IT'S RIGHT NEXT TO THE TUNA SALAD!

A friend, possibly worried that we San Franciscans and other coastals are not eating enough white folks food, brought a recipe to everyone's attention, for a festive party dish I had never heard of before, and possibly need to serve next Saint Patricks Day or Cinco de Mayo.

In any case, I need to add it to my repertoire.

Given that what I prepared yesterday as a midnight meal was not very white folkish -- preserved meat in spicy curry with hot breads -- there may be an off the beaten kilter element to my cooking.

The recipe he posted on Facebook will correct that.
It's Waspy and properly middle-class.
Nom nom.


7-UP CHEESE ASPIC

One package lime gelatin.
One cup of hot water.
One 7 oz. bottle of Seven Up.
One tsp. grated onion.
Three ox. processed cheese, cut into small squares.
Half a cup of diced celery.
One TBS sliced stuffed olives.

Dissolve gelatin in hot water. Add chilled Seven Up and onion. Chill until slightly thickened, fold in remaining ingredients. Turn into one quart mold, chill till firm. Unmold, and serve on crisp lettuce. Garnish with tomato wedges and cheese cubes.
Six servings.

Your guests will ask you for this recipe!

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I've looked at this, and I do not know how to improve it. Perhaps substituting finely diced baloney for the processed cheese, or granulated Spam. With a dash of Tabasco? A little fresh dill? It looks like it would go well with cottage cheese, which I don't eat.

Instead of tomato, some cucumber wedges?
Maybe black olives from a can?

I'm sorry, this is American food; I don't do that shit.


What I think I'll have instead for dinner is little pork meatballs in curry noodle soup. With some greens in the soup. And fresh ginger.

I actually have all the ingredients for the pork meatballs curry noodles. Unlike the old-timey recipe above. Which a Filipino might think amusing and worthwhile, for that hospitable touch of Americana (some of the guests are undoubtably taong putih at mabuhok, Marisel or Bing Bing's husband, for instance), which they themselves will then always serve at family get-togethers because everybody loved it, talaga, especially the aunties.



Actually, I cannot remember the last time we had Seven Up in the house. We've never had processed cheese, and other than some Habanero-stuffed garlic brine olives years ago, we haven't had olives in a while.


Everything (!) goes better with Sriracha.

I'm tempted to make this aspic.




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