Fruity Oaty Bars Make A Man Out Of A Mouse

Around the time that we were planning our Dollhouse party, our friend April, who lives in LA but visits Boston every year around her birthday, said that she wanted a Whedon-verse themed party for her birthday. We spent the intervening months brainstorming party ideas based not just on Dollhouse, but also Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, and my beloved Firefly.


I knew from the very beginning that I wanted to make Fruity Oaty Bars, which has a commercial (above) that unlocks seemingly-crazy River's potential in Serenity. I brainstormed ideas for ages - I didn't want to just dye something with colors to make it match the commercial. I ended up combining a few recipes to include both fruit and oats, as well as to keep the colorful look.

The resulting Fruity Oaty Bars are pretty tasty and would make a great breakfast snack. The texture is similar to a muffin, and it's not terribly sweet. The blueberry and strawberry sections had the strongest taste, while the mango and kiwi sections just tasted vaguely fruity. I would make this again (probably with just a single fruit) just to have on hand for breakfast.

Of course, I had to wrap them individually to make them look like something shiny you would buy in the Core planets. I wanted to wrap them in gold foil, which I thought I had on hand but didn't. I opted, instead, for a copy of the local Chinese newspaper, which I grabbed from a newspaper box on my corner, and added a picture of the Fruity Oaty Bar Girls that I grabbed off the internet.

Fruity Oaty Bars
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups old-fashioned oats
6 Tbsp butter, melted
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/3 cups fruit puree (your choice - I used 1/3 cup strawberry, 1/3 cup blueberry, 1/3 cup kiwi, and 1/3 cup mango)
food coloring (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°. Line a glass baking dish with parchment paper, letting the edges overhang so you can remove the baked bars easily. I used a 7x12 baking dish, which seems like an odd size, so use something that is relatively long and narrow.

Combine flour, baking soda, salt, and oats and mix well. In a separate bowl, combine melted butter, eggs, vanilla, and sugar and mix well. Place each fruit puree in a different mixing bowl and divide butter/eggs/sugar mixture evenly between them; mix well (and add food coloring if you want the colors to be bold after baking). Divide flour/oat mixture evenly amongst the bowls and mix until all the dry ingredients are moistened.

Arrange the colored batters in long, thin stripes down the baking dish. The batter will be thick, so it shouldn't be too difficult to get the colors to line up next to each other. Make for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick stuck into the center comes out clean. Remove from pan and cool completely before cutting.

To serve, cut into slices, making sure to include some of each fruit.

Of course, there was more to the Whedon-verse party than Fruity Oaty Bars. Everyone came in costume - we had Inara, Kaylee, Simon, River, Jayne, Drusilla, Faith trapped in Buffy's body, Faith, and the Man himself, Joss Whedon. We enjoyed Some Kind of Hot Cheese, burgers from Double Meat Palace, and Simon's birthday cake (in miniature, above). We also had tons of themed drinks: Kaylee's Gussied-Up Engine Wine Coolers (strawberry juice, vodka, and riesling), Lorne's Seabreezes (grapefruit juice, vodka, cranberry juice, wedge of lime), Mudder's Milk (depending on who was drinking, it was either beer or Baileys), Wonderflonium (bright greet kiwi strawberry fruit punch and gin, although any bright green juice would work), and my favorite, Badger's Finest (iced tea, applejack, and slices of green apple).

What would you include for a Joss-themed party?

Farewell Dollhouse

My friends and I enjoy throwing pop culture-themed parties. First there was the all-day Firefly viewing party, then the Lord of the Rings weekend (those movies drag a little when you watch all three extended versions back to back to back), and of course, the party for the ill-fated Drive, complete with Matchbox cars for everyone. So what better way to celebrate (perhaps mourn is a better word?) Dollhouse then with themed food and drinks.

Ann made a rich chocolate cake, and the plain frosting seemed like a perfect place to get in a little Dollhouse. We drew on the dolls' beds, with the dolls nested safely inside. When it came time to eat the cake, I felt odd asking for the piece with Echo on it, but I liked how she came out the most. It was like asking for the slice with the frosting rose, only... you know, a person.

