Big fat dinner vs. lean and modern

Further to my waxing endlessly on my love of Greek food...

In 2008, one of the chef's in the Blushing Hostess stable of dream chef's, Michael Psilakis, created a menu for a modern green dinner party for Bon Appetit which, according to my research, is accurate in flavor but light on the actual meal, which should involve, perhaps, three or four tons more food than the Chef called for. Obviously, this is geared to the American audience of the magazine but, I am hopeful that including a lot more food here would make it perhaps more authentic and the kind of meal that begins at 2 pm and ends at 2 am. Because, those are my absolute favorite. I fear this might be the sort that begins and 5 and ends at 8.

The Modern Greek Dinner Party

Chef Michael Psilakis, for Bon Appetit

Smoked Salmon Tarama with Pita Chips

Dried Fig Slouvaki

Scallops with Cauliflower, Dried Cherries, and Capers

Sun-dried Tomato and Garlic - Crusted Lamb Rack

Roasted Garbanzo Beans and Garlic with Swiss Chard

Spiced Fresh Orange and Honey Sorbet

This is relatively light for a Greek meal. Where is the table full of little bites? Meatballs? Cheese? Vegetables? Honey pastries? Puddings?

Comparatively, here is the menu provided for a dinner by another writer:

The Summer Buffet

Rosemary Barron

Mezethakia

Black Olives and Lentil salata

Beet Salad with Allspice

Cucumber Salad with Honey and Vinegar Sauce

Country Bread

Pita Bread

Moussakas

Potatoes in a clay pot

Islands Greens Salad

Nut Pastries with Fragrant Honey Syrup

Honey Cakes

Now, this second menu is more my style for authenticity as well as creating the feeling of a great feast in progress. But, choose your weapon.

Now then. To go with the small-bite (mezethes) portion of either menu, be sure to find a good bottle of ouzo, it is available in all broad-minded package stores these days. I like it cold, plunged into an ice bin in the freezer even. It takes a little of the edge off. The best ouzo's, and really the only ones Greek's will recommend, are from the island of Lesvos. Ouzo is anise-licorice in flavor, and like absinthe - which it stepped in to replace when absinthe was prohibited - it is often mixed with cold water and a couple of ice cubes which causes the drink to become milky white. Or as I say, drink it as cold as you can stand it and eat as much as you possibly can. If the day is 110 degrees in the shade in Greece, this will make ever so much more sense.



"The key to drinking ouzo is to eat snacks known as mezedes. These keep the effects of the alcohol from overwhelming you and enable you to sit and drink slowly for hours in a profoundly calm state of mind where all is beautiful and life is fine. In the villages where life is slow ouzo is partaken day or night."
- greekfood.com

Whether this dinner goes big-fat or lean-modern, if you are not serving dinner in your beflowered courtyard then the all-white suggestion here will help to best show off the colors of the food.



In a nod to the favorite patriotic color of Greece, you might consider a few winking blue delphinium tucked into the centerpieces.

A few thoughts for a long, ouzo drenched evening. Enjoy...

Photo credits: Bon Appetit, 1&2. marthastewart.com, 4.

The Fizz Event at PX blue light

Today, a peek at a very special event I attended this week to support another fabulous Virginia winery, Thibaut Janisson, and their creamy, delicious sparkling wine, Fizz. The event was held in partnership with PX Blue Light, as close to a modern-day speakeasy I have found.

We are off to beautiful Old Town Alexandria, Virginia, just a hop from Washington, DC. This section of the city has always very much reminded me of my haunts off Charles Street in the flat of the hill in Boston. When in the nation's Capitol, do not miss a visit.



This is my fabulous boss (seriously, she is), Rachel Martin, EVP of Boxwood Winery, with Claude Thibaut, founding partner of Thibaut Janisson Chateau and winemaker of Virginia Fizz.



PX Blue Light's legendary mixologist, Todd Thrasher, worked with the concentration and speed of a master, carefully crafting each Virginia Fizz cocktail with care for the guests crowded into PX to sample his luxe cocktail creations.



Todd developed a varied cocktail menu focused on all the bright, hot colors of a sparkling Virginia summer to best show off Fizz as a great sparkling wine for cocktails.

