Duets

This week we're looking at foods that go hand in hand and music where a couple of people are duetting.

Off the top of my head I can only think of duets being a cheesy thing to do and can't think of anyone cool who has partnered up.  I hope to be surprised.

Hustle

e is writing this week.

We are going to look at the conmen of the food world. She's been watching a lot of the TV series Hustle this week - hence the title.

Can't go wrong with a cheeky con.

Red pepper or scary monster? -->

Thanksgivukkah

Last night was both Thanksgiving (US) and the first day of Hanukkah.  Apparently they won't overlap again until 2070.  So I am sure we'll celebrate then too.

I don't know much about Jewish traditions, only odd things like you shouldn't have lasagne as it has both meat and dairy (they can have tuna lasagne which sounds delish anyway).

Dog days

Tonight's theme is dedicated to man's best friend.

Today we bought a dog.  I have been wanting a dog for a while and narrowed it down to a beagle being the dog of choice.  After thinking and researching and thinking yet more about how our lives would change, we brought Cooper home today.

We decided on a name a few week's ago, making it all a bit more real.  His full name is Cooper Black Bold, which is after an iconic font (you may know it from the Easyjet logo).  It's an awesome name I think.  And more people and dogs should be named after fonts.

He will be more of an observant of this FridayDateNight as I don't think he is partial to themed cocktails.  I am sure he appreciates the sentiment of the playlist dedicated to dogs and food around his heritage. Or, you know, doesn't notice at all.

Dia de los Muertos (belated)

Missed this event because we were at a Halloween party and only just remembered we wanted to do it.  This is the Mexican Day of the Dead celebration.

We're using the opportunity to make Mexican foods and maybe a cheeky margarita.  Like we need an excuse.

Danger danger!

Tonight we are going to try and poison ourselves to death with food.  Hurray!

Lots of foods have trace elements of things that can kill you, or make you ill at least.  It's good to dabble with one's mortality every now and again.  Play Russian roulette.

I sent him a couple of websites of deathly foods and left it up to him to combine whatever he fancied.

On all the lists was hotdogs, not because of the terrible 'food' they contain, but because of the choking hazard.  What a terrible thing to die from.

Newfoundland

I like the random.  There was a Reddit thread about people's favourite food and someone said "Fish and chips.." and I thought, sure, that's good, but he wasn't done "... with dressing and gravy".

Transpires that this is a traditional dish from Newfoundland and, since I am unlikely to visit, I thought I would virtually visit through the medium of Internet recipes.

Music wise, I think there may well be a few sea shanties, Newfoundland is an island happily into their tradition.

111013

Today is a binary date.  Sorta.

Yesterday three years ago we got engaged on 101010.  That was a binary date.  Now we have no more properly binary dates till, what, 010100 (i.e. first Jan in the year 3000).  I might not be around for that.

I like binary; the simplicity of something being a yes or a no with no grey area.  Life is full of grey areas.  Tonight shall just be yeses and no.

Mostly yeses to drink and food, admittedly...

Texas BBQ

He has the day off today so he has decided to go for something that needs cooking longer (as usually he can only start cooking at 6pm or 7pm).

We only had a small amount of Texas BBQ when in Texas, so we're just guessing, and trusting the Internet (how could that possibly go wrong?).

And, a great opportunity to get our country music thang on.

Non, je ne regrette rien

Tonight we are (virtually) scurrying through the French countryside.  We were inspired by wanting to try out a full on rabbit dish, and ordered specially from our farm shop.  Rabbit is a really lovely meat but just isn't sold in normal supermarkets in my hood, but the French are more likely to have le lapin.  When I chanced upon a great theme, on an email subscription list, I fluttered my eyelashes at my awesome hubbie and he was similarly enthused.

We are going for a Rustic French meal.  Reading through the elements, it feels nicely authentic, and I am sure we have a French wine knocking about in our collection to have with it.  We recently went to a wine tasting at Laithwaites (their HQ is around the corner) and bought up a number of wines, some wonderfully French.  It was a great evening, there were amuse bouche for each course, and this drove home to us how the right wine and food pairing enhanced the experience of both.  I am not quite at the stage of being smart enough to make pairings, but I am in a place where I can steal the recommendations of others and pass them off as my incredible insight.

Funkytown

Tonight's theme is "funky".  I have been discovering all sorts of mad tunes recently; I have Spotify on my headphones at work and I follow something similar to the Wikipedia vortex (where you start on one page and you click on an interesting link on that page, and then click an interesting link on that page, and so on until you're reading about Hungarian architects and about strains of broccoli).

In this manner I start off with a band I like and hit the 'similar artists' and before you know it... you're in funkytown.

