quinn's place

a few weeks ago i had the pleasure of working with amy johnson, an awesome food photographer in seattle!

i dreamed up some delicious gourmet hot dog ideas and extra juicy & refreshing cherry lemonades. it was a super hot day so this summery picnic scene was just perfect.

spiral hot dogs, at that! have you done this before?? it's truly the ideal hot dog experience. here is a youtube video that helped me achieve this in the past.

grilling them spiraled creates wayyy more crispy surface area on the hot dog while creating gaps (aka condiment treasure troves) throughout. the condiments get tucked away instead of sliding around all over the top of the hot dog. huzzah!

our cherry lemonades were brimming with flavor - fresh chopped ginger, peach slices, fresh red cherries & cherry juice and extra lemon, of course!

toppings on the spiral dogs: cream cheese, sriracha, pickled red onions, avocado, yellow mustard, ketchup, red onion, green onion, yellow onion, micro greens (cilantro!), and sliced jalapeño!

and kettle chips for crunch. always the crunch factor. don't forget to toast that bun.

my little menu:

- SPICY SEATTLE - cream cheese, sriracha, jalapeño, pickled red onion

- DA CLASSIC - ketchup, mustard, chopped yellow onion

- GREEN GODDESS - cream cheese, avocado, green onions, pickled red onion, micro cilantro greens

- SLIGHTLY ADVENTUROUS - cream cheese, chopped yellow onion, mustard, micro greens

- LOADED SPICY SEATTLE - cream cheese, sriracha, ketchup, mustard chopped yellow onion, jalapeño

- RED & GREEN - ketchup, sriracha, jalapeño

- SIMPLE SAVORY-TOOTH - cream cheese, green onion

i'm really clinging on to the tail end of summer here, folks.

check out amy's lovely photography work and her post about our photo shoot here!

photography by amy johnson.

food styling, prop styling, & recipes by me.

hi!

i am so excited to announce that i will be a new food & recipe contributor for coco kelley!

if you know her site, you know it is brimming with stunning inspiration for interiors, entertaining, design, and do-it-yourself projects. cassandra's site has been around for 10 years now, essentially since the beginning of blogging! ha! she has sooo much beautiful content available over there and i am thrilled to be able to be a part of it.

my first recipe for coco kelley is this fresh champagne mango ice cream!

i was just talking about all the funny mini batches of ice cream i'd been concocting recently (when these pb s'mores ice cream bites were born), and this was the purpose for all that testing!

i'm super proud of how this recipe turned out. i finally mastered a creamy ice cream base, and the fresh champagne mangos with a spot of fresh lemon juice make for SUCH a refreshing and yummy summer ice cream!

peter even LOVED it and he is truly my toughest food critic.

my nerves are at an all-time high when he goes to taste something i made (he really should moonlight as a food critic - his feedback is always interesting and on point. if you don't toast this guy's bread or bun, you are dead to him). but anyhoo i was surrounded by mangoes and melons and "frozen yogurt" tests and containers of cream and milk and this and that everywhere and it was 90 degrees and i was hot & bothered waiting for his opinion practically with my hands over my eyes. and he said.....

"YUM." a capitol YUM with wide eyes which means 'YES, great job quinn this has my seal of approval and don't change a thing.' .....i don't think i could have handled whatever critique he may have had in that moment after making like 6 batches of ice cream that week hahaha.

it's really good. and champagne mangoes are typically ALL perfectly ripe which is insane/amazing! have you tried these? i've seen a lot of them available at produce stands and grocery stores in this last stretch of summer. they are a bit sweeter and more tender than a regular mango. and all of them are ripe and ready to eat as soon as you buy them which is fabulous.