Liz had her annual holiday party on Saturday, and there was a good turnout despite the recent heavy snow and slick roads. I spent most of the day making components of what I hoped would be a great appetizer: duck prosciutto on lotus root chips with butternut gel, green tea pudding, and peanut butter powder. It turned out all right, but needs tinkering to balance the flavors. All of the individual components were really good,…
Category: Parties
After three days of work, occasional stress, and a couple of failures (this molecular gastronomy thing is not an improv-friendly medium) the day arrived and I threw down another eleven course meal- although with a very different feel than last year. The number eleven was coincidental, though now it’s probably going to have to become a tradition. Lucky me. The more casual and homey vibe was the direct result of my markedly lower level of…
On Saturday, we met briefly with Gerard and Alison so they could give me a belated birthday gift since they were too sick to come to the party. So, like secret agents, we met in the AutoZone parking lot and they handed me a bag with a side of wild Alaskan salmon in it. The cloak-and-dagger locale was especially appropriate because he works at the CIA. (The food one, not the one with real spies.)…
We had a bunch of people over last night to celebrate my 40th birthday; the actual day is Tuesday, but Saturdays are more conducive to parties. In keeping with the dinner party traditions of our crew, we made it a pot luck, but I took care of all the main things. Everyone loves my smoked chickens, so I made six of them, plus polenta, and pressure-cooked cabbage with peppercorns, juniper berries, fenugreek, cumin, and caraway…
There was much food, drink, and merriment- we had two couples come stay with us for the weekend as we all attended Debi and John’s wedding. The weather was perfect, perfect, perfect, and everything unfolded at a tranquil pace that made for lots of refined hedonism and good time with good people. Only one of the four- Andrew– was with us for dinner on Friday, after a not-so-successful mushroom-hunting walk; it’s been really dry here…
Another week in the city got me across the goal line; I won’t be back for much more than schmoozing and food-related activities for a while. It’s ironic, because all of a sudden our old neighborhood is hipster central, with an embarassment of culinary and commercial riches that we could not have imagined only a few years ago when we lived there. So it’s sad to return, but the pangs of regret are mitigated some…
I woke up feeling like garbage; the cold had migrated to me. Fortunately, I had gotten enough done ahead of time so that I was able to go back to sleep for three hours and felt much better. I got the smoker going, and put in four chickens. After an hour, the chickens repaired to a 200˚ oven while 5 slabs of well-rubbed spare ribs took their place on the grill. I kept the fire…
This weekend we went to Boston for a potluck dinner my Brother and I organized to commemorate the 5th anniversary of our Mom’s death. It was an excellent excuse to see friends and family who we don’t spend nearly enough time with. In keeping with family tradition, there was a ton of good food and much warm conversation; the entire thing was a testament to how much she is still missed. Her Grandson was a…
We had a few of the crew over for dinner, and everyone brought something. We began with the peanut soup, enhanced with cayenne and togarashi, and complemented incredibly with the rest of the Moulin Touchais. It was like peanut butter and jelly all over again. Crazy good when the spice and rich peanut flavors collided with the big tangy-sweet grapey wine. Pure pleasure. Next, John’s poke of gorgeous ‘ahi and Liz’s collard rolls with carrots…
For Liz’s birthday this year, a much mellower gathering than last time, and everyone brought something. My contribution was this multi-layer crêpe tart with mushroom duxelles between the crêpes and truffle butter brushed on top. You can’t really tell in the picture, but it was really nice and layery once cut. Other dishes included braised radicchio, ceviche of halibut, baked wild salmon, pastis-flambéed shrimp, salad, and some other things I’m forgetting now. Dessert was an…