PX Blue Light

Virginia Fizz Cocktail Menu

PX Champagne Cocktail

Cavalier cherries, house-made cherry bitters, Grand Manier, Bacardi 151, and Virginia Fizz sparkling wine

Tahitian Dream

hibiscus tea, vanilla, Liquor 43, Woodford Reserve bourbon, and Virginia Fizz sparkling wine

175 Degree Cocktail

Grapefruit skins, yellow cardamon, bay leaf, Patron Silver Tequila, and Virginia Fizz sparkling wine

Summertime

Yellow watermelon sorbet, verbena fizz, pickled watermelon rind juice, cardamon, and and Virginia Fizz sparkling wine

The details at work at PX create a the snug, clandestine feel of a luxe speakeasy
tucked away off a street corner. There is, in true speakeasy style, no sign out front, and only a blue light above the door to let you know you have arrived.

The wrought iron protected shelves in the wall, looking not unlike a sorcerer's workshop, encase Todd Thrasher's self-made bitters in a dozen flavors or more. This attention to detail, this seriousness of his craft, is what sets Thrasher aside from every other mixologist in Washington, DC.



There is something about a glowing surface and cocktails in a range of enticing colors that I cannot resist. Bottles of homemade cherry bitters wait their turn in the PX Virginia Fizz Cocktail on the bar. The sweet and salty preserved lemons will make their way into The Tahitian Dream Virginia Fizz Cocktail.


PX is nothing short of a cocktail historian's tribute to drinks gone by. Small touches make the room elegant and studied but not overwhelmed with antiquities. Here, an antique absinthe dispenser sits on a former window sill, set off by the low glow of candles twinkling against dark, polished wood. PX's three rooms are filled with these small thoughtful cocktail-driven considerations.

The juxtaposition of Todd Thrasher's beautifully conceived cocktail menu against PX's ocean of rich navy velvet and dark wood walls caught my eye.



The room was jammed with happy guests holding cocktails which were no less than promised: Magnificent to the eye, dancing on the palate, and full of a delicious Virginia sparkling wine now adored by the crowd for its ability to make a great cocktails: Virginia Fizz of Thibaut Janisson.

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A short but perfect season

In the far west of France, the region of Alsace has long been a source of geopolitical strife between France and Germany. While I would love recap a millennium of agony regarding what belongs to whom, which religion, whose language, and how it was ruled, it is far beyond the scope of this page.

Aside from the storybook beauty of Alsace, a culture vibrant with centuries of gifts bestowed from east, west, and south of itself, it makes remarkable wines both dry and sweet (Gerurztraminer, Muscat, Pinot Blanc, Pinto Gris, Reisling, Cremant d'Alsace, and Pinot Noir) and has a commitment to asparagus worth a trip in spring.



Restaurants spring up between April and June and the only item on the menu is asparagus, generally served with three sauces: Hollandaise, mayonnaise, and vinaigrette.



Alsatian's will drink only one wine along side their prized asparagus; well-chilled dry muscat. Whether or not you go in person, or recreate this beautiful meal at home, I suggest you follow suit; locals know their pairings.

Asparagus is imported for fine purveyors and restaurants only during the legitimate season from the west of France. Check the tags at the grocery store: Although Mexico and other locales produce white asparagus (achieved by growing in darkened boxes, rather than in the mounded nutrient-rich soil of western France), they are generally an inferior product and it is worth, even if it is a splurge to experience this meal, to get the truly tasty asparagus of France. The season is only from late April until June 22 each year, so be quick.

For more on the history of Alsace and the French and German populations therein, read here.

The kitchen buffet

Honestly, what difference does it make if you serve the food family style, from a side board, or hanging from a circus high wire in a tutu while ladling gazpacho into shot glasses?

Etiquette texts of the old and dusty school will say absolutely not; get a staff! Alright, in the real world however, the staff often fails to report for duty (I sometimes wonder if they were only pithy imaginary British gents, anyway) and the food has to get from vessel to lips with one hostess and a house full of guests who seem, at least outwardly, capable enough to have read and responded to an invite, and followed directions to the house; therefore being presumably competent to amass food on a flat surface and get it to their mouth without insurmountable obstacle, all the while chatting on about that messy business in Bedford Garden Club (or, er, what have you).

I dare say, it is fine to put the food up on the counters in the kitchen, next to the plates, silverware, and napkins, and allow the diners or guests to fend for themselves in food-serving. There are times, as in the case of the this supper, with food that needs to be assembled to an individuals preferences (menus involving tortilla's and anything, for example), when the food is perfectly graciously - and more effectively - served in a spotless kitchen.

As a rule, the further the plates will move, the smaller they get (to be lap-friendly) and less precious (fewer tears shed over broken pieces). The same goes for the utensils: No sterling sees light when guests may be returning their own plates to the kitchen; to prevent it ending up in the trash by expensive accident. The napkins remain pressed cloth: Not only because paper is so flimsy, but it is eco-conscious.