Caribbean

My friend Andy has recently moved to Reading and we tried out the local Caribbean cafe recently.  He is so from Jamaica in a previous life (in this life he is a white Welsh guy) and loves reggae and the cuisine.  And so do I.  Hot and satisfying.  We had a mutton curry with some ginger beer and it was epic.

We have been growing a chilli plant for what seems like forever.  A month of being outside and it has rapidly produced several Scotch bonnet chillies.  We've been waiting for an excuse to use the chillies and this theme is a winner.

Not sure I love reggae (I am being kind, I am pretty sure I really don't) so the quest is on to find some that I like.

3 is the magic number

Tumblr (the blog people) sent me an email congratulating me for three years of blogging.  Yes, yes, I know we're on Blogger right now, but I started it all off on Tumblr before they caused me to want to throw my laptop violently across the room with their lack of saving my precious words.

We have been doing FridayDateNights from the first time he made me game casserole many years back when we were all cute and new, and have, so I gather, been actually blogging it for three freakin' years.

And sometimes, wow, it's a pain thinking up a theme (and you'll have seen some desperate choices), deciding food, prepping, choosing music and writing it all up.  But, it's fun to read back on, not least because I am destroying my memory with all the lovely cocktails.

The Leftovers

How does the music turn out once someone has left the band?  Does the band try and imagine it's all the same as it was?  Do they go another direction?

Tonight we're looking at the music produced by the people leftover after someone leaves.

And an easy food theme!  We are a bit on a budget tonight as we thought we should pay a council tax payment rather than buy lots of food.  I KNOW!

By design

I finished my Uni design course U101 this week.  It was one of the best courses I have been on.

As part of the course, I had assignments to design a t-shirt, create a solution to a problem (my group chose a better way to transport drinks from a drive through), a board game and to fix a fundamental problem within education (I chose procrastination).  Phew!  It's been a really interesting journey, has made me bolder, more creative and willing to take risks and make mistakes.  No bad thing.

This FridayDateNight will be on the subject matter of design.  I spent a bunch of time researching what kinds of foods are particularly designed and in the end I decided on Scandinavian open sandwiches, which has moved quite beyond a usual sandwich into a bit of an art.

Olé

Tonight we fancied some colour and spice.  We both came up with the idea of a fabulous paella.  We have a paella pan, which we bought at a Cheltenham Food and Drink Festival.  It serves 6-8 people, so we might possibly have some leftovers.  Possibly!

We had a brilliant time in Barcelona last Autumn (I piggy backed a business trip he had) and we were both disappointed by the paella's we had.  I know, probably our fault, when you're a tourist, you can't much avoid going to the wrong places as you just don't know.

Hungry Hungary

Hello all!  What a sunny week.  I have been zooming around in my little convertible playing Fleetwood Mac.

This week I finished off a contract where we had a lovely team of developers in Hungary.  I haven't been to Hungary so I thought I would go there virtually tonight via the medium of food, drink and music.  And no queuing in airports and constantly wondering where my passport is.

The company I was working for is Monochrome, they are fun boys and "monochrome" is a GREAT theme for a FridayDateNight - all that black and white.  However, I have done a chess theme before, which touches on the two colours (and also a white theme) and I wouldn't want to get repetitive :-)  So Hungary it is.  I like my emerging tradition of marking the occasion of working at places with music and tunes.  There was the Football League, Vodafone and London Underground (which was the most epic FridayDateNight ever with 11 courses to represent the different tube lines).

So, Hungary... what do we know so far?  This picture is of Captain Hungary.  Is he like Captain America?  No. The flag is like the Italian one, but sideways.  I am so informed.

New York, New York

An evening's homage to New York City.

The idea of this theme came up from the innocuous comment, "well, what *is* a New York strip steak".  The best way to find out such things is to cook 'em.  I did a similar thing earlier in the week with Chicken Parm, which was mentioned a hundred times in a Leverage episode.  So I had to check it out.  It was win.

Seaside Rendezvous

Tonight we are taking a trip to the seaside.  Riding a donkey, making sandcastles, playing the penny slots on the pier and wearing one of those knotted handkerchiefs on our heads.

What food reminds you of seaside holidays?  What tunes make you imagine cloudy sunshine summer beaches?

Purplemania

This week's theme was easy as we decided it during last week's FDN.  Then again, we do that all the time; come up with the PERFECT theme we should do, knock back a celebratory drink to toast it, and (obvs) totally forget it.

When listening to new songs, he will nod his head a little, and say either "hmmm, they're a bit like early Genesis" or "hmmm, they're a bit like Deep Purple".  For every band ever.  Well, early Genesis I know (and judge harshly), Deep Purple not so much.  So when he said Gotthard were a bit like Deep Purple (see if you agree here), I thought ENOUGH, let's listen to these buggers.  And, as if the artists had named their band so I could have a food theme too, there was an opportunity for lots of purple food.

