What do you do when you have a goal to cook nearly 90 new recipes, a kid who hardly eats anything at all, and a boyfriend who is away for work frequently? You force-feed your culinary experiments to friends! Hot on the heels of discovering how many recipes I still have to knock out before my April deadline, I realized I was hosting Bunco night at my place this month. Thank goodness! Perfect excuse to go WAY overboard on the concept of “pot-luck”, without looking like I was trying to show up the other ladies by bringing too many dishes!
I decided it was completely reasonable to prepare a salad, a couple appetizers and a dessert, and conveniently enough, knock out four recipes in one day with a big enough audience to consume it all! Fast forward to the day of the event, and a wrench gets thrown into the works. Turns out you REALLY need to read the whole darn recipe in advance (as I’m sure they tell you in Culinary School 101) but I failed yet again to do more than an ingredients-list skim. Jo had been so good up to this point about not over-complicating things, so I didn’t see the dreaded words coming: “Let stand for 24 hours.” Well crap. I had about 8 hours, so rather than doing a half-hearted job, I scrapped the idea of Beck’s Crackers. Forewarned is forearmed, though, so now my poker group can expect me to force these… I mean… offer these next week!
Now for the success stories! I generally make things for a potluck which wouldn’t be completely eaten by my family even if they turn out well, such as the Layered Arugula Salad with Pear Vinaigrette. 
First of all, we don’t eat much arugula in this house (we are Romaine people!) and second, I think pears shouldn’t exist. They aren’t so much “bad” as they are a non-fruit in my opinion, lacking in any strong flavor and with a gritty texture I find off-putting. Give me an apple any day. Alas, that’s not what she called for. Seeing as I had to use arugula last week on the Gaines Brother Burgers (stay tuned for the next post about THAT masterpiece!), I was really just looking for a way to use up the rest. Because arugula is peppery and somewhat coarse, I added spinach to this salad to add sweetness and tenderness; other than that, I stuck to Jo’s specs. That meant Buttered Walnuts, bleu cheese, pear slices, and pomegranate arils. I won’t even pretend I knew the word “arils” before reading it in the cookbook, but I will henceforth be using it in Words With Friends! Apparently they’re just the little edible fruit blobs that come from the otherwise useless pomegranate.
A word about nuts… Always. Toast. Your. Nuts. It’s non-negotiable. The flavor is better because toasting brings out the natural oils, and it smells good. These could easily have been called ” sweet and spicy nuts” due to the cayenne pepper, which carried quite a kick, and the brown sugar. A note about cooking nuts with sugar: when they tell you to pour them onto wax paper to cool, DON’T DO IT! I followed the directions and ended up needing a chisel to get them off the pan. It’s possible I *may* have caused the problem myself by putting the pan in the garage – currently about 13 degrees – and taking “cooling” too far. Needless to say, you should probably cool sugared and/or buttered nuts at room temperature! The pear vinaigrette dressing was a revelation. Pear vinegar itself came as a surprise, first because a couple ounces was nearly $13, and second because it’s as thick as blackstrap molasses; I could barely pour it! I was supposed to thin it out with walnut oil, but I’d spent just about enough money on this salad already, so I just used plain old extra virgin olive oil. I’m pleased to report no one threw their bowl across the room in disgust upon eating this dressing, so I guess it worked! Mission salad: accomplished.
For the Appetizer Round, I got to pull out an oldie but a goodie, Deviled Eggs. Hey, 1962 called, they want their appetizer back! Yeah, I know it’s an antiquated dish, but it’s still one of my favorites. The honest truth is that my own recipe is better, but Jo’s isn’t bad! With main flavors of dill and bacon, right off the bat it has to be pretty good. On that note, a Public Service Announcement: if you haven’t already, buy yourself an Instant Pot immediately! Even if you literally only ever use it for hard-boiling eggs, I say it’s a sound investment. Five minutes of cooking in that thing followed by a five-minute ice bath, and the shells practically peel themselves. The eggs were a hit with the bunco ladies, and the recipe only took about 10 minutes of effort. If you insist on boiling them the old-fashioned way, it’s gonna take you a little longer! 
Now here’s the good stuff… Like, REALLY good! Chocolate-Cola Cake attained almost mythical status for me when I read several books set in the south which referenced “Co’ Cola Cake”. No one I know in real life has ever made one for me to try. I couldn’t help thinking it sounded half intriguing, half gross. In the books I read, this cake was often served after funerals or brought to families in need of prepared meals for some reason. After tasting it, I can understand why it would bring a smile to people’s faces! This thing ROCKS. There is surprisingly little cocoa in the cake itself, only a 1/4 cup, but the cola (I used Coke even though I am a die-hard Pepsi fan) and the dark brown sugar really brought out the chocolatey notes. The buttercream frosting had twice as much cocoa and even more cola. I thought it was cute that the directions specified “not diet”. Never you mind, Jo, there is absolutely no danger of running into a diet soda in this house! It begs the question what would happen if you did use diet, because I can guarantee there is plenty of sugar in this recipe! I don’t mess with science though… Just use the regular! The result is a moist, dense, flavorful and all-around amazing cake. One of the best cooks in my bunco group took several slices home, and I can think of no higher compliment! I’m chalking up the Bunco Buffet as a success!
Have Book, Will Cook 