Thursday, August 25, 2011

Long overdue apartment warming

We had our apartment warming a few weeks ago. For the most part I was unambitious, preferring to buy snacks from Trader Joe's (which, by the way, was a great way for me to taste some products that I've wanted to try out, specifically their Pita Puffs). I had promised to make some pao de queijo, which I did and they were, again, delicious. Von and I also attempted to make boozy watermelon using Absolut's Wild Tea vodka. Kinda didn't work out too well so I don't think I'll be revisiting that anytime soon. I also had five or six over ripe bananas which turned into banana bread using Flour Bakery's recipe (don't judge the hole in the middle...I was taste testing)...


...which I then cut up to make chocolate and pistachio-covered banana bread bites! Much more party friendly. 


But the star of the party were the watermelon jello shots. Not my idea. I saw it on thekitchn.com a few days prior and thought it was the cutest idea ever. I ran around New York trying to find powdered jello since I my usual stops (TJ's and Whole Foods) and apparently bodegas and Duane Reade don't carry it. I didn't want to go out of my way to a "regular" grocery store but I succumbed and went to Food Emporium by work. Task #1 completed.

Task #2 was juicing limes and removing all the insides which made my hands raw. I really need to buy some disposable gloves for times like that. And for chopping jalapenos. By the way, removing the insides of the limes wasn't as easy as it sounds - you have to carefully run a pairing knife between the pulp and the pith. I had some trouble because my limes were super thin-skinned. But, I prevailed.

Task #3 was choosing the right alcohol. I went with cachaca but I don't think I'd do that again. Maybe rum next time. And don't believe the 1-to-1 water-to-alcohol ratio. I'd cut down on the alcohol a bit and do 5-to-3 (ie 1.25 cups water and 0.75 cups alcohol). It'll taste better.

So after I set the halved-out lime rinds into mini-muffin tins, poured in the liquid, let it set overnight, quartered the resulting "jello cups" and sprinkled mini chocolate chips over them (don't try to shove them into the jello, it doesn't work), the result:


A little too bitter for me from the cachaca but the chocolate chips evened that out ok. Super cute, aren't they?

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