Comida Sencilla and Happy Birthdays

I almost never stop for lunch during the day at work.  As a result, my prep person almost never stops, either.  I don't make her work through lunch.  I encourage her to take a break (when I remember).  She demures and just keeps working.  The other day I felt guilty because I caught her furitively sneaking bites of a banana while working.  So I took a couple of minutes and knocked together a quick meal for us both.

Since I was working with chicken thighs, I set a couple aside and rubbed them with salt, pepper, garlic and whole grain mustard.  I grabbed some leftover asparagus from the evening before and laid them inside the thighs, along with some shredded Swiss cheese, some shredded Asiago, and a wedge of brie, and rolled them up.  I seasoned with paprika and sea salt and gave it a quick sear in a skillet, then tossed it in the oven to cook through.  While it cooked I boiled some rice and tossed in some diced peppers and scrounged up some pickled onions, olive tapenade and balsamic glaze.  Took about 15 minutes and we had a hearty meal to sustain us through the next few hours of prep.  When I brought her the plate, Dulce laughed and thanked me.  She said it was very good, but she had to add some jalapenos to it.  But, she puts jalapenos on everything, so...  Bottom line: we both cleaned our plates.

Saturday was Mina's birthday.  She's a member of our marketing staff and a real sweetheart.  Off-handedly I said I would make a cake for her.  Saturday night Erika came into the kitchen and asked me when I wanted to bring the cake up to the office.  I must have had that look on my face, because she asked if I had made it.  Of course not, but I told her I was working on it.  Mina would be in at 9pm, she said.  No problem, I said.  Immediately my staff chefs and I began putting together quick cake ideas that could be ready in 1 hour.  I put them to work on an expresso cake that they promptly messed up.  I was going to make them throw it out, but they promised me they could fix it.  Unconvinced, I began my own cake, and the whole situation turned quickly into a chef competition "cake-off".

For my part, I made a chocolate sponge cake that baked up in about 15 minutes, then made a Kahlua-chocolate frosting and a brandy whipped cream.  I cut the sponge cake into three layers, then took a cookie cutter and cut circles into the cake layers and layered the frosting on the layers.  I reassembled the layers and filled the cut circles with brandy whipped cream, then frosted the outside, finishing with dollops of whipped cream on top.  While waiting for the other chefs to finish their bungled cake repair, I made some pink icing and swirled it around the plate, topped with some edible gold glitter, and for good measure set a shot glass of brandy on the side.
The other cake came out after 30 minutes, and the chefs covered it with thick chocolate ganache, layers of sliced strawberries, and more ganache.  We both finished within the hour and I took the cakes up to Mina's office.  When she came in she gleedfully knocked back the shot and cut into my cake first.  Her eyes rolled with decadent delight.  She told me later that both cakes were completely consumed before the night was out.