Photos of the food preparations

Prepping ingredients 

Close up of ingredients waiting on the counter. Fresh thyme and dried rosemary stand in readiness.

Browned vegetables are a thing of beauty

Browning the carrots and the pearl onions. Pearl onions are a pain, even with the boiling water and then the ice bath. But so tasty. Good organic carrots.

Sometimes a watched pot does boil

Waiting for the pot to simmer. Took a long time to brown all the meat.

No such thing as too much counter space

I started getting out ingredients and slicing and chopping at 10:00 this morning. Finished up around three p.m. At left are the ingredients for the wild mushroom puree for the crostini (in the red container on the counter).










The mocha rum cake is wrapped up under the cake pan on the counter. We dug into it tonight (two thin slices) to determine if it was fit to serve guests. Died and gone to heaven! It was. Waiting for S.O. to go to bed so I can sneak another thin slice. Chocolate Nirvana.

The homemade vanilla ice cream isn't bad either. We licked the beater and the freezer container. I inherited a vanilla bean from my mom, and once used, I didn't replace until yesterday. $4 a pop. Who knew? I only used 1/2 because it seemed so strong. Plenty vanilla-y. Oh yum. Who is this crazy person who can't leave the kitchen?

Moi? How could this be? Moi

Another Saturday Night Dinner Party Menu

Am I a sucker for punishment or not? Nope. Like to cook and like to repay social occasions and nice things others have done for us. For the first time since late October, some fairly serious snow lies on the ground. What could beat a hearty meal?

Mushroom Crostini  Epicurious Recipe
Endive with red pepper salsa Yet another Epicurious recipe

Boeuf Bourgignon Similiar to my recipe, but not identical
Buttered Noodles
Green Beans with walnuts

Mocha Rum Cake  Epicurious yet again
Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream Food Network's Alton Brown

I used to take the mushroom crostini to summer parties in Easthampton. We had such fun doing communal cooking at our friends' summer place. Times sadly long past.

The endive is a new recipe, with its many veggies a substitution for salad. I am making the beef burgundy today, because it will be better warmed up. The cake contains no milk or cream but copious quantities of chocolate and butter. Needs to "age" a couple days.

When you select recipes for a party, by all means pick entrees, desserts and appetizers that can (and should) be made ahead of time. All I have to do tomorrow is cook the beans and noodles and assemble the appetizers. More time for table setting and last minute cleaning.

The home office is starting to look almost orderly. Well, it should with hundreds of pounds of paper sent off to the dump.

Back to the kitchen for a spell with the Boeuf Bourgignon. Maybe a few swigs of the burgundy while I cook? Nope, too early. Besides I have to make the ice cream and cook the mushroom part of the mushroom crostini. The ice cream came from the food channel web site a couple days ago. It helps to read the thoughtful recipe comments. And look at the stars. 
Happy cooking to me.

Grapeshot

The 4 Day Vacation - continued

Representations of habitations that will weather naturally at the Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. This is a relatively new museum, and what a great one. I'll have more photos in upcoming days. And we just loved the cafeteria featuring native ingredients.

Our Saturday night meal was at Poste, in the Hotel Monaco right in the heart of town by the hockey stadium and a gazillion restaurants. Poste Moderne Brasserie is the complete name. I shared Steak Tartare with S.O. So yummy. Live dangerously, I say. My entree was calves liver with onions three ways, and a crisp slice of bacon. S.O. had a fab. bouef bourgignon and we shared a chocolate dessert that was pure dark chocolate with tiny little scoops of port wine ice cream, carrying delicious to a new height. The menu contained many entrees that sounded tempting. Don't you love it when what to order is the biggest decision you have to make all day? I do.

Back into Monday mode, with all that entails. Had to watch Damages last night to get caught up. Always some new betrayal or conflict. Good.

Now I need to pay some attention to my novel.

Grapeshot

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