Put the food out on the counters. Tell them I said so.

Saturday Night Supper Buffet

Tortilla Soup

Spicy Jicama, Apple, Melon, and Tangerine Salad

Carne Oaxaqueno Tacos with Queso Fresco

Green Chili Spoon Bread

Tamarindo Dark and Stormy

Sneak Peek: Dinner counterpoints at Sundance

Among the guests of Orland Bloom's private dinner party during Sundance Film Festival for fellow cast members were co-star/ director Mark Ruffalo and co-star Juliette Lewis.

East Meets West, Sympathy for Delicious Menu

Chefs
East: Katsuya Uechi, Katsuya Restaurants, L.A.
West: Steven Fretz, of XIV by Michael Mina

Bing Supper Club at House of Hype, Park City, Utah

East

Sashimi of king crab and toro
Oden (Japanese stew, traditionally consisting of ingredients like boiled eggs, fish cakes and a dashi broth)
Seasonal verrine (originally a French confection, made by layering ingredients in a glass)

West

Chilled king crab with pomegranate, pecan and black truffle foam
Kobe shortribs
Milk chocolate panna cotta

The Harvest Home

"...this is what we call it, the dinner that ends our autumn holiday. The garnerings of the outing are pure air, fresh odors, pleasant site, relaxed nerves, sweetened tempers, rested bodies - and appetites.

It is an unwritten law of the party that the dinner, whether given at the home of the genial host of these pleasure trips, or at the country home of one of his guests, shall be celebrated in the open air; put in the indefinable atmosphere of this season, before the dreamy hush of autumn becomes oppressive... with an early hunter's moon sulking behind a cloud...

Across one end of the veranda where possibly the outside world might peep in, she put a close row of small evergreen trees, making an effective screen and background; while, arranged in corners, enveloping pillars, hanging from every available cornice and ornament, "October's crimson banners flew." ...



The center of the table held a loosely woven grass basket, tipped on its side and poring forth evidence of the maturity and bounty of the "fall of the year."

Clusters of purple Concord grapes, golden-green Niagara's, and tiny purple Delaware's blended the bloom and color in profusion that tumbled out among soft tufts of a tangle of feathers clematis vine, which started under the basket and ran with riotous and apparently unstudied freedom over the cloth.

The place cards were rolls of thin birch bark which curled round the extreme ends of the clematis.

When "night threw her mantle over the skies and pinned it with a star," the table was lighted by twinkling beams from many unshaded bayberry candles. These candles, by the way, are made by an old resident back in the country of Long Island and are the result of a mysterious process of extracting the wax from bayberries...

And now to the lesser attractions of the menu..."

Clams
Corn Soup, Croutons
Smelts, Sauce Tartare

Tomatoes
Rolls

Saddle venison, Jelly Sauce
Sweet potatoes
Brussels sprouts
Boiled chestnuts

Roman Punch

Broiled quail
Hominy crescents

October salad

Grandmother's pudding, Snowdrift sauce
Fig Dainty

Grapes
Cheese and wafers

Coffee

- The Good Housekeeping Hostess, 1904

Recently, I have been researching the subject of the Harvest Home celebration, most of which I am not going to include here because the more I dug, the more I realized this topic can be a wick to a angry flame in the wrong hands, historically. It engenders the sort of misunderstanding that burns women at stakes when left to the uninformed, consequently I am sticking to the straightforward upside of the concept. However, if you are very curious I will give you a reference later.

Now then. The Harvest Home celebration, occasionally mistaken for a Thanksgiving pre-cursor, is actually a celebration of the autumnal equinox and a farewell to the growing season and harvest. In ancient cultures, the intention was to recognize the darkness of days winning over the light and to bid the health of the plants farewell, many poetic references on the subject making mention of "sacrifices" have, in modern hands, been unfortunately misunderstood and refer in fact, to sacrificing and thrashing the wheat and/or corn harvest; The reason the symbolic sheaf's of wheat and corn appear with such frequency decoratively in this season.



What a fine reason for an final outdoor supper in the crisp air of a Sunday afternoon, I thought. In our town in Westchester, the community gathers later in the season for a The Hunters Dinner and it is not at all unlike the menu you see above; Indeed a flurry of oil coats and high field boots appears at six in the evening in the local Episcopal hall after their horse farms have been shuttered for the night and the last of the household maintenance is complete on a late fall Saturday.