Because we're both doing a load of driving to get to our jobs this week, we're sharing the food part.  Plus, how hard is it for me to slap a playlist of purpleness together?

Tobleroneland

Ummmm... let's make some fondue!

After the last attempt at fondue (just guessed and melted whatever cheese was around), when I found this recipe today when I was looking for something entirely different, it was if God himself was saying "Makkkeeeeee fondueeeeee".  That's how higher beings talk, you know?

Well, okay then.  We slapped a theme around it, "Switzerland", an offensive name for the blog "Tobleroneland" and off we go.

I can't think of any musical act that has come from Switzerland.  Zero.  How educational this will be!

Brasil

We wanted something very different and tasty as a theme today.  We ate and ate lots of melted cheese in the form of fondue and within tartiflette and then also piles of junk food in the Alps on our recent skiing trip, so anything but that!

I think he chose this theme because he just wanted to make Caipirinha cocktails.

I like the theme because it's cheery music and interesting food and far removed from yet more tedious, useless weather.  There have been teasing blue skies  and patches of warmth, but, oh no, yet more tumultuous rain.

Half Mara FTW

Sunday is the day of the Reading Half Marathon.  Since the beginning of the year we have been following a schedule to get us ready for this event.  It's been very challenging sometimes (snow and mud) and incredible in other ways (he has lost over half a stone just from the running).  Our speed, has in the past been real slow.  A 10 min/mile would have been a real good day, with slower being a regular occurrence.  This week we even knocked a few 8:30 min/miles!  I managed a 7:15min/mile, but it was very downhill, ha!

Since we're running together we won't be playing tunes during the race, but many have got me through some reluctant runs over the last few months.  It's a selection that is fast paced and generally cheery.  All over the genres, they're not important, if a cheesy track gets you up that hill, you'll take it.  Added some from friends and look forward to taking them all out on runs after the race.  Yes, even after all my whining, am actually super keen to remain running at this faster pace and these longer distances.  Who would have thought.

Children's Party

Being three is awesome!

Tonight's theme was inspired by my friend Stella, who treated herself to Jelly & Ice cream this week to help her get over a twisted ankle.  Best medication ever.

She suggested this theme, and I thought YES just based on the jelly and ice cream.  It then struck me that children don't tend to have formal dinner parties with three courses (weird, right?!) so let's see what ingenuity he can come up with.

Stella is someone I know originally from a messageboard, and, when you meet people on the net you make up a picture of them.  I thought she would have funky blonde spiked hair - I dunno why - and IRL she has flowing brunette locks.  Shows what I know.  Thanks Stells, this one's for "yuo".

Burrrns night

Well, we have to celebrate Robbie Burns on this important day that celebrates, ummm, a long dead poet?

Hubbie loves haggis, but I have requested that he tones it down a bit and that it isn't the main course.  He loves my whiny challenges.

For music, I am putting together a selection of Scottish bands.


Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face,
Great chieftain o' the puddin-race!

Apres ski

Today the UK is - as we are shocked every year to be - at a standstill because of the snow.  Don't get me wrong, it's awesome.  Not only pretty but meaning one needs to work from home.

Wintastic!

Tonight we are going to embrace the best thing about snow.  No, not snowmen, snow ball fights or snow angels.  Skiing!  Tonight is apres ski.

The food will keep us warm and fat laden enough for a fictional eight hours of skiing tomorrow.

Oh and the music...

Come Back to Texas

Unfathomable that we didn't do a Texas theme after our awesome holiday last year.  What a missed opportunity and how we are leaping onto it today!

Not sure it suits this January weather, with its snow warnings, but whatevs.

Food will be recipes from Home Sick Texan (the glossy recipe book is one of our favourites) and the music is from Wikipedia's extensive (?) list of bands from Texas.  It's a crappy list, but a start point.  Turns out that's all sorts of genres coming out of this state from Beyonce to Meatloaf.

2012 Retrospective

2012 eh?  What was all that about?

As is traditional (ahem, maybe done once), we're gonna do a round up of a selection of tunes from the various themes for the year and he's choosing his favourite dishes to make again.

An up and down year.  Much in the way of Britishness with the Jubilee and the Olympics, which was fun and people were happy.  Loved the opening ceremony of the Olympics.

Started a degree with the Open Uni and met some great new student friends - especially Avril, who is my secret twin.  Went to Scotland twice and saw the lovely Bel.  Lex saves me from a darktime with wig wearing and geekie films, along with the awesome Tori and Sarah.  Love them!  More please in 2013.

Had an amazing Texan holiday, Barcelona, Euro Disney... Work stuff was meh (thankfully into a new year away from that).  Overall the year gets a B-.  The year was generally not stand out memorable, but the Texas holiday raised it out of mediocrity.  Oh we must return.

And in December we discovered the lure of online gaming in D&D Online.