Now for something a little more...creamy

Chicken satay!  The first of the appetizers I am creating for a small get-together I'm hostessing tomorrow.

2 tbsp peanut butter (in the comments section it suggests a couple of extra tbsp in order to get a more "authentic" taste)
1/2 c soy sauce
1/2 c lemon or lime juice
1 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp curry powder
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp hot pepper sauce
6 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves- cubed

Combine peanut butter, soy sauce, lime juice, brown sugar, curry powder, garlic, and hot pepper sauce in a mixing bowl.

Still no measuring devices (hopefully some nice ones will be arriving via airmail soon, hint, hint), am using a Jack Daniels whiskey glass to measure my cups and the big spoons and small spoons to estimate tsp vs tbsp.  Yet somehow there is not 1 but 2, count them, 2 lemon juicers.  Interesting priorities.

Ideally this would mean that someone (ahem, Curry Delight) could be down here helping me juice lemons, however, he is otherwise preoccupied with some Hindi film at the moment.  How many lemons does it take to make 1/2 a cup of juice...we will soon find out!  You know what I REALLY wish I had right now?  One of those little plastic lemon shaped containers full of pre-squeezed lemon juice.  Oh, the luxury of it all.  Damn fresh ingredients.  Ok, so I wouldn't say 2 lemons makes half a cup but at this point I'm going to say close enough and add more later if need be.  How did people make fresh made lemonade like this back in the day?!

Seriously, how is there NO curry powder?!  Isn't every powder a curry powder if it can go in curry?  Someone is now assisting.  The marinade tastes nice.  The chicken is defrosting.  Once it's done I'll stick it in to marinate overnight.

For tomorrow:
Preheat a grill to high heat
Weave the chicken onto skewers (we'll be improvising with chopsticks), then grill for 5 minutes on each side.

Shrimp cocktail sauce!  Appetizer #2:

1 c Heinz Tomato Ketchup
1/2 tsp McCormick Light Chili Powder (supposedly there is a *ton* of chili pepper...hopefully more than the amount of curry powder lying around)
1 dash of McCormick Ground Cayenne Pepper (is this a McCormick ad?)
1 tsp of Vita Prepared Horseradish
2 tsp of fresh squeezed lemon juice (argh...really?)
1 large minced garlic clove

Mix the ketchup, chili powder, cayenne pepper, horseradish, lemon juice, and minced garlic clove.  Mix until smooth.  Chill.

Sounds simple enough.  And I have a mojito in hand.  This should go well.

I'm not really sure what "vita prepared horseradish" is; I will be substituting Duerr's creamed horseradish sauce "a family business since 1881".  Sounds legit.  Lemon juice, check.  Two tsps is so much better than 1/2 c.  About a quarter of a lemon.

I like garlic.  I'm going to put 2 cloves.  My co-chef, Johanna, agrees, she likes garlic too.  And as we're the ones eating this tomorrow I think what we say goes.  So we've mixed and we both agree it needs... something.  We've added a dash and a half of hot pepper sauce and we've dumped more horseradish in and sprinkled some salt.  Our taste buds might be deadened from the sips of mojito but we declare it good.

Upcoming features include me cooking prawns, making my mom's famous deviled egg recipe, 7 layer dip (with homemade salsa), apple and cheese bruschetta, guacamole, and Ghiradelli triple chocolate double layer chocolate frosted brownies. Heineken is on tap and the white wine is chilled.  Let the cooking adventures continue!