Inception: Honey Humpday
A little over a month ago, I was sitting in the bibliothèque at the office, furiously hammering away on the keyboard of my laptop. My single track mind was further railroaded by that special combination of too much caffeine and too little food, and I was oblivious to the movements around me. That is, until I heard the unmistakable sizzle of fat in a pan. A few minutes later I was offered a grilled cheese sandwich with Gruyère cheese, pear, jam, and honey. It was delicious. I shared the grilled cheese and other honey-laced dishes with my coworkers, which was a welcome break from searing my eyeballs with the laptop screen.
"Happy Honey Humpday," a coworker said.
"Okay, so what do I have to do to be a part of this?" I asked.
"Well, choose a color then pick a course at random."
A few minutes later, I had my assignment for the next week: a red side dish for Wainbow Wednesday (yes, we pronounced it that way for the entire week.)
Week Wone: Wainbow Wednesday
Everyone chose a color and picked a course at random. For my red side dish, I made a chilled red pepper soup topped with crème fraîche and thyme. Other dishes included currant scones (purple dessert), paella (yellow main dish), fauxjito (green beverage).
Week Two: Tiny Thursday
The week's theme was "small things." I drew beverage and made tiny virgin (can't daydrink at work :( ) sangria shots with mangoes, green grapes, pomegranate seeds, and white grape juice agar gels flavored with rose extract. Other dishes included mini pizzas, Waldorf salad lettuce wraps, and raspberry cheesecakes.
Week Three: Movie Wednesday (We Ran Out of Naming Mojo)
For this week, everyone picked a dish based on their favorite movie(s). Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures from this potluck, but I can tell you all about the dishes and the associated movie clips we watched.
Atlantic Potion (inspired by The Little Mermaid): citrus soda, grapes, and blue ice cubes with gummies frozen inside
French salad (inspired by Moulin Rouge): homemade French salad dressing, lettuce and cherry tomatoes
Beans and rice with mango salsa (inspired by Jurassic Park, because the movie takes place off the coast of Costa Rica): watch the clip.
"Will someone please pass me the fucking" asparagus (inspired by my favorite movie, American Beauty): chilled asparagus with honey dijon dressing and lemons, the dish was a replica of the asparagus Lester requested and eventually threw against the dining room wall.
Persian style rice and tofu with walnuts and pomegranate molasses (inspired by The Color of Paradise, which I want to see now!)
"Choose Your Own Adventure" cookies and icing (inspired by multiple movies): choose from star (Star Wars), plane (Top Gun), football helmet (Remember the Titans), and T. rex (Jurassic Park). In true Calvin and Hobbes fashion, I put a T. rex on a plane.
Week Four: Hometown Wednesday
We put everyone's hometowns into a hat and drew randomly. I drew Stillwater, MN, and made a traditional hot dish with sautéed mushrooms and onions, cream of mushroom soup (from a can!), frozen vegetables, a ton of cheddar cheese, and topped the whole thing off with tater tots.
Beijing: my boss made dumplings from scratch. They were impressive.
Lexington, MA: lemon iced tea for the Boston tea party
Carmel, IN: unfortunately Indiana is kind of a culinary wasteland (someone prove me wrong), so we had a corn and cucumber salad because, well, corn and cucumber both grow in Indiana. The person responsible was tempted to make something that more realistically reflected the culinary traditions of Indiana by slathering canned corn with mayonnaise, but we were all very glad he chose not to pursue authenticity in this instance.
Berea, KY: cookie and ice cream sandwiches
Fort Thomas, KY: cat's head biscuits. The biscuits do not contain cat heads, or any parts of cats for that matter. Instead, they were named for their approximate size: the size of a cat's head.
