After completing the book meme that was going around a while ago, Deepfry (from Yum!) and I discovered we both share a love for collecting cookbooks from the 40’s-70’s. We started talking and decided to co-host a virtual party…

If you’d like to participate, here’s the deal:

1. Either host a real party (we’re hosting ours on August 13th) and have your guests bring dishes from the 40’s-70’s OR if you don’t want to host a party, just make a dish from the 40’s-70’s.

2. Photograph your food.

3. Post the photo(s) on your blog by August 15th and email the link to me or Deepfry. If you’re really feeling into it, please also post the recipe and/or a picture of the cookbook you used. If you don’t have a blog but would like to participate, just email us the information and we’ll post it.

Here is some inspiration:
http://www.candyboots.com/wwcards/czarina.html
http://www.lileks.com/institute/gallery/knudsen2/1.html

Hope you can join the party!

Update: Don’t forget about the accompanying Does My Blog Look Tacky in This? contest

My wild boar birthday party was a huge success! It’s going to be a future Hostess Project article for August, but here are a few random highlights for now:

• I picked up the wild boar from Don & Joe’s Meats and was shocked to find it looked nothing like the pig I roasted last year; it, uh, had no skin.
• The wild boar looked grotesque without any skin, but it was fascinating to see all the muscle groupings and how they fit together. We named him Francis Bacon.
• I decided not to marinate Francis, but instead soaked him overnight in a vinegar and brown sugar brine.
• While Francis was not very tender, he was delicious and boar-y tucked inside banh mi sandwiches filled with fresh pickled veggies.
• People brought a beautiful array of appetizers including summer rolls, chicken and mango in wonton cups, galloping horses and peanuts coated in a coconut candy shell.
• My brother made Vietnamese iced coffees, which require the cutest little coffee filter contraptions. I’m not a coffee drinker at all, but I couldn’t stop sipping these!
• The simple syrup drinks were a huge hit, except for the pandan leaf; it was a little weird in the drinks and most people thought it smelled like old gym shoes.
• The cream puffs I made for dessert were delicious tasting, but for some reason the cream never set up. I served the puffs with a bowl of the lemon-grass cream filling on the side, like a dip.

Oh yeah, and I was so exhausted that I fell asleep on top of all the guest’s coats (and purses and pokey cell phones) during the middle of the party. But maybe that’s not a highlight…

I’m so excited! Today I ordered a wild boar from Don & Joe’s Meats for my b-day pig roast. I really wanted to order it from Exotic Meats, but they don’t have storage facilities and the idea of defrosting a fifty pound pig in my bathtub sounded, uh, less than appealing.

My plan is to roast the pig like last year, but then chop it up to make banh mi sandwiches. My problem is that I did a trial marinade last week and it turned out really boring—which is weird because it sounded good, but it was practically flavorless! Maybe my proportions were off?

2 stalks lemon grass
1/2 yellow onion
3 cloves garlic
2 T fish sauce (nam pla)
2 T soy sauce
1 T tablespoons rice vinegar
pinch of 5-spice

Any secret (or not so secret) family recipe for a Vietnamese-style marinade would be greatly appreciated. I’m trying to avoid anything with lots of sugar because I’m worried the pig will burn, but aside from that any ingredient is fair game. Please help if you can!

Thanks!

I was invited to the very lovely home of F & A for the 4th. Little did I know that A had been to cooking school and loves to cook. When I saw that he had made two inch thick T-bone steaks, bbq’d chicken AND hot dogs, I knew I’d found a kindred spirit.