A Meal About Nothing

For several years now I have been thinking about doing a Seinfeld themed meal for the Memorial Day camping trip. On the long drives home Mr. W and I will talk about what we will do the next year based on all our wisdom gained on that particular trip, and inevitably we generally forget by the time the next year rolls around. But one thing I never forget is how perfect a Seinfeld meal would be if we got partnered with the Fs for a lunch. Big salads! Soup! Babkas! Junior Mints! So many options! This year we finally put our request in before the meal assignments were sent out, although we were still assigned a dinner rather than lunch. That just led to Mr. F deciding he should make marble rye sandwiches.

I had SO much fun putting this one together. At some point I realized I did not want to try to fit in making a chocolate or cinnamon babka so I was able to find grocery store on the west side that has kosher selections and babkas imported from Brooklyn. I even found 30th anniversary Junior Mint boxes.  This was also a good excuse to break out my Seinfeld DVDs and re-watch old episodes. Part of the fun is dressing up in costume to go with your theme so Mr. W would be Jerry, and I ordered him a puffy shirt. Mr. F would be George, and wear a gortex coat, and since Mrs. F was choosing to stay home with their elderly dog, I would be Elaine. I had planned some of the long skirts and blouses I wore in high school when Elaine was my fashion icon and I was going to give myself big hair.

It rained all that afternoon as we were getting ready for dinner. I made little signs with quotes from the show for all the foods. I tried to set up early and get some good pictures but everything was so wet. This was our menu:

Appetizers

Pretzels

"These pretzels are making me thirsty!"

Cereal

"His whole life revolves around Superman and cereal."

Chips & Dip

"You just double dipped the chip! You dipped the chip, 
you took a bite, and then you dipped again."

Peaches

"The Mackinaw peaches, Jerry! The Mackinaw peaches!

Oh right, the ones from Oregon that are only ripe for two weeks of the year?

I wait all year for these. Oh, this is fantastic!It makes your taste buds come alive. Like having a circus in your mouth."

Peas

"These peas are bursting with country fresh flavor!"

Soups

"Soup’s not a meal, Jerry."

Mulligatawny

"Well, a bowl of mulligatawny would hit the spot."

Lobster Bisque (I made this ahead at home)

"I met this lawyer, we went out to dinner, I had the lobster bisque, we went back to my place, yada, yada, yada. I never heard from him again.

But you yada yada’d over the best part.

No, I mentioned the bisque."

Salad

Big Salad

"She didn’t BUY the big salad. I bought the big salad.

Imagine, her taking credit for your big salad."

Main Course

Pastrami on Marble Rye

"I find the pastrami to be the most sensual of all the salted, cured meats."

"You stole the marble rye?"

Desserts

Babkas, Chocolate or Cinnamon

"No, but they got the chocolate. We’ll be going in with a lesser babka.

I beg your pardon? Cinnamon takes a back seat to no babka. People love cinnamon. It should be on tables in restaurants along with salt and pepper. Anytime anyone says, Oh, this is so good, what’s in it? The answer invariably comes back, Cinnamon. Cinnamon. Again and again. A lesser babka…I think not."

Black & White cookies

"Look, Elaine, the black and white cookie. I love the black and white. Two races of flavor living side by side in harmony. It’s a wonderful thing.

Nothing mixes better than vanilla and chocolate. And yet still somehow racial harmony eludes us. If people would only look to the cookie all our problems would be solved."

Junior Mints

"Well, who’s gonna turn down a Junior Mint?

It’s chocolate, it’s peppermint; it’s delicious! It’s very refreshing!"

Jujyfruit

"So you heard that I was in an accident, and then decided to stop off for some Jujyfruit?."

Snickers carving station

"Mr. Pitt eats his snickers bars with a knife and fork.

He probably doesn’t want to get chocolate on his fingers. That's the way these society

types eat their candy bars.

I am eating my dessert. How do you eat it? With your hands?!"

Drinks

Snapple

"Snapple?

No, too fruity."

Schnapps

"You can tell me. I’ll put it in the vault.

No good. Too many people know the combination."

It was such a wet, wet day that I never changed into an Elaine outfit. Mr. W did wear the puffy shirt, but no one really saw it because he was wearing a rain coat and only briefly took it off for this picture. The lobster bisque was a lot easier to make than I anticipated, I would definitely make it again and I bought the lobster tails at Costco so that was nice. I mean, who doesn't normally have lobster bisque while camping?