I spent a goodly amount of time cooking yesterday and had fun doing
it. Just thought I'd share.

We had been planning to have a couple of couples over since before
Christmas, but events and emergencies had gotten in the way of getting
together until last night. I made:

Gravlax on pumpernickel toasts with a honey - Dijon mustard dressing
on a bed of fresh dill

Black pepper infused vodka

Mini bread loaves and butter

Spinach and radicchio salad with white balsamic vinegar and tangerine
infused oil with sweet onion rings, carrot curls, sliced fresh
mushrooms and topped with crumbled bleu cheese and walnuts

Pan-seared chicken breasts with a raspberry-port reduction sauce and
wasabi aioli

Roasted garlic mashed potatoes

Fresh steamed asparagus with butter

Fresh fruit trifle (cream cheese - whipped cream "pudding," fresh
strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, nectarines, pound cake, and
some dark rum and apricot jam spread on the pound cake slices. This
recipe right out of the Bon Appetit cookbook except for the added
strawberries. Damn this stuff is good!)

Everything was homemade but the pumpernickel. The vodka was
interesting - all by itself the pepper taste lingered for ten
minutes. Small sips offset the salmon nicely. I dragged out all the
good china and served everything restaurant style, plating the dishes
in my staging area (kitchen table) so I could get the effects I
desired (e.g. the aioli spread in a zig-zag from a squeeze bottle over
the port sauce and placing garnishes) and then brought them into the
dining room course by course. I did as much of the prep as I could
ahead of time so I could actually spend some time socializing with my
guests instead of cooking. The logistics worked out pretty well and
everyone said they loved the meal, so I'm in a happy place today :-)

--
Silvar Beitel
(very occasional poster)