Activities were planned for the evening as well (besides watching the episodes Epitaph One and Epitaph Two): bonsai trimming, fingerpainting, and yoga (all of which the dolls do in the dollhouse). We also printed out these awesome paper dolls and had some fun taking pictures of them. Above, some of the dolls are posed with our Dollhouse-themed drinks. My favorite, though, may be Topher and his drawer of inappropriate starches. All the pictures are here.

Plans are underway for a Joss-verse-themed birthday party for a friend in May. I'm already itching to bake some Fruity Oaty Bars and drink from my Kiss the Librarian mug. What else should we make?

Dollhouse Cocktails

The Wedge
3 parts vodka
1 part Midori
4 parts Sprite
lemon and lime wedges
Combine over ice in a pint glass.

The Imprint
3 parts gin
2 parts PAMA (pomegranate liqueur)
1 part pineapple juice
3 parts seltzer
Combine over ice in a pint glass.

The Attic
2 parts vodka
2 parts gin
1 part blue curacao
1 part pineapple juice
3 parts seltzer
1/2 lime
Combine over ice in a glass, then cover with plastic wrap and drink through a straw.

Sunnydale: Come for the Food, Stay for the Dismemberment!

A very interesting party invitation showed up in my Google Reader a couple of weeks ago, and, as my friends know, I've been obsessing over it since then. Stephanie at Dispensing Happiness called for appetizers and drinks in the theme of Buffy the Vampire Slayer... and all I could think about was finding a mug.

A little background - I'm only a recent Buffy convert, but it didn't take more than an episdoe to get me hooked. Thankfully, I was able to fly through all seven seasons on DVD. When I started library school last year, I tried to find a copy of Giles' "Kiss the Librarian" mug, but the search got difficult and I gave up. This party invite started the search anew, and I had people across the country searching for something similar. Still no luck. So, using a little Buffy girl power, I took matters into my own hands and painted the damn mug myself. Yes, I am a geek.

With the important matters out of the way, I had to decide on an appetizer. Not knowing what kind of party this would be (gathering - brie, mellow song stylings; shindig - dip, less mellow song stylings, perhaps a large amount of malt beverage; or hootenanny - chock full of hoot, just a little bit of nanny), I went with something that would work for all three.

Staked and Dusted Flank Steak with Rhubarb Dipping Sauce
1 pound flank steak
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup olive oil
4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
salt and pepper
4 stalks rhubarb (about 1 pound), chopped
6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
4 Tbsp cider vinegar
6 Tbsp honey
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp Dijon mustard

Place steak, soy sauce, oil, and roughly chopped garlic in a large ziploc bag and let marinate overnight in the fridge. Remove from fridge roughly 1 hour before cooking.

While steak is warming up, chop rhubarb and garlic and combine in a medium pot with vinegar, honey, salt, and mustard. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes or until the rhubarb falls apart. Transfer mixture to a blender or use a stick blender to give the sauce a smooth texture (you can add some red food coloring here if you really want to go for the bloody effect).

On a grill at roughly medium-high heat, grill steak for about 4 minutes on each side. Let meat rest for 10 minutes before slicing thinly against the grain. Thread steak strips on skewers and dust with fresh black pepper and sea salt. Serve with rhubarb sauce for dipping.

Bloody Cosmos - I know, not really a cosmo, but it's close enough for me
2 oz. cranberry vodka
4 oz. blood orange juice
lime-flavored seltzer

In a tall glass filled with ice, combine vodka and orange juice. Top off with seltzer and give it a good stir (bendy straw optional).

Cookie Swap

Cookie Swap. Wouldn't that be a better show than Wife Swap? As much as I fear what TV will become with the continued writers' strike, I might actually watch "Cookie Swap."


Much thanks to my friend Denice for a wonderful cookie swap party. Remarkably, the only overlap in cookies was two sets of dreidel cookies... who would have thought?


There were some standards - sugar cookies, chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin. My tortured gingerbread men all found good homes deep within people's bellies. Denice tried her hand at a couple of my recipes and did an excellent job with them both. Some others that stood out for me were the chocolate "boot track" waffle cookies, the ginger blueberry white chocolate cookies, and the chocolate cookies with Andes mints bits.

There was also a great assortment of drinks - eggnog, hot cider and five different kinds of tea. Just perfect on a nasty, icy Boston night.

So thanks again, Denice. By the way, if we do have a Buffy night, we should have themed food, but what? All I can think of is "skeezy cheeses" and fake blood in a "Kiss the Librarian" mug.