Murder Mystery Dinner

I have never been one to go all out for Halloween. However, lately I feel like any excuse to dress up or throw a party needs to be taken full advantage of. This year, Zach and I hosted a murder mystery dinner party entitled "Pasta, Passion & Pistols". We bought a box set that included everything from the invitations to character descriptions and booklets to follow with a CD. The box even provided menu suggestions (which I opted not to take).



There were eight sketchy dinner guests in all, and each (with the exception of two) were suspected of MURDER:

MAMA ROSA



BO



TARA MISU



CLARE VOYANT



FATHER ALFREDO



ROCCO



ANGEL



MARCO





I will not give anything away, but I will say I was impressed with some of the character performances. I would suggest a murder mystery dinner party to anyone. It was a really great time. The setting was an Italian family gathering in 'Mama Rosa's' restaurant after the murder of her husband, "Pepe Roni".



The menu consisted of:
Pumpkin Lasagna
Lemony Garlic Green Beans
Balsamic Salad
3-Tomato Bruschetta
Store-bought Halloween Cupcakes

I literally had no time to cook on Saturday so the responsibility fell on Zach. He prepared the pumpkin lasagna which is the recipe i am posting. There are a few things I would change about the recipe, but overall, it was a really interesting dish.

In Loving Memory Pumpkin Lasagna:

(recipe from Food Network Magazine)



1 cup pumpkin puree
1 1/2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
4 to 6 cloves garlic, sliced
1 lb spicy Italian sausage, casings removed*
1/2 cup red wine
1 28-ounce can tomato sauce
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/2 tsp dried oregano
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
1 16-ounce box lasagna noodles
1 large egg
2 1/2 cups ricotta cheese (this was way too much ricotta...I would probably use about 1 1/2 C next time)
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup shredded Romano cheese
1 large zucchini, very thinly sliced

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the pumpkin puree in a fine sieve over a bowl; set aside to drain while you make the sauce.
Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a medium pot over medium heat. Add the onion and saute until translucent, 6 to 7 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, 2 more minutes. Add the sausage and cook until brown, breaking it up with a wooden spoon. Pour in the wine and cook until reduced by half. Stir in the tomato sauce and herbs and bring to a simmer over medium-low heat. Season with salt and pepper, cover and reduce the heat to low. Simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the lasagna noodles and cook as the label directs. Drain and toss with the remaining 1/2 tablespoon olive oil.
Mix the strained pumpkin puree with the egg in a bowl and season with salt and pepper. In a separate bowl, mix the ricotta, 1 cup mozzarella and the romano.
Build your lasagna in a 9-by-13-inch baking dish: Start with a layer of sauce, then top with a layer of noodles. Evenly spread half of the pumpkin filling over the noodles.



Then spread half of the sliced zucchini, over the noodles.



Top with half of the cheese mixture and cover with some of the sauce.





Repeat the layers, finishing with noodles and sauce; sprinkle with the remaining 1 cup mozzarella.



Bake, uncovered, 35 to 40 minutes, or until bubbly. Let cool 15 minutes before slicing.

Serve with a nice big Italian-style salad. This one was made with tomatoes, green olives, onion, pine nuts, feta cheese, shaved Parmesan, balsamic vinegar and olive oil.



*Zach made a separate lasagna without the sausage by just following the exact recipe and leaving it out. I tasted it later, and it was fine. However, the dish is better with the strong flavor of the sausage so if you leave it out, you may want to use more strong-flavored cheese like the Romano along with more herbs and spices to make up for it.

I wish the pictures were better, but my camera only does so well when lit by candlelight. Using the flash just didn't capture the mood.

Who Wouldn't Want to Live With Annie - a guest blog

One of the best parts about living in Los Angeles is meeting people. I meet new people almost every week at a little social tradition Hollywood assistants call "drinks". "Drinks" is not really the most accurate word to use for these meetings because they are usually right after work, and I am always hungry (working until 7 or 7:30 PM). Most of you may recognize this as "dinner".

I met Annie at a celebratory dinner for our mutual friend when he got his new job. In this crazy town, it is easy to spot good people because they stand out. Good people are also pretty rare so it is always refreshing to meet someone like Annie. I am pretty sure you will like her too. She also has a great blog with some really amazing home decorating ideas along with lots of other projects and recipes that she updates almost daily. Her blog is called Living With Annie, and after reading the below recipe, you may consider asking her if you can move in.

