An Oldie But Goody

Today I made that old standby from 70's dinner parties, Beouf Bourgignon. (Photo tomorrow!) The party is tomorrow and it may get snowed out again, which would be a perfect 3 out of 3 for dinner parties this winter, but hell, I went ahead and made it. The dish itself is kind of a time-consuming. I bought a roast and cut it up ($5.00) cheaper than the other cuts, and cut carrots, and 30 little red onions that in spite of the boiling water and cold water baths were a major pain. But they do look cute. Cut the bacon up and browned it. Cut the scallions and garlic. Slice, slice, chop, chop. Browning three pounds of meat is tedious. Add more ingredients including wine. Delcious smell in the house. Hey, it wasn't so bad. Add the rest of the veggies. Taste. Yum! Tomorrow I just need to saute the mushrooms and "adjust seasonings."

While I was at it, I made my food processor mocha cake which I haven't made for many moons. The whole thing is made (except for egg whites) in the food processor. Of course, S.O. and I engaged in "risky behavior" (get your mind out of the gutter) and ate some of the egg-rich batter. Listen, I always wear my seat belt.

We're going to sample the cake to make sure it's fit to serve company. The cake will get its mocha frosting tomorrow. Pardon me while I salivate.

Today I cooked some apple-chicken sausage, hoping it tasted like the wonderful sausage we ate the first time we visited St. Helena and the wine country. We ate at a little breakfast place on the main drag and the sausage was heaven. This was years ago.

Tonight's sausage was too apple-y and wayyyy too sweet. Yuck-o.

The dinner party appetizers are bread sticks wrapped in bacon and shrimp wrapped in snow peas. Obviously the cold weather has me bundling everything up even , even food.

As a young bride, I wasn't sure if a clove of garlic was a bud or a clove, and several times I think I used the whole garlic bud. No wonder my boeuf bourgignon tasted to fab. Ah, the days of our youth.

Grapeshot