Monday, August 18, 2014

The Sword in the Stone

Week 14:

This week, other than watching Disney Channel’s showing of Aladdin (to remember Robin of course. Disney had a nice message at the end and Justice and I both were sad watching it), we watched The Sword and the Stone. I loved this movie when I was younger, because I loved history. The main events of the movie, also, took place around Christmas in London. Significant time and place for Justice and I. Of course, I had to get up Saturday morning to cook and, as much as I loved this movie, this was my attitude.

But, the show must go on so, without further ado, “All Hail, the Menu! Long live, the Menu!”.

To start off, we had round steak (for King Arthur’s round table). Which Merlin suggested. Excellent taste he had.

Next, we had stone bread. I was going to use my Kitchenaid mixer to make some homemade loaves (I thought they’d look nice and old-school), but I ran out of time and I had another idea. I would use KING’s Hawaiian rolls. King is, of course, for the king the “Wart” would become. Hawaiian was a tribute to a possible destination for Merlin. He did enjoy Bermuda and looked like he had a Hawaiian shirt on when he came back from the 21st century. I think he made a pit-stop in the islands and brought back this bread to celebrate Arthur’s coronation. He was VERY happy to hear the news!

Lastly, we had Marble Slab ice cream. Ok, I made a change here, too. My original plan was to have Coldstone instead of Marble Slab. I just thought the Coldstone name fit in better with the movie (having stone in the name after all). There wasn’t a Coldstone in town, however, so I put Marble Slab on the menu. To my delight, there was a Coldstone near the David’s Bridal where I had my wedding dress fitting this weekend, so Coldstone was back on! I just had to wait until the night after the movie to get it. Worthy cause, I say.

Here is my ice cream fit for a king (ahem queen).

Made on a STONE

Notice the waffle “crown”

And my “Excalibur” (a.k.a. spoon)?

Sword in the (Cold)Stone!

Now for the add-ons

What naturally goes with steak? Potatoes, of course. So, I simply added a mountain of mashed potatoes. Kind of looks like snow doesn’t it? Snow being relevant, because the sword was in the stone in a snowy courtyard.

Next, I thought on a snowy day in London that stone soup would've been welcome. Now, I did not want to ACTUALLY make my soup with hot stones like it was done in medieval times. We are OUT of the Dark Ages after all, so I just made some soup on the stove (homemade chicken noodle to be exact. For this, I just chopped up some of my favorite veggies, tossed in some chicken and chicken broth, a dash of salt, and noodles. Easy!).

I was going to chop the veggies on the cutting board Justice made me, but seeing as this was The Sword in the Stone, I had to use my stone (marble) one I received from a friend/co-worker last Christmas.

I loved the Merlin/Madam Mim wizard’s duel/relationship in this movie, so I wanted to play on that. I found these ROCK candy “wands” at a local candy store in their respective colors and got each wizard some drinks to keep them energized. Turning into multi-colored animals can be exhausting. I chose Blue Powerade for Merlin and some more of the Pink Dragonfruit for Madam Mim (although she cheated and decided to go purple in the movie). Merlin got the better of her in the end, though!

If I included Merlin, I had to include Archimedes, Arthur’s other teacher. He sure did care about his pupil after all. I included my planning steps to show how far he came from concept to reality. I think I captured him pretty well in peanut butter and chocolate, if I do say so myself. His beak, pupils, and feet are Reese’s Pieces, his body and wings are Reese’s cups, his eyebrows are mini Oreos, his beard is vanilla frosting, and his eyes are Nutter Butter bits. Chocolate and Peanut Butter. Yum!

O, come off it, Archimedes! I thought it was pretty good!

I found another add-on when I went for the rock candy wands. They were chocolate boulders. You read that right. CHOCOLATE BOULDERS! Perfect! I chose the color I wanted and stuck a sword in them. Sword in the Stone literally transformed into food right there. Think Arthur is worthy of these and could have pulled the sword out of them? I think so. Long live, King Arthur!

I saved the best add-on for last. Strawberry Snow. I decided, since I had to wait for Coldstone, to look for a medieval dessert and this beauty found its way into my browser. It is from 16th century England according to medieval cookery's website (perfect location, but a little past King Arthur’s time. Close though, close). It was one of my favorite parts of the meal and Justice even requested that I make it again, so I know it is a winner. The recipe is found here: http://www.food.com/recipe/strawberry-snow-235542. I quartered the amount for Justice and I and put it in the freezer to make sure it had the consistency of ice cream.

I, also, made a strawberry and whipped cream crown on top…or tried to anyway.

Don't worry. It was light, but still tasted like the sugar bowl got carried away again. When. WHEN!!

Here is the full menu! Notice the "swords"?

Pretty short week, but I did have one more thing. I burned my finger a while back making some homemade caramel sauce and have been nursing it ever since. I recently got some band-aids with 5 “hidden Mickeys”. I decided this was the perfect time to wear one and I wore my Disney shirt to match!

Like I said, light week. Which Justice and I were thankful for! It means less dishes. Believe me, after looking at a sink like this after a Disney meal,

I would LOVE a Merlin-style, plate washing, magic assembly line.
But, alas, this is more like reality.

However, no matter how many dishes there are, at least I have Justice. Unlike our female squirrel friend. One of the saddest cases of Disney unrequited love, am I right? Love can be so squirrely sometimes.

Anywho,it was Justice's turn to draw and to his delight (he is big gamer). He drew…

Wreck-It Ralph! (Fix-It Felix whoop-whoop). Nice shirt choice, by the way.

Coming Soon: Wreck-It Ralph