Twick or Tweet!

I love to tweet recipes. I think it’s a hoot! Inspired by Maureen Evans’ book of tweeted recipes (Eat Tweet: 1020 Recipe Gems from the Twitter Community’s (at)cookbook). Incredibly ingenious. I wrote about this before. I’ve always liked cryptography (I’ve decided I’m probably reincarnated) and word puzzles, so it’s no surprise I loved her book.  

In honor of Halloween, I thought it would be fun to transform some recipes I found into Twitterverse language. Now, keep in mind: ingredients for a recipe cannot be copyrighted, only directions, so these recipes do not violate copyright. However, I am sharing below the sites where I found the recipes so you can follow the real thing.

Wicked-Easy Snack: Combine ½ c each pretzels, candy corn, corn chips, and peanuts. Mix and serve.

Handy Pretzels: Dip 1 end of lg pretzel stick in melted candy coating. Top w/ sliced almond 4 fingernail. Place upright n jar covered w/ shirt sleeve cuff.

The Last Witch: + shot glass of pom jus 2 shaker w/ ice. + 2 shts vodka, splsh Curacao & lemon jus. Shake. Pour n2 glass w/ lem/berries garnish

Popcorn Balls:Pam bwl+9c popcrn N medpan+1c gransug/.3c lt crnsyrp/1t whtvingr/1t salt Mix to 260º +4T btr/.5t van Stir Pour on crn Do balls

Caramel Apples: Melt 28 oz caramels + .25c h2o 1min n micwv or lngr. Put 8 stks in dry tart apples. Dip in caramel to coat.

White Slime:Brng 2 simmr 1c whp crm+.25c btr Tk off ht +22oz wht bk candy Str +7oz mrshmlw crm Kp wrm in fondue pot Srv w/ cake & fruit

Have a party. Here are the beginnings! And easy, too!

http://www.bhg.com/halloween/recipes/halloween-recipe-ideas/#page=26

http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Fun-Caramel-Apples

http://www.bhg.com/halloween/recipes/halloween-recipe-ideas/#page=9

http://www.bhg.com/recipe/appetizers-snacks/white-slime/

http://www.chow.com/recipes/27804-basic-popcorn-balls

http://chickletsinthekitchen.com/guest-chick-elizabeth-kolodziej-the-last-witch-drink/

Tweat Tweets

I have been having the best time tweeting recipes @good2tweat, one of my two Twitter accounts. (The other, just in case you’re interested, is @RomanceRighter.) My “tweats” are a fabulous word puzzle for a word freak like me. I have taken to trying to convert everything I cook. Impossible, you say? Well, you’re right. But the fun is in the trying! 140 characters and that includes spaces and punctuation.

I was inspired in this new endeavor by Maureen Evans, author of Eat Tweet, the first to ever tweet recipes. I’m going to shut up now, and what follows are some of the “tweats” I have finished. More show up at Twitter, and some others will no doubt show up here later.

Hpy ckng!

Caramelized Veggies: Toss carrots, tomatoes, onions, parsnips, celery, and potatoes c EVO. Roast at 500° for ~35 min or until brown.

Gelato 2cmlk/1c cr+4egylk/.5csug Beat egz/sug 2 froth Wrm mlk/cr 2 foamy Slo por egz n2 mlk Ck 2 thck Sieve Chil ovnit N2 icecr mach Srv~4

[Re gelato recipe here: add in mint flavor + choc chips, ribbons of caramel, pecans, or other favorites to flavor it up for yourself.]

Savory Butter Plse n mini fd proc .5cbtr/3T bell pep/1grn onion/1clv garlic. Srv 1T on cookd meat. Sprd bread or Portbell shrooms n grill

BldMry 1.5oz vodka/.5c tom jus/2t lmn jus/Wrcstershr+Tabsc 2 taste. Mix c 1c ice+s+p. Shake & strain n2 glass of ice + celery stlk+lmn wedg

Black Bottom Cupcakes-pt 1 Mix 1.5c flr/1c sug/.3c cocoa/1t bs/.5t salt/.3c oil/1T vinegar/1T van. Beat. Put n muf pan ~18 1/3 full batter

BlackBottomCupcakes-pt 2 Mix 1c cr ch/1 egg/.3c sug/1/8t salt+1c choc chps. Top batter c 1 heaping t cr ch mix. Bake 350° 30m +/-

Lftovr prime rib, mash taters, grvy, peas/carrots? Shepherd'sPie! Layer meat, grvy, vegs. Cvr c mash pot & bake til bubbly and brown top.

Yorkshire Pudding 2cflr/2cmilk/4egz/2t salt+2T bf fat. Heat fat 2 bbl @400°. Blendr flr/milk/egz/salt. Por n2 pan. Bk til puft n gldn ~30 m.

CreamPuff Shell: Boil 2c H2O/1cbttr. Str n 2c flr. Cool. When cold+6egz 1 at a time. Beat 5 m ea. Tspfl on grsd pn aprt. Bk 425°~15m

CreamPuff Fill: 3T flr/1T cold milk Mix 2 smooth+1c cld mlk. +1 btn eg/1c sug+1t van Boil til thick Cool Slit puff, fill c 1t Sprnk pwdsug

Bruschetta Spaghetti 8 Roma tom/3 minst grlc clv/1 sliced grlc clv/2T evoo/3T chopt basil Mix. + 2T Asiago. Toss c 1# al dente whl wht pasta

Quik Marinara 2cns diced tom c garlic n basil/sm can tompaste/.5 onyn/4clv garl mnced/2clv garl slced/1c rd wine. Sim 2hrs. + 5T frsh basil

Leftover spaghetti? Saute 3 chopt grn onions/2 minced garl clv/2 sliced garlic cloves in 3T evoo. Fry til gar/onyns soft. Toss c hot pasta

Now you try it! Choose a fam fave dish and “tweat” it in comments.

