The Last Train from Paris

Felipe and I dressed as Khover T. Ageante and Mary K. Trarie.

Last night we had a fun murder mystery dinner with a few friends. We purchased a "murder mystery game" online and have had it for almost a year now. We wanted to invite all our friends, but unfortunately there were only 8 roles. The next game we'll arrange for more roles so we can invite more people!

The "Suspects"


Barbara Z. Enhussie (Sammi)


Malcom R. Conntint (Mike)


Duke Schwazhe B. U. Klare (Cord)


Belinda Screete (Eva)


RAF Group Captain Weyland W. Awfcorse (James)


Princess Idelle Chattre (Amelia)


Khover T. Ageante (Felipe)


Mary K. Trarie (Silva)

The Task:

We were all guests on the last train leaving Paris before the Nazi's occupation on June 14, 1940. Each of us was invited by a mysterious person to join on the train. This person it turns out was murdered shortly after the train left Paris. We were all to try and solve the mystery a la Orient Express.








Getting the night underway with introductions.


Idelle and the Duke during introductions.




Barbara explains the cyanide she bought from Mal...


Wey, is he telling the truth? or could he be hiding something?


Khover doubts the "facts".


Belinda, Wey and Barbara


Khover and the Duke, listening carefully in case of an revelations...


Mal - is he revealing information or is he concealing something?

The story was a bit complicated at times, but over all a lot of fun. I cannot reveal who the murderer was, as I may be passing this game on to someone else to use...but let's just say it was a shocker! We'll definitely be doing another murder mystery party in the future, but like I said we'll try to get one with more characters. Felipe says he may try his hand at writing one himself, so maybe if he starts now it can be ready by next halloween ;)

Happy Thanksgiving (yesterday)!

Nicole's taking a photo of the group of us...ravenous and ready to eat!

So Happy Belated Thanksgiving! I know, this post should have gone up yesterday, but then how would I have included the photos?! Plus...I spent the whole day preparing the meal, so yeah! We had a fantastic time with my mom, Cord, Nicole, Sammi and Mike - it's a meal and an evening I look forward to all year!


See me in the back there... Everyone did a good job of not digging in to the turkey before everything else was ready ;)


After dinner we entertained ourselves with games of Taboo, playing with Josie, and drinks!


And just before leaving us...Josie sat in the kitchen wishing for some left overs....


We had a wonderful day/evening, and I hope that all of you had as good a Thanksgiving as we did. I know that I am thankful to have my "Manhattan Family" to celebrate with, as well as having my mom out here too!

Trying something a little new...

So for dinner tonight I was going to use our new pots and pans...we just got them yesterday and they make me drool just thinking about what can be cooked in them! However...I didn't use the new pots and pans, instead I used a new recipe. I did this with an old, large skillet because I wasn't sure how big of a recipe this would be.

I tend to find one thing I like and then stick with it. Why not? If it's good, you don't need to risk eating something mediocre. Or do you? This isn't my food motto by all means. I love to try all sorts of food. Sticking with what works mainly applies to what I cook. I'm not very good at inventing recipes, I'm much better at preparing food based on established recipes. And herein lies my trap.

Recently I started reading a book entitled "Secret Ingredients" which is a collection of stories, essays, poems, and cartoons from the New Yorker all about cooking, food and anything related to the culinary world. It's an amazing book full of delicious tales and it is inspiring (except for the chapter on tripe...you'll never ever see that near my mouth).

As a result of the inspiring read I was sitting on the couch surrounded by a variety of my cookbooks and magazines with recipes, looking for something that I could cook that might taste as good as what was written in the book. Felipe paged through one of my Real Simple magazines and mentioned that he thought one of the recipes looked nice. So with my new found intrigue for recipes we haven't tried and food in general, we gave it a go tonight. It was a success! Felipe enjoyed the food as much as he enjoyed the picture of it in the magazine, and I like the taste in addition to the ease of cooking it. Here's the recipe:

Chicken Cutlets with Tomato Saute
Real Simple August 2008 (p.154)
Time: 45 minutes | serves 4

1 ½ lbs small chicken cutlets (8-12)
Kosher Salt and Pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 ½ pints grape or cherry tomatoes
½ cup dry white wine (Such as sauvignon blanc)
4 scallions, sliced
2 tablespoons fresh tarragon leaves, chopped

Season the chicken with ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Working in two batches, cook the chicken until browned and cooked through, 2-3 minutes per side; transfer to plates.

Add the tomatoes to the skillet and cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until they begin to burst, 2-3 minutes.

Add the wine and simmer until the liquid is reduced by half, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the scallions and tarragon and serve with the chicken.