Hello lovely readers of Sammy's Bite Me blog!I am long time fan, first time guest poster - Ms AnnieBelle, here to share with you the joys of a four layer pumpkin cake!

I first fell in love with this recipe when I received it in the Kraft Foods Family & Fun Recipe Magazine. If you don't already receive it, I highly recommend signing up for it. It comes quarterly, has tons of pictures of great recipes, and it's super free! You can sign up at kraftfoods.com.

Anyway, the original recipe includes too much pumpkin for my taste (including using pumpkin in the filling) so I've adapted it to the recipe you see below. This is a great and really impressive cake for any fall event and I think you'll find that most anyone will love it even if they swear they don't like pumpkin. I've converted many people with it - starting with myself. I've also done this very successfully as cupcakes that look equally impressive.
Good luck and happy baking!

Ingredients:
1 pkg. (2-layer size) yellow cake mix
1 cup of canned pumpkin
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup oil
4 eggs
1-1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice, divided
1 dash of cinnamon (to taste)
1 pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tub (8 oz.) COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, thawed (Preferably french vanilla)
1/4 cup caramel ice cream topping
1/4 cup chopped Walnuts or Pecans

Directions (almost directly from the Kraft Foods recipe):
HEAT oven to 350°F.

BEAT cake mix, 1 cup pumpkin, milk, oil, eggs and 1 tsp. spice in large bowl with mixer until well blended. Pour into 2 greased and floured 9-inch round pans.

BAKE 28 to 30 min. or until toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 min. Remove from pans to wire racks; cool completely.

BEAT cream cheese in medium bowl with mixer until creamy. Add sugar, remaining spices; mix well. Gently stir in COOL WHIP. Cut each cake layer horizontally in half with serrated knife; stack on serving plate, spreading cream cheese filling between layers. (Do not frost top layer.) Drizzle with caramel topping just before serving; top with nuts. Refrigerate leftovers.



Tip: A great way to move the layers of cake is to use a flat cookie sheet. Slide the cookie sheet between the already sliced cake, completely beneath the new cut layer. Then you can cleanly move it and even flip it over using another cookie sheet or a plate. Be careful though, the top will stick to any surface if you don't spray it before hand so if you want a perfect top, definitely do that!



For more recipes and other fun, feel free to visit my blog, Living with Annie. Cheers!

Brunch Club October: The Pumpkin Patch

How far will people go to decorate for Halloween?

"A 75-year-old dead man sat decomposing on his Marina del Rey balcony for days because neighbors thought the body was part of a Halloween display and didn’t call police."

This is a story Andy brought to our attention at brunch last Sunday. According to this article, the body was in plain view for all to see. Other articles claim the gun shot wound to the man's eye was thought to be self-inflicted.

Call us lame, but we were not ready to go to such great lengths this year to decorate for Halloween. We stuck with good ole fashion pumpkin carving.









One very sweet dog sat aside and watched.



But first came the feast. Hosting brunch has become a huge deal these days. Sube hosted this week. Let me just say that at this rate, our once-a-month brunches may be my only meals I eat. I feel like I am still stuffed 4 days later. Here is the breakdown:

The Bite Me Favorite for this Month goes to:

Fried Cheese Grits by Sube


I mean...come on. I don't need to explain why this was nothing but awesome.

Collard Greens and Gruyère Dip Baked Inside of a Pumpkin by BreAnna



Crepes and Sugar by Sube



Savory Corn Pancakes by Sube



Carrot Cupcakes by Natalie



Apple Crisp by Emily



Delicious Cake with a Fancy Name I Don't Remember by Sueb



Portuguese Sweet Bread by Sube



Hummus by Sube



I cannot believe this, but I did not snap a picture of Andice's dish...AGAIN. They brought delicious pumpkin pancakes. DELICIOUS.

