Thursday, May 15, 2008

Blog Party #34: The Scooby Gang Hangs

One of the things I love about Stephanie of Dispensing Happiness Blog Parties are the inventive themes. This month is no different with the theme for the 34th installment, The Buffy Bash where we are invited to celebrate all things Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Buffy Blog Party

I came late to Buffy, mostly because I don't watch a lot of TV. But, last year at this time, I was spending all that time in my rented room in Fairfield and I discovered Buffy mostly owing to the episodes being available online. While not necessarily high art, the series was highly entertaining and I admit I did get sucked into the Buffyverse.

I also admit that unlike most of the themes for the Stephanie's other Blog Parties, I had a hard time trying to decide what I was going to bring. First, I thought I would make a knock-off version of Jaffa Cakes, Giles favourite snack but I ran out of time to get into the kitchen to play with the few ideas I had to replicate these jammie delicacies. Finally, last night inspiration struck in the form of a slice of Kraft Cheese.

I was in the Market Basket, my little neighborhood grocery, picking up some yogurt and a couple of limes for the drink I was making to bring to the Blog Party, when the grocer and I got off on a tangent about Philly Cheese Steak sandwiches. We were comparing notes on our favorite places to get them when we visit Philly when he said sometimes he gets a craving for one but can't get down to Philly to have one so he makes them at home by frying up very thin sliced steak and dropping three slices of Kraft Singles on top and then puts it all on a Martin's Potato Roll. While he was waving around a package of Kraft Singles, I had visions of The Cheeseman chanting "I wear the cheese; the cheese does not wear me" from Restless, the last episode of Season 4.

Deciding to put his homemade recipe to the test for The Buffy Bash, I had him shave me some steak, picked up a package of Martin's Potato Long Roll and Kraft Singles and trotted home to put all the ingredients together. While it wasn't quite a Philly Cheese Steak, it was darn good and so I bring to the party to share, The Cheeseman Stake Sandwich.

cheesemanstake

To wash down that sandwich, I'm bringing a shaker full of a martini style drink named after the actor who played more monsters than any other in all of movie history, Boris Karloff.

boriskarloff

While not completely Buffy related, I like to think that if one of Boris' monsters showed up on a TV show, he would have shown up in Sunnydale...

The Boris Karloff

1 part gin (I used Bombay Sapphire)
1 part tonic
1 part cranberry juice
dash vermouth
squeeze of lime juice
thin slice of lime

In a cocktail shaker filled with ice combine all the ingredients and shake well. With a slice of lime, rim a well chilled martini glass and pour contents of shaker into glass. Garnish with slice of lime.