It occurs to me now, we might gather outside sooner in the season on the bridle path in the open land and as the light begins to fade, champagne glasses might be charged one last time for the season that was, harvest or otherwise.





___________________________________________________________________
To read a bit more on the subject of Harvest Home, you can begin here. On the subject of bayberry candles; here and here.

Blushing reminder: The San Lori reader giveaway ends Tuesday night, enter here. The finestationery.com giveaway will beging Wednesday morning, do check back.

Photo credits: wikipedia, marthastewart.com, marthastewart.com, about.com, sciencephotography.com, about.com, countryliving.com, forevecrystal.co.uk

What they ate: 2009 Emmy's Governors Ball

After getting a look at the tables for the ball in this Blushing Hostess post, I thought you might be interested in the menu for the 3,600 guests who dined on the culinary work of the Patina Restaurant Group. The Governor's Ball is the largest known singular catered event in the nation each year and an impressive orchestration of event and catering talents. (I was suuuper busy cleaning up spit up and checking temperatures, so I could not make it. Again. But I have a mole/ incredibly famous dear old friend who goes and whispers secrets in my ear. None of them appear in this post, under threat of a slashing of my shoes. Oh, she knows me far too well.)

The Emmy Awards, 2009 Governors Ball Menu

Melange of peppers, eggplant caviar, red mustard leaves, potato salad, olive, smoked mushrooms, tomatoes, melons and medjool dates

Filet mignon with polenta ravioli with cauliflower and vadouvan butter, whole roasted zucchini blossom and Bloomsdale spinach

Dove Silky Smooth Milk Chocolate dessert infused with raspberry creme and paired with yuzu gelee and mint lollipop rounds

Just festivals of color and luxury on the plate, yes?

Obviously, I wasn't missing anything exciting. Pisssssshaw.

Credits: examiner.com about.com

Of open spaces and roadsides

We are doing a great deal of traveling by car lately. I find it easier with a toddler than attempting to convince her to remain in her seat on a plane. As we do, I have become increasingly concerned with the number of cars in front of every McDonald's on and just off the highway, and the relative abandonment of roadside picnic areas.

(Massachusetts offers tons of public picnicking in all sorts of pretty spots.)

It is more than just the quality of the food one is ingesting for the sake of convenience that has me worried: It is the memory of a laughter and fresh-air filled few moments outside the car. We rush as much as the next family: We need to get to Charleston and see a house. I want to get home to New York before my Mom's surgery. The kids are impatient and we have all had it.

But these moments, in these picnic areas our states have built for us are not only for the rare time when we've an extra hour or else we would chose a drive through instead. Indeed, it does take a little thinking ahead; you will want to pack the food yourself surely, in order that you can ensure it is better than what you might otherwise buy when driving. But that half an hour or so, does it really take so much time from a go-go life? Even if you must constantly live at that pace, could there be others in your immediate midst who would be well served by a few moments to sit outside, have a cold drink, and look up at the sky for a moment?


(South Carolina offers these shelters on I-95, sturdy, safe from the weather, plenty
of green grass on each side for walking dogs - responsibly, of course.)

Would not so many of our road travels be greatly improved if we could plan ahead?

I find the fifteen extra minutes it takes me to prep some sandwiches or the extra hour it takes me to create a complete box lunch or packaged dinner always pays off: It is less costly financially, physically, and in peace of mind than anything offered by roadside food chains.

As you know, I am apt to picnic anywhere, I get this from my Mom's people who were championship roadside picnickers on their way to and from Cape Cod on the old road where there was no such thing as fast food.

We picnicked a great deal as children: You might guess my Mother did this because it was easier with two toddlers in tow, but I really do think looking back, that we all preferred it to any alternative because we were outdoors and free to wander about looking at things and intermittently playing.


(A shot from our Father's day picnic at the beach shelter.)

This is not simply a summer pursuit: In fact, many who would not have a roadside picnic in any weather will not think twice about packing enormous amounts of food and wearing four thermal layers head-to-toe in order to tailgate. Really, it is not that different, and I will have no excuses now as fall and spring might even be more suitable to this pastime: The temperature is more agreeable and they are inspiring seasons of showy enchantment.

(And another.)

I hope you will get out this season, if not by a roadside, then in your favorite picnic venue. With luck, these thoughts will help you to enjoy your experience.