Everything But Pumpkin Frittata by Lindzachary



12 large eggs
olive oil (for coating pan)
1 large zucchini, sliced thinly
1 large potato, sliced thinly
2 small tomatoes(one chopped, one sliced for the top of the frittata)
1 C feta cheese
1 onion
1/2 C chopped black olives
1 small green bell pepper, chopped
2 mushrooms, sliced
2 cloves garlic (minced)
1/4 tsp paprika
salt and pepper to taste

Saute onion, green peppers, garlic in a large cast iron skillet (at least 13" in diameter)over medium/high heat for about 2 minutes.
Add the potatoes and and continue to saute for another 2 minutes.
Add the zucchini, mushrooms, olives, and the one chopped tomato and saute until all the vegetables are tender.
Meanwhile, beat the eggs in a large bowl. Then mix in the paprika, salt, pepper, and 3/4 C of the feta cheese (reserving 1/4 C to sprinkle over the top).
Once the veggies are finished sauteing, turn the heat down to medium and pour the egg mixture over them into the skillet.
Gently place the tomato slices over the top of the fritatta in the skillet, and sprinkle with the remaining feta cheese.
Keep the skillet on the stove top for about 5 minutes, and pre heat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Move the skillet into the oven to bake until the eggs are set (about 10-15 minutes).
Turn on the oven broiler for 2 to 3 minutes (just enough to barely toast the cheese on the top of the fritatta.

Florida People

I am on a plane on my way back to Los Angeles from Florida.



I spent a good ten days in the random Florida weather. It was all over the place from unbearably-hot-humid-sunny → hot-light-rain → overcast-thunder-lightning → pouring-down-while-I-am-driving-rain →cold-windy-but-sunny → perfect (on the day I flew out).

Florida is the craziest state. There used to be a segment called “Germany or Florida” on the morning radio show I used to listen to every morning in Los Angeles. Someone would read a story about a crazy old man who lived with 300 snakes or a woman who ran her husband over with a car seven times in a hotel parking lot. The three radio show personalities would have to guess whether the story took place in Germany or Florida. There really are enough weirdo things going on between the two places to keep this game interesting. It was never clear to me how serious the crazy problem in Florida was until I moved away. When you live there, you just assume everywhere else is the same, but you are just not hearing about the crazies in other states because they are not local. But when I moved across the country and was still hearing about wacko random news stories that went down in Florida, I realized what was going on. Here are a few of my favorites:

UF Student Tasered at Kerry Forum
Astronaut Charged With Attempted Murder
Debra LaFave
and so many more...

Don’t get me wrong. I love Florida. I grew up there. It is my home. It is just funny how many ideas people in California seem to have about Floridians (some true some not). I have been asked if I had alligators in my backyard when I lived there. And you know what, I did. At my parents house, there is a little pond with a woodsy area out back, and let’s just say I would never really feel comfortable allowing my little nieces to play out there. Zach wrote a crazy article during his last year in school that referenced some of the crazy things alligators eat…babies are far from being out of the question. I was out for a jog on the sidewalk in the middle of a lightning storm last week, and there was a small alligator staring at me from the water’s edge, about 20 feet away. It doesn’t get much more Florida than that folks.

Obviously, there are not alligators roaming around most residential areas in Florida, but it happens. There are so many idiosyncrasies that I must make another list. Here we go, You know you are a true Floridian if:
1. You can close your eyes during the summer and not be able to tell whether you are in a steam room or just outside.
2. You can name at least 5 notorious serial killers that struck in your state.
3. You know the difference between a chomp and the tomahawk.
4. You feel that it is okay to go out in the lightning as long as there is no thunder within a couple seconds of each bolt.
5. The water at the beach feels more like a mild hot tub and less like the ocean.
6. The north is “The South”.
7. You know there are no beaches in the Florida Keys.
8. You can see the sun rise and set over the water in the same day.
9. It is weird if it rains for longer than 5 minutes.
10. It is weird if it rains only once in a day.
11. Seasons refer to sports not weather.

There is no such thing as “fall” in Florida. I referenced this in a previous post about it “still being summer in Florida”. The leaves do not change colors, the weather rarely cools down, and the people definitely continue wearing white and flip-flops well through the holidays. Floridians are really forced to take things into their own hands.



They light candles, they decorate, they…I mean we… make pumpkin recipes all to feel like we are a part of the fall season. Oh, and because pumpkin recipes are the best.

For the Love of Florida Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

(makes 24, recipe from Allrecipes.com)

3 1/3 C all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
3 C white sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground nutmeg
16 oz canned pumpkin puree
4 eggs, beaten
2/3 C water
1 1/2 C semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Grease 24 muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners.
In a large bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, sugar, salt and nutmeg.
In a separate bowl, beat together pumpkin, eggs and water. Stir pumpkin mixture into flour mixture; beat until well blended. Fold in 1 cup of chocolate chips.
Pour batter into muffin tins, filling almost to the top.
Sprinkle 3 to 5 chocolate chips (the remaining 1/2 C) on top of each muffin (this just makes them look nice)



Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.