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Adie popped by taking the kitchen by storm pulling desirables that when moistened with liquor would make Sangria like no other. Sangria so refreshing that as she sat next to the pool with the breeze blowing through her hair an easy smile happily resting on her face, Seattle’s hottest day of the year went unnoticed. A bottle of wine emptied, most of a bottle of Pellegrino some sliced lemons and clementines popped in and it’s off to puree some succulently ripe mango. This was the magic ingredient. A splash or so of white rum with a sizzle of sugar readied the mix for tasting. A bit more sugar says Adie. After the mix partied with the ice, it was poured into the pretty, party pitcher and garnished with fresh mint. You don’t want to over mint. Too much mint takes all the fun out of Sangria trending to Mojitoland and for that matter all this talk about Sangria when what we’ve actually made was August Punch, but who’s checking. One girl’s Sangria is another girl’s Punch. For this girl, the punch was in the beautiful Anam Cara Riesling. Lacking a dryer wine at peep toe pumps reach and no desire to pop up to the shops, we pulled out the Riesling to give ‘er a go. It went well. The Sangrian August Punch was light, refreshing ( I know I said that already ), not sweet and not too alcoholic tasting. PERFECTO for a hot summer day. Adie girl, you done good.

She ended up using:

Clementines

Lemons

Ripe Champagne Mango pureed in a Champion (the one that looks like a pig)

Pellegrino

Bottle of wine

Cruzan white rum

Organic Sugah

This is Emily

Sure it’s a tit freezing day in Seattle. Sure finding charcoal amongst candy canes, fruitcake and brass plated golf tees can be trying. But leave it to Emily, our master chef of the day, to wrangle the crowds scouting out banana leaves, choice duck breast and put out a 3-D cookie with style.

Girl On Grill Action done in cookie medium

Shopping List:
Duck Breasts
Marmalade for a some slimy, sticky sweet breast rub action
Banana Leaves
Masa
Azuki Beans (sweetened red beans)
Carrots with their tops on, modest
Green Onions (Scallion, Spring Onions, same shit)
Butter
Dates
Something fizzy and fabulous to drink

aaah. perty

The fancy beans and banana leaves were picked up at our local Asian grocer de especial Uwajimaya. A place so fine you can pick up what’s for dinner and still leave with some Cream Collon and Totoro books.

emily

To warm things up a bit, Emily lit the coals and cracked open Kirkland’s finest champagne.

mmmm. bubbles

Rachel popped by as well and a champagne taste off commenced. Veuve Clicquot vs Costco’s Kirkland Signature Champagne. Kirkland was up first.

kirkland's finest vs fancy label

Shockingly nice. Good bubble. Another sip is well deserved. Both Rachel and Emily sported the frown nod for Kirkland’s finest. Veuve Clicquot next, huh, a bit bitter. Nice, but how much nicer than Kirkland? Worth extra change for the privilege of advertisement? Both seemed to be solid bottles of mass produced, non-vintage champagne. One bottle starts at forty bucks while the other a mere twenty.

a sip of Kirkland a sip of voov rachel sips

Then the duck was on. Duck fat doing it’s duck fat thing agitated the coals and we had ourselves an impressive flame.

flamey

rachel paints her nails

Carrot girl handed our master chef the carrots and the grill was lidded. After a rest and a failed attempt at a foil bird, the green onions were on. The flames are hot, so don’t go for a refill. Minus a few casualties, the onions were perfect. The sweet tango of duck, caramelized carrot and grilled green onions danced in the mouths of these girls as the morsels were eaten –no- devoured and washed down with a fine bottle of generic champagne.

Go go carrot girl

foiled duck

mmmm duck plate combo

Quick shoe break as the Endless shipment arrived (free overnight shipping oh maw gaw!! If loving Endless is wrong GIRL, I don’ wanna be rightah) and it’s on to dessert.

SHOES!!! Pink cowgirl boots!! GET OUT!!!

Emily quickly whipped up some dessert tamales with sweet red beans and a surprise date all snuggled with masa then bundled and tucked in a banana leaf. After a little sit on the grill, these little babies came out steamy hot and melted in the mouth. Another impressive concoction to dazzle and amaze your friends. And easy to boot!

girl on grill chat

Rachel’s inner chocolate daemon scouted out some frozen brownie bites. This led to grilled brownie done two ways. Version one, straight up brownie on grill action. Version two, hey! banana leaves! … let’s stick some in here!

mmmmm. brownie

The straight up brownie was warm and tasty, but quite dry. The banana leaf version was warm, moist yet had this banana leaf overtone that impersonated green tea. Not this girl’s style.

more grill chat

Okay, so the duck breast, carrot, green onion combo plate converged on a Grand Canyon at sunset color, the taste was FABULOUS. Emily closed down the fall barbeque season with sass. And in true Girl On Grill Action™ form, she walked in the door and it was on.

grillin' and chattin let's go eat