Sometimes the most wonderful things come out of the simplest of ingredients, “amazing” needn’t come from complicated.
Speaking of ‘complicated’, that’s where our story begins.
When my bestie wed her hubby, they had the wedding in Daegu, Republic of Korea. This was a combination of ‘simple’ and ‘complicated’. It was a small wedding with only 8 of us there including the bride and groom, but we had a rock solid 50 nuns serving us “Sister Act” all in Korean. I’m not taking creative license here either, at one point I heard them singing “My God” just like in the movie. Perma-grin.
Anyway, that was the wedding and it was uh-MAZE-ING, but after the fact, the bride and groom (bless their hearts) realized that they didn’t have the wedding license in Korea, so after we all got back to Seattle, they got the license and we took some pics at Gasworks Park and then headed off to dinner with a few friends that weren’t able to come with us to Daegu.
The restaurant that we had the Seattle wedding dinner at was new to me. No menu, the chef just came around and served us what he was in the mood to cook. Great fun. The owners were ethnic Malaysian Chinese, but the cuisine was Italian so there was some serious fusion going on and it really kept us on our toes. There were a total of 19 courses and a bill of $1,600, so listen up folks. This is a valuable recipe.
As the dinner was winding down, the deserts started. I only remember one out of the 4 or 5 that we had. I only need to remember the one, because it was life changing.
The waiter placed a small glass filled with strawberries and cream in front of me. It looked basic. I was really quite full at this point, but was determined to see it though. That first bite and my eyes got as big as saucers. I turned to the bride “OMG! Have you tried this yet?” that’s when I saw the look on her face. She had.
When the chef came through at the end of our experience, I motioned for him to come closer. “Look here” I said “I know and understand that you’re not going to give me the recipe for this (I waved my hand over my empty glass), but PLEASE tell me what’s in it.
Then as the giggles at my ignorance subsided from my dinner mates, the chef actually told me. With jaws agape, I memorized what he told me. On my way home, I stopped by the grocery store and purchased my supplies because I had to figure out how to make this.
Since he gave me no measurements, I’ve just always done it to taste so that’s how it will be relayed to you.
-Strawberries
-Sour Cream
-Brown Sugar (I use Dark Brown)
-A very good vanilla (I use homemade, because I like the vanilla seed specks), or a vanilla bean
-Grand Marnier Liquor
**If you are uncomfortable using liquor, please substitute with just a drop of orange extract. The extract will not have the depth that the Grand Marnier has, but you’ll want that subtle bright flavor. It keeps people guessing.
There you have it. This would be fantastic over any berry, really.
Complicated simplicity. Consider yourself changed.
Matt H