Blushing's Picnic Tips:

1. Start small and easy: There are plenty of on line retailers who deal in picnic items but there is no reason to outfit your adventure with a truckload of gear, maybe you could begin with your cooler or a very large basket and some ice packs, and try to prepare stroller sandwiches that could just be unwrapped as well as a few portions of sliced fresh vegetables and fruit: Carrots and apples perhaps, or blanched asparagus. Take along some sweet potato chips and bottled water. This will eliminate the need for plates and utensils until you decide if you wish to take that plunge and is a good plan when you are on a road trip and out only for a picnic.

2. Keep an eye out for pretty picnic items once you decide you love it: As I mentioned, my Mom found out gorgeous picnic basket in the consignment shop she volunteers in, still in its new wrapping. Keep an eye out in your local charity shop for something like this, this oft (and sadly) unused wedding gift turn up constantly.

3. Try not to burden yourself: The kindest thing for the planet on which you are enjoying your picnic is to choose service items that can be recycled and/or reused. Your commitment to seeing that plastics are recycled and not just entered into the garbage stream is key to our continued success as a planet. To that end, my picnic basket came with real plates, utensils, and glasses. I rinse them off with a bit of water when we clean up the area then wash and re=stow them in the basket once home. I have a pretty tablecloth I store in there as well to prevent having to search for anything if the urge to picnic hits suddenly.

4. Apply the keep it simple rule: You need not feel, even when entertaining others, that you must serve a complicated and impressive menu. Josh and I have been inviting people to picnic with us since we met. We have been just everywhere: At the beach, above Newport and Charleston harbors, along the river during Head of the Charles Weekend in Boston, tailgating at big Midwest football schools and West Point, clam bakes, and on family holidays absolutely whenever and wherever and I have learned that fussy food has no place in this endeavor.

5. When it comes to picnics, less is more: This is no time for salad and dessert plates. Everyone needs to use their single set of plates and utensils for every food offered. If dessert and any extra snacks are finger-foods, all the better.

6. Keep it clean: I keep anti-bacterial wipes in the picnic basket. I think it is responsible and kind to others.

7. Leave your picnic site as you found it, if not better: Take away everything you brought. See to it the trash and recycling are disposed of thoughtfully and accurately. And if you can, although it pains even me to deal with someone else's trash, pick up any trash you see. Then use (several dozen of) those wipes you brought along.



This past weekend when we were traveling, we kept it all very simple:

Turkey, cheese, and avocado sandwiches on whole grain
Cheese wrap on whole grain tortilla (for the aforementioned toddler)
Multi Grain Chips
Sliced apples and carrots
Water
Milk
Blushing's Mexican Chocolate cookies (which we made, only coincidentally, on Friday)

So you see, it can be just this simple, and it took me less than fifteen minutes to get this prepared and packed in a refrigerated bag. No trouble at all. Had I not had the time to get this together, I would have gone to the deli for something similar on the way out of town: I really do not care for fast food, as you can tell.

I have put together some additional menu suggestions which I hope you will find useful for your picnicking adventures this fall. Remember that if you do not find what you need here, The Minimalist has a ton of fabulous, simple recipes here.

The Elegant No-Prep Picnic

A cheese plate of a soft, semi-soft, hard, and bleu cheeses
An variety of colorful and flavorful apples, sliced
Red and green grapes
Crusty French Baguette
Assorted nuts
Sparkling water (if you are driving)
Your favorite chilled white wine (if you are not)

*For a great addition you might add pate, cornichon, hard cooked egg, capers, and a little chopped onions.

(Right, pack up all your pre-dinner noshes and call them a picnic! Why ever not? See below, these concepts travel well.)






The Little People Picnic

Blushing's Butterfly Peanut or Almond Butter Sandwiches
Blushing's Mini Cheese and Smoked Turkey Whole Grain Wraps
Carrot and apple crudite
A whole grain chip
Milk boxes


Old School and Well Loved Menu

Blushing's Cold Fried Chicken
German Potato Salad
Marinated Mushroom Salad
Sliced warm heirloom tomatoes, undressed
Chocolate chip cookies
Water
Lemonade
An all-American beer, Sam Adams, perhaps

New School Menu

Grilled bbq chicken and/or pesto wraps
Blushing's Beet Salad
Blushing's Field Pea and Brown Rice Salad with Cojita
Miniature dark chocolate bars (from your market)
Sparkling water
Cabernet Sauvignon

The Cook and Run Menu

Chicken Sausage Strollers with Tri-Color Peppers, Onions, and Mozzerella
Orzo Salad with Garbanzo and Tear Drop Tomatoes
Amaretti Cookies
Prosecco
Espresso (from your Thermos!)


