So M. and J. got married yesterday in the City Hall. It was a beautiful fall New York day, and the ceremony was filled with laughter and friends. I threw a small wedding reception at my apartment and here is the cupcake wedding cake tower that I made (well, the stand was made by B.) for the occasion. The recipe is based on cupcakes from Billy’s Bakery on 9th Avenue in Chelsea. You can find the recipe here. For cake decorating supplies, I go to New York Cake and Baking Supplies. I made the heart decoration by rolling fondant and stamping the heart shape with a cookie cutter. I wrote M and J with a brush in yellow food coloring. The cupcakes were delicious, if I may say so, even better than the ones from Billy’s now that they changed ownership, and changed the frosting recipe (too sweet for my taste). One caveat: for Vanilla frosting, I would reduce the amount of milk in half to keep the frosting not too runny.
I also made Roasted Chicken Curry with Brussels Sprouts and Butternut Squash, which is one of the easiest and yummiest party food. The recipe will feed about 30 very hungry people as a main course. Adapted from a recipe in the current issue of Food & Wine magazine.
Ingredients
- 1Lb Brussels sprouts, cut in half
- 2 large butternut squash cut in 1″ squares
- 2 large red onion cut in small wedges
- 10 Lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut in 1/3
- 1 17oz. container of nonfat Greek yogurt
- 6 garlic cloves finely minced
- 2 Tbs grated ginger
- 2 Tbs or more of your favorite curry powder
- olive oil, salt, pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven 350 degrees.
- Toss Brussels sprouts, onion and butternut squash with enough oil to coat and season with salt and pepper. Spread the vegetables in one layer on a sturdy high-rimmed cookie sheet.
- Mix yogurt, salt, pepper, ginger, garlic and curry powder and coat the chicken on all sides with the mixture.
- Place the chicken on top of the vegetables. Roast for 1 hour and 30 minutes. Halfway through roasting, rotate the pan. Check occasionally to remove access liquid.
I served this with some couscous and pita bread in some cultural anachronism.
Kira Nam Greene’s work explores female sexuality, desire and control through figure and food still-life paintings, surrounded by complex patterns. Imbuing the feminist legacies of Pattern and Decoration Movement with transnational, multicultural motifs, Greene creates colorful paintings that are unique combinations of realism and abstraction, employing diverse media such as oil, acrylic, gouache, watercolor and colored pencil. Combining Pop Art tropes and transnationalism, she also examines the politics of food through the depiction of brand name food products, or junk food. Recently, Greene started a figurative painting series spurred by the 2016 Presidential Election, Women’s March, #metoo movement and ensuing crisis of conscience, this new body of work aspires to present the power of collective action by women.