To eat or not to eat

I felt like cooking today, so I thought I'd try a few new concoctions. One was a keeper, the other was not.

Basil Chicken in Coconut Curry Sauce:

To Eat!!

Yummy! If you like coconut and curry. I love love love coconut so this dish was a delight in every way. The chicken is cubed and then covered in a curry, chili powder, salt and pepper coat. It absorbs the spices for an hour while you chop the onion, pepper, and garlic. The vegetables are sauteed and set aside, then the chicken is cooked and set aside.

Coconut milk is the most delicious ingredient in the world. Mix it with a bit of thickening corn starch and you have the perfect sauce.

Add your spiced chicken and vegetable to the coconut sauce, sprinkle with a bit of basil and ginger, serve over rice, and viola! India and hawaii unite in a perfect harmony.

Of course, as Dave sat down to eat (on the couch because the table is covered in my craft project) the plate slipped and...

Chocolate Napolean:

Not to eat

Definitely not worth the effort.

First you brush melted butter onto each individual paper thin phyllo sheet. Once you have four of them you stack them and then cut them in fourths and then slice them into diamond shapes. Bake them for 8 minutes. Sound easy? Phyllo dough is the most fragile ingredient I have ever worked with and even my soft brush tore through it with even the slightest pressure, not to mention it shatters like spun sugar if you aren't careful.

For the filling you make an egg cream sauce and melt in chocolate.

Layer the chocolate cream sauce with the brittle baked phyllo dough.

Cover in a layer of cocoa powder and dust with powder sugar.

Then serve with a warm chocolate sauce (which is little more than chocolate and cream.)

For hours of work I could hardly eat more than 5 bites before the richness overwhelmed my stomach. Still, it did sound delicious, right?