Adventures with Harry Potter's Diet by the Kyles

The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook. This food-centric entry came about when Kyle discovered the book and found some delightful recipes. I've always loved breakfast foods so I lobbied for the rosemary roasted potatoes and a farmhouse bacon scramble. For dessert we had pumpkin pasties. After debating the pronunciation for a while we got to work. Kyle did the lion's share of the work but I prepped the bacon and the potatoes. She is also the much bigger Harry Potter fan so she could probably tell you when and where the different foods were eaten. (Side note, the new Harry Potter movie is very entertaining.) The food all turned out really well, and we can definitively say that we're 2 for 2 with our food adventures. There's something lovely about cooking things in bacon grease. And I'm realizing more and more that rosemary is my favorite herb. I love it on chicken, corn, potatoes, even in beer (find Babayaga by Pretty Things)! The pasties were lovely and just filling enough to top off a fun meal. It's a fun cookbook and I'd recommend checking it out. The recipes leave plenty of room to improvise and are easy enough for novice cooks like me to follow along. We still could use more suggestions from you guys. If there's something you'd like to see us do, send us an email at KyleandKyleBlog@gmail.com with your ideas.



I have been a big fan of Harry Potter for many years. So when I heard that there was a cookbook out, I knew that I had to get it and try out some recipes. There's a very wide selection of food to choose from. With each recipe, the author cites where the food is mentioned in the books and also gives some English history related to the food as well. Anyone who has ever read the books will be very familiar with the pumpkin pasties. They are mentioned many times throughout the series. This was the only super Harry Potter food we made for the night. Here is the recipe if you are interested in making them yourself:
Pastry Crust:
1 1/4 c all-purpose flour
1 tbs granulated sugar
1/4 tsp salt
5 tbs cold butter, cut into chunks
3 tbs vegetable shortening, chilled and cut into chunks
4-6 tbs ice water
Filling:
1 c canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
1/4 c granulated sugar
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1. Place the flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse a few times to combine. Scatter the butter and shortening over the flour mixture. Pulse about 15 times until the mixture resembles coarse yellow meal, with no white powdery bits remaining.
2. Transfer the mixture into a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle 4 tbs cold water over the mixture. Toss the mixture together with the spatula until it starts clumping together. If it's too dry, add more water 1 tbs at a time. Gather the dough into a ball and pat it into a disk. Wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
3. Combine the pumpkin, sugar, nutmeg, and cinnamon into a mixing bowl. Mix well. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Roll out the dough 1/8-inch thick. Use a saucer to cut out 6-inch circles.
4. Put 2-3 tbs of filling in the center of each circle of dough. Moisten the edges with water, fold the dough over the filling, and crimp with a fork to seal the edges. Cut slits to make vents. Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet for 30 minutes or until browned.
Makes 6 pasties

Adventures with Pretty Things by the Kyles

So we've noticed a trend with this blog, most of our posts revolve around or are related to beer in some way. And while this post is going to go along with this trend, the next couple of posts in the coming weeks will not. I think it just shows you our love and dedication to the golden elixir that is beer. But anyways, for this week we went to Allston because Pretty Things was having a launch party for their newest beer in the Once Upon a Time Series. Pretty Things is a different kind of beer company. They don't own an actual brewery. They rent out different breweries for a couple of weeks and then take over and brew as much of one beer as possible and then move on. Almost everything I've ever had from them is delicious. They have this thing called the Once Upon a Time series and this is when they resurrect a beer recipe from long ago and attempt to make it. Hopefully it will then be good enough to sell. The newest one in the series was the November 15th 1901 KK beer. A description of it can be found on their website.
It was announced that for the launch, since the beer had originally been brewed during Edwardian times, that they would prefer if people dressed up in period clothing. Kyle, Liz (our great friend) and I tried very hard for the weeks leading up to it to find something that could be called Edwardian, but we didn't succeed. So instead, we all just dressed a little fancier than usual. We had a great time. There were only a handful of people in Edwardian clothing and most of them were from the brewery itself. The people were incredibly nice and we talked to Dann Paquette, the head brewer, for a little while and he told us all about the beer. He also had an amazing mustache. I think it gave Kyle ideas for increasing the size of his own mustache.
So anyways. After an amazing time at the Pretty Things launch, we decided to go into town and have dinner and walk around for a bit. So that was our night. As you can see, there aren't many pictures up and that's because we (I'm not sure who exactly and I think it's better that way because the blame isn't on a specific person) lost the camera half way through the night. So we are without a camera. We hope to get a new camera before our next adventure which will be on Saturday. Let's hope we can succeed.



I just wanted to add that I was able to talk briefly with Dann, Martha Paquette and Julia Horvath at the end of our time at Deep Ellum. They were all lovely people and incredibly welcoming. I think that their joy and enthusiasm for what they do is enviable. I know that I would love to be able to attend any future launches and will definitely plan to make them. My thanks go out to them and the folks at Deep Ellum for hosting a great event. We did get some great pictures with our lost camera and unfortunately we won't be able to share them. So in closing, check out Pretty Things online and see what they're all about. Then pick up any of their products that you come across because you won't be disappointed and you'll be supporting some fantastic and creative people. Also if you have any questions or suggestions, email us at KyleandKyleblog@gmail.com