January Joy: The Carbfest

I don't generally do 'girls night in'. I don't have a best friend or a group of girls I go out with while the menfolk go out somewhere else. My main friend group is a mix of boys and girls, mostly all couples now, and most of us have known each other since college. There isn't much in the way of gossip, dating, in fighting or breakups, we don't do makeovers or chick flicks or any really typical ingredients of a Girls Night In.

But Girls Night In is on the January Joy list. So last weekend the girls came round my house for pillow fights, makeovers, talking about snogging and romantic comedy DVDs. Well actually we didn't do any of that, but it was actually nice to get together with just the girls, even though the conversation, when devoid of boys, went far too far into topics like childbirth and eating placentas (!?) 

Why Carbfest? I also ticked off two other things on the January Joy list- Make bread and make pasta. I don't really do much cooking, don't have the time or much inclination so I tackled this in my own way. Before going whole hog and making actual pasta I thought I would make some of my favourite pasta dishes from scratch instead of using jar sauces and ready made ingredients. A useful life skill for my future as a proper grown up.

I made meatballs, greatest of all pasta dishes, from a recipe found on pinterest involving chipotle paste for a bit of punch. With a spicy tomato sauce I had high hopes. Then I made mac n cheese, second greatest of all pasta dishes, following a recipe found on pinterest cited as the best mac n cheese recipe ever. Who can distrust this American lady's claims, after all the USA is best at gloopy, cheesy, unhealthly carb laden foods. 

Then the accompaniment; the bread. Pinterest again distracted me from making normal bread, and sent me on a quest to replicate Red Lobster Cheddar Bay Biscuits. The real deal, from the American seafood chain are amazing warm garlic- cheese scone things of awesome. After eating these in Florida, I developed an full on obsession for these when on holiday in Canada (where they advertise on TV and then don't have any Red Lobsters anywhere we went!) Beautiful waterfalls, no bloody biscuits! Plus doesn't Cheddar Bay sound like a great place to live?

How was it? Mediocre. Not rubbish, just not that amazing. I was going to share the recipes, but I honestly did not think it worth the whole afternoon of hard work in the kitchen. Cooking for 10 people is time consuming and expensive! The Biscuits were pretty damn good and easy to make with the magic ingredient Bisquick. Bit salty because I accidentally used Garlic salt for the topping and not ground garlic, but these will be made again.

So there, 3 more things off the January Joy list! (funny 'Clean Eats' just didn't seem to fit in here)