Apple Day!

So Apple Day was pretty successful if I do say so myself. I had my friends Matt, Amanda, Jessica, Madeline, and Nick over to try my food. And their opinions seemed fairly positive.

I know that it might seem a little self-serving to have good friends come over to taste food and give opinions on it, but I figured it would be easier to get them to come over rather than, say, my mortal enemies and thought they could provide more helpful criticisms than perhaps a stray animal would. I imagine that a starving, world weary dog would tell me whatever I wanted to hear in order to try what I had cooked, and I wanted some feedback from people who would not have a problem with lying to my face about stuff I cooked just so they would be invited over again for the next week's meals. That way, I can take whatever they said, invert its meaning, and know their true feelings.

First, I guess I should start with the menu. This week's letter was 'A' and the ingredient of choice was 'Apple'. I knew immediately what I wanted to do for a dessert, and I had come up with a pretty simple yet delicious fruit salad to have for an appetizer. The problem came with deciding upon the entree. I knew that apples went well with pork, because the mellow flavors complimented one another. I didn't want to do something obvious, like Apple Pork Chops, so I racked my brain a little bit and came up with something that didn't seem very ordinary. It felt good creating a dish that didn't show up on a google search no matter how many times I rearranged the words, and it felt better yet that my friend's were going to have to eat it, no matter how disgusting it could have turned out.

THE MENU:

Appetizer
Strawberry and Apple Fruit Salad


Entree
Spiced Apple Ginger Alfredo with Apple Marinated Pork Medallions

Dessert
Apple Cinnamon Quesadillas

Obviously the appetizer was served first, and that went over well. Most of my friends, except for Nick, tried it and had positive things to say about it. Everyone loved the entree, which kind of surprised me, because it seemed like apples and garlic and alfredo sauce and ginger wouldn't really work well together and I was expecting that it might have turned out kind of strange, but it turned out really well. The quesadillas were very delicious, and they turned out better than I imagined they would in my head.

~*~*~

Madeline

Appetizer: "I enjoyed the whipped cream/yogurt in combination with the apples and strawberries."

Entree: "The pork was very delicious with the marinade. The sauce was light and I enjoyed the cinnamon."

Dessert: "I enjoyed the hot apples mixed with the cream cheese filling and cinnamon. A+++" (I guess Madeline thought that she was leaving feedback on ebay...)

Matt

Appetizer: "A fluffy, delightful medley of fruits that overloaded my pallet with both taste and texture. Wonderful appetizer!"

Entree: "Light and tasty! The egg noodles were perfect as a compliment to the spice and cheese of the sauce and pork medallions. More cinnamon next time!"

Dessert: "A little sour and tart for my taste, and I wasn't a fan of the heat. But I feel that if served chilled with a dollop of whipped cream, it would be lovely."

Jessica

Appetizer: "A delightful melody of fruit. Loved the salad; different, light, and awesome."

Entree: "Great use of apples! I enjoyed every bite! Loved that egg noodles were used. It was light but filling."

Dessert: "Loved it! A cinnamony apple delight!"

Amanda

Appetizer: "Very light and fluffy. The fresh fruit readied my palette for the entree."

Entree: "Wonderfully filling, even though it was a pasta dish. I didn't feel uncomfortably full. PERFECT!! YUM!"

Dessert: "A little too sweet, but loved the crispiness of the tortilla. 7 out of 10."

Nick

Appetizer: "I don't eat raw fruit because I'm a freak, but the whipped cream yogurt topping was delicious."

Entree: "The dish was great. The sauce was light and all of the ingredients worked. The egg noodles complimented the pork."

Dessert: "The taste of the dessert quesadilla was phenomenal, but the texture was a little chewy. It would have been better fried instead of baked."

~*~*~

So there you have it: all of the lies that my friends said about my food. I still have to finish up the recipe write-up, but they should be up by tomorrow night (for real, this time).

Thanks for reading!