Homemade Food Event

During the last Sunday of January, i hosted a "Homemade Food Event"
Invited guests were advised to bring a dish, whether its a drink, appetizer, snack, dip, anything!
but it had to be HOMEMADE , & made by themselves.
& for those who didnt know how to cook, or just didnt have the time to make a dish,
they helped chip in a few $dollars to someone who was, just to be fair & to help out ~


Anyway, the event went pretty well, but i guess i  picked a bad weekend to host it,
it was the week before mid-terms & some of my friends pick sunday night as their "finish homework night".
But i didnt want to move it to another week because ive already had to postpone it twice.
So , the next time i host another Food Party, i shall pick an empty Saturday night ~


Back to the topic of food,
so since i was the host of this event, i felt i had to put a little more on the table.
i avoided main course meals, since majority of the guests were planning on brining heavier meals, such as Korean BBQ, Steak Kabobs, Pastas, etc.
So instead i made 2 snack appetizers, 1 drink, and 1 dessert.
Heres what i made :

Ingredients for My Mini Skewers

Recipe ;

- Toothpicks

- Mozzarella 

- Basil

- Salami (feel free to use any other dry meats)

- Baby Grape Tomatoes

Tomato, Basil, Salami & Mozzarella Skewer
i love these single appetizer bites!
simple to make, & super yummy.
combine them in whichever way you want,
i went with sort or a swirled-layered pattern ~

Spicy Potato Wedges (before the fryer)
these are actually small yellow spuds you can find at any
local grocery market.
ive noticed i  tend to find "mini food" alot cuter than
the normal sized foods you usually see everywhere else,
it also gives it a little more of a "special & personalized"
feel, haha.

Spicy Fried Potato Wedges
honesty, who DOESNT like potatoes ? especially if theyre
in fry form?!
these were absolutely delicious, straight out of the fryer.
spicy, crunchy, hot, starchy food of the Gods!

Recipe ;

- yellow mini potato spuds, sliced.

- cayenne pepper (add alot if u like it spicy!)

- parsley flakes

- garlic powder

- pepper

- salt

- dill

(sorry i have no measurements for the seasoning, its super

easy to just combine these spices according to preference.

but be sure to make enough of the spice mixture, since

you will need to coat the potatoes, twice.)

After you have prepared your seasoning, you add

your potato wedges & half the spice-mixture into a

large mixing bowl & toss them until theyre coated.

Drop them in the fryer until theyre golden brown.

As soon as theyre out of the fryer toss them back into the

bowl and sprinkle the spice mixture & toss again, until

fully coated.  Enjoy~

Preparing the Watermelon Citrus Drink
i used the watermelon shell as the punch bowl itself.
i cut off the top of it & also a thin slice of the bottom, so it
would be able to stand on its own.
be careful to NOT cut too deep into the flesh of the fruit,
or you will have leaking issues.

Hollowing Out
so as soon as i got it to stand, i started hollowing out
the fruit. Once again, be careful to NOT puncture through
the bottom of the fruit.

Finished Punch Bowl

Mixing & Blending Process
look how much fruit i got out of that melon !
okay, so during this process is where i added the other
citrus fruits into the bowl.

Recipe ;

- 1 Watermelon

- juice of 1 Grapefruit

- juice of 3 Oranges

- juice of 1 lemon

- Sugar (if needed to be sweeter)

- 2 liter Fruit Soda (i used pineapple)

puree the fruit mixture in your blender, fill the watermelon

halfway with the mixture, & fill it the rest of the way up

with the fruit soda. Save the remainder of the fruit mix in

the fridge for later, when the bowl needs to be refilled ~

Watermelon & Citrus Drink
i needed the extra sweetness from the sugar, since its the
middle of winter & watermelon isnt in season... hehe~

Baking Yellow Cupcakes (buns)
this was actually a cake mix, since  the grocery store
didnt have a very wide selection of cupcakes,
i had to gamble a bit with this, but luckily these worked
just the same!
these yellow ones will be used as the "buns" or our
AWESOME cupcake creation.
if youve never baked cupcakes before, BE SURE TO ONLY
FILL UP THE CUPS  2/3rds OF THE WAY.
they WILL expand !

Baking Chocolate Cupcakes (hamburger meat)
you wont need as many chocolate cupcakes as you did
for the yellow ones, since you will be slicing these
horizontally to use as the "meat" portion of
your cupcake burger.
(1 choco cup cake = about 3-4 slices)
so feel free to indulge on the left over chocolate cakes~
if youve never baked cupcakes before, BE SURE TO ONLY
FILL UP THE CUPS  2/3rds OF THE WAY.
they WILL expand !

Cutting the Cupcakes
okay, heres the hardest part of making your
burger cupcakes. The red portion are the parts that you
dont need. which is the center slice, & the edges of the
muffin top. (just cut along the black dotted lines.)
The easiest way to remove the edges is to remove the
middle piece first, then flip the top upside down &
cut off the edges while rotating the top.
(it`ll be easier to understand if you look at the finished
product.)
Be sure to cut off the edges of the chocolate cupcake too,
& a bit off the top, to flatten it, so that the top bun can rest
more easily on the chocolate cupcake "pattie" .
be sure to slice the whole chocolate cupcakes into
equal even/flat slices.

Cupcake Burger !
is this freaking adorable or what?!
haha, this was a big hit amongst my friends,
they loved it !
it fooled my parents & friends, they really believed it was a
mini burger , haha

Recipe ;

- Coconut Shavings

- Green, Red, & Yellow food coloring

- Sesame seeds

- Sliced yellow & chocolate cupcakes

- White Frosting (i made mine from scratch)

if you want the recipe for simple frosting, "click here"

For the "Lettuce" portion of your burger,  add a few drops

of green food coloring to shaved coconut & mix.

Divide your frosting into 2 bowl & add red food coloring

for the "Ketchup" & yellow to the other for the

"Cheese / Mustard" portion of your cupcake burger.

(i dont like having too much frosting on my cakes, so i

drizzled the frosting around the edges only)

Once youre done stacking the "burger" sprinkle a few

sesame seeds over the top & enjoy your creative desserts !