It's back to school time.  If you are one of the lucky ones and ended up a wizard instead of a muggle, this means that you are heading to Platform 9 3/4 to catch the Hogwarts Express to start your new year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry!

This fall Culinary Couples will share in the magic of Harry Potter at Ryan & MJ's - see you there!

Sorting Hats, Magic Wands & Gillyweed Dip:  Heather & Eric

Upon our arrival at Hogwarts, as is customary for each new incoming class of students, we met for the Opening Banquet where the Sorting Hat would decide our destiny for the next 7 years.  Will it be Gryffindor, Slyterin, Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff?  Please not Slytherin!  Please not Slytherin!   

After each student was sorted, the next stop was Diagon Alley to choose our wands, or rather, have our wands choose us!

At this point we were pretty hungry so we had more than our fair share of Gillyweed Dip - we would be all set in the case that any of us needed to breathe under water later in the evening!

Recipes:

The Sorting Hats were black bean dip with black corn tortilla chips.

Magic Wands
http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-grissini-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-191541

They shaped them to look like Harry Potter's, Hermione's and the Elder Wand

Gillyweed Dip
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/hot-spinach-and-artichoke-dip-recipe.html

Magic Martinis:  Ann & Jason







On our first day of classes, we were introduced to our Potions teacher - Professor Elixir and her assistant.

 

We were tasked with making a potion called the Magic Martini which is known to alter the drinker's senses, drink carefully and in moderation as it has an additive effect!

The ingredients were laid out on a silver tray and included basilisk venom, powdered mandrake root, unicorn milk, gillyweed solution, elderflower essence, dragon eggs, and armadillo bile.

Following our instructions, we added the basilisk venom and powdered mandrake root first, followed by the unicorn milk and gillyweed solution.  We then added the remaining ingredients and watched our blue solution turn and bubble to a hot pink martini!

All students got an A in their first experiment except for Jesse who left in the middle of the class without asking for a bathroom pass.....

In addition to our Magic Martinis, we also had Magic Hat's #9 (9 3/4 - thanks Ryan for noticing!!!), Snake Bite, and Lion's Share Variety Pack from Firestone.

Recipe:

1 ounce basilisk venom (cabbage juice - seep 1 leaf red cabbage, chopped, in hot water until water has turned purple, then discard cabbage.  Add cabbage water and another leaf of cabbage to a blender and blend to mix).
1 smidgen powdered mandrake root (baking soda)
2 ounces unicorn milk (gin)
1 ounce gillyweed solution (cucumber water - shave the skin of a cucumber into long pieces and add to a mason jar of water, let set in fridge for 24 hours)
3/4 ounce elderflower essence (St. Germain's)
1 dragon egg (dry ice)
3/4 ounce armadillo bile (equal parts fresh lemon juice, fresh lime juice, and simple syrup)

Quidditch Pie & Butterbeer Biscuits:  Ryan & MJ

After our first day of classes, we decided to get outside and have some fun playing our favorite game - Quidditch!  Ryan & MJ made us Quidditch Pie which was a magical version of Sheppard's Pie and was great fuel for riding our brooms around the field!

Recipe:
Ask Ryan & MJ :)

Butterbeer Ice Cream:  Jesse & Rachel

After our Quidditch match we headed straight to the Leaky Cauldron to indulge in some delicious Butterbeer ice cream!  We were a bit frightened by the dark mark tattoo we saw on the witch serving us, but decided the ice cream was worth the risk.  Luckily, there was no sightings of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and we were able to enjoy our Butterbeer ice cream to the last bite!

We closed the night in by enjoying our magial beers and playing several rounds of Exploding Kittens!







Recipe
Ask Jesse & Rachel :)