Brusch--whatta?

I have nothing deeply meaningful to say...or I do and I haven't figured out how to nicely say it yet...and so I'm going to share my adventure with you.

This past weekend we celebrated the impending arrival of Miss Everleigh Grace (due next month).  I had volunteered to help with the "Sprinkle" (I'm guessing that's a small shower...idk new to me).  So I texted the person who was in charge and asked if I needed to do anything, contribute money, etc.  (I was expecting contribute money lol.)  The answer was we were going to bring appetizers while she was going to get cupcakes...and those appetizers were supposed to be vegetables for dipping and something called bruschetta.  I said OK because I figured veggies were easy and out of two people I would hopefully not have to figure out what the other thing was. 

Anyway...blah blah blah...fast forward...I needed to figure out what bruschetta was first and how to make it second fairly quickly.  YIKES.  I was feeling either low class or stupid that I'd never heard of this when I mentioned that I needed to make bruschetta to several people and their response was "I love bruschetta!"  Mmmk...no pressure there.  Apparently whatever this is is well loved.  (DOUBLE YIKES).  So I googled.  From the pictures I deduced tomatoes and something green and something about bread...or crackers...or something.  Being the procrastinator that I am (and still secretly hoping someone else is bringing this) I went to sleep secure in the knowledge of what it was.

The day before the shower, I realized I had not heard anything further and thus should probably figure out how to make this bruschetta business.  At a place that shall remain nameless, in a spare moment, I googled bruschetta recipes.  I first came across The Food Network ('cause I love them) and basically ol' Alton gave me a recipe for bread.  Clearly I can figure out how to toast bread, Alton...but thanks.

Next recipe I came across called for scary things, like boiling tomatoes for not very long and something about peeling skins off.  I don't know much but peeling tomatoes seemed a bit out of my league.  People tried to reassure me, but I thought for sure there should be a better way.  Afterall, I was going to have to undertake this after working 12 hours. 

Another person had a grand idea "buy it!"  They proceeded to list restaurants in the area with good bruschetta.  I googled...they all opened at 11...the shower started at 11...this would not work, sadly :(

Back to recipe googling. Oh, Pioneer Woman...she had a recipe that looked simple enough.  Not much cooking and little tomatoes cut up...surely I could handle that.  (And no cheese...and there's some vegetarian or vegan folk around I knew).

So...after work I went shopping.

Supplies acquired included tiny grape tomatoes in red and yellow, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, basil, and garlic...oh and bread.



I must say I chose my olive oil with great care...I picked the one with the cutest bottle (well not the very cutest, but within monetary reason).  With supplies firmly in hand (and Starbucks coffee...a required ingredient), I sat out for the homestead to make this bruschetta. 

First, I prepared for the part of chef by donning my blue apron (because everything works better if you are dressed for the part).  (PS ignore the weird expression...remember this is post-12 hour shift so clearely it was more exciting that it needed to be). 

After dressing for the part, I began preparing the ingredients.  The recipe said prep time was 10 minutes.  Clearly, they had minions.  About 45 minutes later (and various ideas such as sliced tomatoes in cans and using cutting tiny tomatoes as prison punishment), I was ready to actually make the stuff.  Seriously, who would have thought slicing tiny tomatoes to be such torture.  There are no pictures after this because it was no longer exciting lol. 

I followed the rest of the recipe (and turned my house into a garlic smelling wonderland) and mixed everything together and let it "procreate" in the refrigerator (seriously, the recipe calls for procreation).  I then made the dip for the veggies, washed and sliced veggies and made a list of the things I would probably forget to do tomorrow and went to bed.

Basically, it turned out ok I guess.  I dunno...I am not a fan of garlic.  Someone, who read my comments on facebook, asked me how it turned out, and I said "I dunno."  And, then they asked me if I tasted it, to which I replied, "yes, but I don't know what it's supposed to taste like."  Therefore I remain blissfully ignorant.  People ate it so it had to be okay or they humored me big time (which I doubt lol). 

It was a fun undertaking anyway...and now that I've purged my refrigerator of its garlic smell, it's only a fond memory.

(I forgot to take a picture, so this is a picture of the leftovers four days later before I threw them away lol).

If I like you, I'll make weird stuff for you.  It was a good time.  The restaurant was inside a store which was very interesting and cute.  The food was good (from the restaurant) and we had a good time.  I need to go back to that store sometime and look around. 

A picture of the card El and I made for Everleigh that I was excited about :)  (I kinda want to print this picture because it turned out so good).

Anyway....that's about all the excitement I have for now.  If you want to google the bruschetta recipe, it's the Pioneer Woman one.  If you want to google "cooking with morons", I haven't written that one yet.  Otherwise, catch ya next time we go on an adventure.

(P.S. - I was spell checking this blog just now and I discovered that blogger doesn't know what bruschetta is either.  I can sleep better in that knowledge.)