Boy, am I pooped out!

I’ve been working non-stop in the kitchen today, prepping for tomorrow’s big dinner event. Chopping, slicing, whipping, creaming, tasting (hee), mixing…That’s a lot of workout there! So far I’ve managed to make everything on the menu ahead of time except the omu-pilaf and the Cheese-baked pumpkin Mac & Cheese.

Tomorrow will be lots of pictures, but let me pamper you with a teaser preview of just one of the menu item…

Baked Potato Cake

• 2.2lbs (1 kg) potatoes
• about 3 cups mixed frozen peas, carrots, and corn cubes
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan
• 4 oz shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 cup yogurt
• 2 large eggs
• 4 large yolks
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• salt and pepper
• about 4 thick-sliced chicken ham
• 4 long chicken hotdogs
• 6 tablespoons dry whole wheat bread crumbs
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

I first boiled, peeled, and mashed all the potatoes…

Meanwhile I cooked the mixed vegetables until tender…

I dumped in Parmesan, cheddar cheese, milk, yogurt, eggs, cinnamon, salt and pepper into the mashed potatoes…

Mixed it all up…

And then dumped in the cooked vegetables…

After mixing the whole thing together, I got a 9-inch springform pan and layered it with parchment paper. Then I layered half the potato mixture into it:

Next I covered it with chicken ham and hotdogs…

Spooned the rest of the potato mixture on top and topped the whole thing off with breadcrumbs and drizzled olive oil all over…

Into a 376 degree oven it went, and out it came piping hot and smelling oh-so-cheesy!

The fragrance screamed out “COMFORT FOOD” to me. I was comforted by its lovely aroma…but sad that I couldn’t try it today. No, I must resist the temptation! I will wait till tomorrow…

Oh, and I added one more item to the menu. I decided to make two desserts so that my banana cake-loving friends can compare the two. Anticipate, this one’s a winner: Frozen mango cream cake!!!

The fabulous Ellie tagged me a while ago, but I didn’t get the chance to post my 8 things until now:

8 Things I’m Looking Forward To:

1. Tomorrow’s big dinner!
2. Meeting my family and friends once again in USA
3. Meeting my cousins on my way back to USA in Korea
4. Breaking the bank in Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s the minute I arrive on American soil
5. The next meal
6. Reading comments to my blog
7. Receiving my decision letter from Univeristy of Southern California (or dreading it…)
8. Last but not least…Having my hair all back, my bootie back, my A-size boobs back (hey it’s better than completely non-existent)

8 Things I Did Yesterday:

1. Woke up
2. Ate
3. Pooped
4. Proofread my cousin’s essay
5. Mashed and boiled potatoes for the Potato Cake
6. Baked banana chocolate chip cake (yawn!~)
7. Blogged
8. Did some preparations for my testimony in front of the whole church on May 3rd (nervous…)

8 Things I Wish I Could Do:

1. Backpack across Europe
2. Go back to college (Oh please, please…)
3. Dance hip-hop
4. Speak with a natural British accent
5. Twirl on ice (or any kind of jaw-dropping stunts)
6. Be an influential journalist
7. Fight like Jackie Chan and Jet Lee and look cool while doing it
8. Run a marathon

8 Shows I Watch:

1. Ugly Betty
2. Desperate Housewives
3. Top Chef
4. Grey’s Anatomy
5. Heroes
6. Lost
7. Gossip Girl
8. America’s Next Top Model (hide face in shame)

I’m hungry…I think I overdid myself today. I’m gonna head over to the kitchen again (groan) now to feed my growling stomach…

Question of the day: Have you ever organized or cooked a dinner for a party? What was the menu, how did you do the preparations, and how many people were there? Oh, and if you have never done it before, would you be interested to?

P.S. Life, love, violin is having a great giveaway! What? I’m not telling, go head over to see for yourselves!

Related posts:

1. Don’t judge a food by its color
2. Make fun food
3. Twiddling my thumbs for the Big Event
4. My “thick and dense” head and lunch
5. Prejudices

Tagged as: cake, cheese, chicken, dinner, ham, hotdogs, potatoes, yogurt