You didn't
    eat it did you?) gets cut in two and makes the back fin and tail.
    
    Whales.  Cut a green onion about 6" long and cut 2-3" slits lengthwise.
    Place in ice water.  The creen will curl backwards and make a nice
    spout.  Cut a pice off the bottom of the zuke, about 4" by 1 1'4"
    (depends on how big the zuke is really.  Cut wedge out of mouth.
    (on bud end) Cut spots for eyes, or use cloves or both).  Cut a
    wedge facing upward far back.  You will carve the bottome piece
    to make a tail and stick it into this wedge.
    
    Rocks?  Cut some potatoes in half.
    
    If anything doesn't work, just toss it into the stew.
    
    ed
    
    (I do have a picture of what we had and a few of the items did come
    from some garnish book.)
    
    

    Just thinking of a beach party, (its near freezing here most days
    and when its up to about 50F, its RAINING...!).....
    
    I'm glad though, that I am not the only one that had thought of this;
    a few years ago when I found out that no less than 8 of my friends
    celebrated their birthdays in February, I decided to have a "tropical
    party".
    Invitees were to come in their favorite loud summer clothes (and they
    did!...Under the winter coats, of course) and we passed leis around;
    We turned up the furnace so no-one would be cold.
    
    The biggest room decorations were palm trees; I cut out the trunks from
    large cartons that our self-assembly bookshelves came in, and stuck
    them to the walls, topping them off with leaves cut from green
    construction paper. We loved them so much that we didn't take them
    down for months afterwards!
    
    As for food we used much of the aforementioned "tropical" type foods
    and the like, we also had a curry dip and a spicy malaysian satay
    (with the hot, peanut based sauce to accompany). I have the recipe at
    home; will fetch. Also passed pina coladas (with or without rum) to
    all the guests. It was great fun!
    
    Monica
    
    
    

    Serious question:  are you having the party indoors, or are you going
    to the beach?  Why I ask is, my grandmother's favorite picnic was
    always in Oct. after the crowds thinned out.  It was the high point of
    my 'summer.'  She always cooked a boiled dinner with ham on a camp
    fire.  She did most of the work at home and then really only heated it
    through over the fire.
    
    If you do have the party outside, you can pre-cook chicken b-b-q at
    home and then finish it over a fire at the beach.  They're ususally not
    as restrictive about fires at times when they're not so crowded.
      

    The party will be at our home - even though Charlotte is sunny :-) it's
    a little too far to the beach just for a party.  I could get the
    barbeque going I guess, but since it's a suprise, I was hoping for
    ideas that could be prepared ahead of time and set up while we got
    Steve out of the house.
    
    I wish we could go to the beach!
    
    Thanks for the ideas so far.
    
    Bev

    
    We make this often, with or without the sauce; my husband is a big fan.
    
                          Satay & sauce
    
    Marinade:
    --------
    1/4 cup soya sauce                        1/4 cup sherry
    2 Tbsp honey                              1/4 cup lemon juice
    1 tsp garlic paste (or fresh crushed)     1 tsp pepper 
    1 tsp ginger paste (or fresh grated)      1 tsp curry 
    
    - cut meat (turkey, chicken or veal) into thin strips and sautay in
      marinade for 1 or 2 days in the fridge.
    
    - remove and spear onto skewers (bamboo should be soaked first; or
      you can skewer onto these BEFORE you marinade)
    
    - grill on barbeque or oven (we use the toaster oven) until done.
      Serve with sauce.
    
    Sauce:
    (this makes a large amount, you can freeze what you don't use)
    
    mix the following ingredients in a bowl:
    
    - 1 cup peanut butter (either crunchy or smooth)
    - 2/3 can coconut milk (try and use the kind that is less sweet than
                          the type sold as a drink mixer)
    - 4 Tbsp soya sauce
    - 4 Tbsp sherry
    - 4 Tbsp brown sugar
    - 4 Tbsp lemon juice
    - 1 tsp garlic paste
    - 1 tsp ginger paste
    - season with onion powder, curry powder, cayenne, chili powder to
      taste
    - add milk to achieve desired consistancy
    - microwave for 2 minutes on high.
    
    
    Monica