Tweeted Tweats Contest

It’s possible that I am a reincarnated cryptographer from WWII. Possible, maybe even probable. How else to explain being the only one in my family who does crossword puzzles and other word games and whose favorite Christmas and wedding gifts were dictionaries?

Oh, I hear you! Jumping to conclusions again, are we? Huh! Being able to go beyond, to imagine, to try out alternatives, those characteristics defined the cryptographers who saved the world back then. I’m proud to claim that I (might) have been one of their company.

I think my past life explains, too, my fascination with tweeting recipes and cooking tips. I LOVE these little mini-puzzles. I bought Maureen Evans book of recipe tweets as much for the little word puzzles as the actual recipes I could make—It is unique among my cookbook collection. She was the first to tweet recipes, and now many of us do. Still, she reins as the “queen of tweats”.

Of course, the rules are, well, rules. Twitter will not (I know because I tried to circumvent their rules by re-writing the Twitter program code after I broke into their system one weekend) let you use more than 140 characters. That includes spacing and punctuation! OMG! Who chose 140??? Why not 125 or 150? It was probably somebody’s IQ or something like that.

Still, one can tweet recipes. I do every day. I’m going to let you try it here. I’ll tweet the best one left in comments by midnight, MST, January 12th. Of course, I will give you credit! You can be a “tweat king/queen for a day”, too.

First, the recipe has to be written clearly enough that I could follow it. You can get creative with spacing (2 cups can be 2c). If you don’t have space enough for ending punctuation, capitalize the next word to signal ending punctuation without having to use it. Abbreviate common cooking and food words (e.g., “evoo” for “extra virgin olive oil”, “t” for “teaspoon”, “T” for “tablespoon”, and “mx” for “mix”, etc).

While I occasionally cut a recipe in two and tweet it in parts, I only do that for ones with a filling and base. This is not the case here. One tweet for this recipe.

Ready to go? Here is a recipe I am going to tweet for National Hot Pastrami Sandwich Day. Try it, and then post your effort in “comments”. On January 14^th, I’ll announce the winner and post your tweet along with mine.

My BFF, Pattycakes, makes the BEST reuben sandwich, but she uses corned beef not pastrami. You can choose either one for your tweeted recipe entry.

Pattycake’s Reuben Sandwich

2 slices rye bread, seedless

1 slice Swiss cheese

6 thin slices pastrami (or corned beef)

3 tablespoons sauerkraut, well-drained

1-2 tablespoons sour cream

butter to spread on bread for grilling

On one slice of rye bread layer Swiss cheese slice, pastrami (or corned beef), and sauerkraut. Put sour cream on one side of second rye slice. Put sour cream side down on top of other ingredients and press together. Spread butter on both sides of the bread, grilled-cheese style, and grill the sandwich until brown on both sides.

And, btw, Happy National Whipped Cream Day! Check out my recipes and cooking tips for today on Twitter (@good2tweat).

Tweet Me Well: @Good2Tweat

You may have met Alli Wesson, my personal chef character (from the “Dinner is Served” culinary mystery series I am writing) when she dropped by for an interview at my writing blog, http://samwriteaway.blogspot.com/. She is quite a character, so to speak!

Anyway, Alli and I were talking about how we’re going to develop a marketing plan for the “Dinner is Served” books. One thing that occurred to me, and Alli just loved it, was to start a Twitter following of her recipes. That is such the hot thing these days among foodies. It makes such sense, too. She is virtual, so why not do virtual food?

So I set up a Twitter account. Follow me there @good2tweat. I promise some cooking tips, food facts, and recipes in miniature. Come to think of it, that may be one reason I am so taken with tweeting recipes: I make miniature room settings and dollhouses. This fits perfectly with my interests in other areas. Sometimes I will provide the more traditional version of the recipe here for those without Twitter and/or people who like their food prep spelled out.

That would not be my character, Alli, but her partner in crime, Gina likes things clear. So the recipes on this site will be for Gina.

I ordered Eat Tweet: 1,020 Recipe Gems (Maureen Evans), and I follow Maureen on Twitter. She is amazing! She was not only the first to tweet recipes, she does really unusual stuff, complicated recipes, even ethnic ones. And she does it in 140 characters or fewer. That includes spaces and punctuation by the way. To show you what I mean, here is a recipe from Alli that appears in Prime Rib and Punishment, the book I am currently writing:

Savory Butter: Pulse n mini fd proc .5cbutter/3T bell pep/1grn onion/1clv garlic.

Sprd bread or Portobello shrooms n grill. Srv 1T on cookd meat.

Gina’s version of Savory Butter would be:

½ c butter

3 T bell peppers, a mix or just one color

1 green onion

1 clove of garlic, minced

Pulse the butter, peppers, onion and garlic in a mini food processor until finely chopped. Use as a spread on bread to grill, spread over the gills of a Portobello mushroom and grill, or put 1 T on your cooked pork or steak before serving.

I’ve begun tweeting some recipes. Those of you who like word puzzles AND cooking can enjoy them! Look for me on Twitter now @good2tweat and you will find cooking tips, recipes, and food facts accumulating.

Whether you like to cook or not, you may have friends who do. Let them in on Twitter recipes. Build up my traffic for that Twitter account! Retweet me to all your friends.