The Light Fare Menu

Canyon Ranch's Chinese 7 Vegetable Salad with Lemon Miso Dressing
Baked Wonton Chips
Fresh mango and pineapple slices


How do you picnic?


And do not forget to Follow Blushing Hostess for six weeks of giveaways for holiday entertaining beginning next week!

A Birthday Dinner

Yesterday was my Mother's (29th) birthday, which we were thrilled she could observe with us while we are still at the beach. For a while, she was a Labor Day baby, but now that it seems Labor Day is being moved back each year to coincide eventually with Thanksgiving, her dinner party can no longer be expected to fall on a three day weekend.

When we were children, Mom's birthday were especially wonderful: Beautifully decorated tropical lagoons and hibiscus abounded and we were always thrilled by what new party accoutrement had been located to add to the end of summer celebration for her birthday.

We are a little more staid today, not only because I am making dinner but also because I am exhausted. This blog is generally written between the hours of nine and eleven at night and four and half past six in the morning. Little nibbles of sleep in the meantime are peppered with the wanderings of a two-year old and the occasional wakings of a six-month old which are pleasant sleep deprivors, but deprivors nonetheless and I am, to say they very least, a little mentally-breathless nearly all the time lately. So bear with me, because I am unable, both physically and mentally to Colin Cowie (now he is a verb) the dining room at the moment.

With that in mind, her menu:

Cold beetroot soup with hot potato
2006 Mt. Difficulty, Roaring Meg Pinot Noir

Artichoke Stuffed Leg of Lamb with Garlic & Wine Sauce
Red Bliss Potatoes with Mint Pesto

Apple Cranberry Chutney
Vienna Rolls
2003 Fattoria La Valentina Montepulciano d'Abruzzo, Spelt

Green salad with lemon vinaigrette

Chocolate Cracked Earth Cake
Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin

Coffee

(These recipes will be posted shortly on Blushing Hostess Cooks, do kindly stand by.)

When I tell you that I wrestled with a butterflied leg of lamb at the crack of dawn this morning, I really mean it. I resorted to handing the mallet to my husband and allowing him to do the honors of flattening the beast rather brutally. In the future, I will seek a butcher who will do this task as it was just far more vigorous a task than I am interested in, though the final product is worth all the banging about, dropping of mallets on my toes, and colorful muttering. It was far too early to be drinking, and would have been perfectly undignified but would certainly have eased some of the pain, both mental and actual, involved in this particular menu.


Cold beetroot soup with hot potato, a colorful and deeply rich soup adapted from Paris' Rose Bakery Cookbook.


In any event, this menu, compiled from various sources including the timeless recipes of one of my favorite steakhouses, Delmonico's of New Orleans, was lovely for the incredibly hot summer day we had and took, all told, solid chunks of three days to execute in this order:

Friday:
Roast off the beets for the borscht
Steam the artichokes for the stuffing
Make the lamb stock for the garlic wine sauce

Make the chicken stock for the soup from the Zuni recipe I have long treasured (a double recipe, half of which I freeze for future use)

Saturday:
Prepare the stuffing
Prepare the soup
Prepare the mint pesto

Sunday:
Prepare the stuffed leg of lamb
Cook and blanch off the potatoes and haricort vert
Prepare the garlic wine sauce
Bake the cake


Delmonico's artichoke stuffed leg of lamb with mint pesto and roasted red bliss potatoes and garlic-red wine gravy. This dish was part of three days prep and worth that time and then some. It was magic; from my hands or any other it is an delicious and enchanting roast from an alluring steakhouse era.

I pride myself on both the quality of the ingredients and my truth-in-menu suggestions to you: This food is going to take you a while, you will go to some trouble not only with the lamb, but also with the stocks (this quality cannot buy on a shelf) and the sauce (which needs to be babied. But a mother is a very precious thing to have as is a father. And as you know, Josh and I both lost our Father's very early in their lives and we are left to lavish upon our gorgeous Mothers.


Chocolate baked earth, as perfect and simple a recipe as I have ever worked with, on the platter used for now-four generations of birthday cakes, before it was dressed for its show.

However, if you are blessed enough to still have a Dad about the place, you might consider going to some lengths to demonstrate care in return for all he gave you. I can tell you, if my fine Father were still here to dine with my new children, I would certainly have turned the best part of a week inside-out to be sure he knew how very glad we are to celebrate with him too.

To Mothers, then, yes? Mine, yours, theirs...