5 more corks....

We finally had a dinner party Saturday night, as in May 1st. I say finally because back before we became freedom crazed activists, we had dinner parties with great regularity. Jon helped set the table and I put the camera on a side table in the dining room to get some photos (where unfortunately it stayed; not a single picture garnered...rats), and then a menu was contrived with some home made items and some Trader Joes' ready to go items. It is unusual for me not to bite off a good deal more than I can chew, but every now and then I decide to get crazy and be realistic.

The menu: Appetizer: scallops on the half shell with a pesto garlic sauce (absolutely divine- you get them in the freezer section at TJ's for $2.99 a dozen), 3 layer hummus, smoked salmon (with all the proper accoutrements: dill, cream cheese, lemon wedges, minced red onion, capers....mmm, I love capers) and an array of flatbreads. 1st course, lobster bisque. I do make a scallop bisque that is very labor intensive since the stock is made from simmering fish heads and other things for hours prior to bringing together the final product, but I just accepted that this wasn't going to happen. This lobster bisque comes ready made from Costco's deli section. TJ's was out. I did get it and it may be worth using again. But I would recommend a splash of sherry, adding chunks of freshly steamed lobster, and garnishing with minced chives. Also, serving up Tobasco alongside the soup does have its merits. 2nd course, beef bourguignon with a demi-glace style reduction sauce, asparagus, pan roasted cherry tomatoes with parsley, and these adorable fingerling potatoes I roasted with olive oil, kosher salt and fresh minced rosemary, and then sourdough french bread with extra virgin olive oil and fresh cracked pepper. A word about the beef bourguigon- the recipe is from Julia Child's first cookbook and has a complicated browning method. It is TOTALLY worth it. The final sauce is really...words quite fail me here, but thinking about it, smelling the amazing aroma and the deep dark fragrant look of the sauce...trust me on this. Follow the directions.

There's still 2 more courses to go though perhaps you are beginning to wonder where anyone could possibly pack more food. I didn't consider the portions to be Golden Corral sized, and I had no problem eating everything and then snacking until 2 am on the leftovers there after. :-) Three people decided to forgo the salad course which came next.

I made a salad with smoked trout, bibb lettuce, finely grated pecorino cheese, red onion that had marinated in a balsamic vinaigrette, and just toasted broken pecans...yummy, yummy, yummy. I'm so glad there are leftovers for today--though you never bring the salad together until right before serving, and chilled salad plates are a nice touch.

Final course, I was thinking I would make the chocolate mousse recipe in the Silver Palate Cookbook. It is an excellent mousse, and an old standby in my kitchen repertoire. However, desiring to read the aforementioned Plato (in the preceding blog post) on Friday night instead of producing chocolate mousse, I resigned myself to purchasing a ready made chocolate ganache cake from TJ's- meaning Trader Joe's, but I'd imagine that to be obvious. You can get the cake in the freezer section. It is FABULOUS! I'm a big TJ's fan, by the way, because they are committed to no-GMO's in their products, and it's the only store from which I buy processed or prepared foods without worry, besides the fact that as long as you stay away from the cheese, meat and wine section, everything is very reasonably priced. Unfortunately, I never stay away from the cheese, meat or wine section (2 buck chuck is quite good, and we just discovered Green Fin, a $3.99 white table wine which was excellent with the bisque so there are inexpensive wines).

So what's with the 5 corks title? I'm saving all my wine corks so I can put together a cork wreath--a slightly cheesy do it yourself kitchen decor item which I have some bizarre need to produce. So I added 5 more corks to my collection last night.

Yes, I have a headache. Why do you ask?

Video Crazed Sons........

We have a firm rule in our house--well, it's "mom's" rule actually, though Jon thinks it's a good idea. Namely, absolutely no movies, television or video games except on Saturday. The exception to the rule is when someone is genuinely ill. Then that person may watch videos and if that person is Vivian, Gabriel can watch, too, since Vivian is his daily playmate. But on with the story.

Last weekend I was up very early Saturday morning with Vivian and walked past the music room in route to the kitchen. I was astonished to see 4 kids sitting indian style around the glowing box in rapt attention--it was 5am! Later in the day, we discovered that everyone had gotten up at 4 in order to hit the video games. Good grief.

This past Friday evening we had a chat with the offspring and decided that the time you get up Saturday morning to play video games is the same time you go to bed Saturday night. This was of some concern to Oliver and Charles. I offered them a modicum of moderation, that it was more a general guideline than a hard fast rule.

Later that night long after the kidlets were in bed, Jon and I were going upstairs to our room when Oliver came down the hall frantically. "I can't see my clock," he said panicked," I don't know what time it is, I need a clock." I was startled by this bizarre request probably because my brain was absorbed by another topic, namely Socrates' trial and Plato's account of the event, but Jon realized immediately what his problem was. "Oliver, it is not even midnight. Go to bed and get up when the sun comes up. You don't need to play video games until the sun is up." Oliver, who wasn't even entirely awake, was able to produce a look of defeat, and Jon escorted him back to his bed- the bottom bunk in his and Charles' bedroom.