Gumbo Z'Herbes: I use Sara Moulton's recipe, which adds kidney beans. For
greens I included carrot tops, chard, beet greens, and Russian kale. The
beet greens turned the broth beet-colored, which was a bit serendipitous
since Lin had chosen a "burgundy and silver" color scheme for the table.

Chopped Salad: I finely chopped chard stems, beet stems, carrots, and green
beans. Those items got blanched until crisp-tender, then shocked in an ice
water bath. Then I finely chopped a sweet chile (the ones which look like
red jalapeños but which have no chile heat at all), a few radishes, and a
small onion. Everything got tossed together with a lemon-basil vinaigrette.
It turned out very light and tasty, but again, predominantly beet-colored.

Braised Radicchio and Leeks: I was able to get the "Treviso" variety of
radicchio, which is oblong and is more highly prized for some reason. The
radicchio and leeks were halved lengthwise, lightly browned in a mixture of
safflower oil and butter, then seasoned with salt and pepper, orange juice
was poured into the pan, and they slow-cooked until meltingly tender. Only
thing is... guess what color the radicchio was! (Well, it had browned a bit
more, so it wasn't *quite* as vibrant as the other things.)

Ribeye Steak: Lin and I shared a big steak, and barely made a dent in it.
The steak was lightly rubbed with safflower oil, seasoned with kosher salt
and coarsely-ground pepper, and cooked on a searingly-hot cast iron pan. It
was gorgeous.

Butter-Cooked Oysters and Mushrooms: The oysters were big and plump. They
were also very full-flavored, almost to the point of being disconcerting. I
used the mixture as a kind of condiment for the steak, and it worked very
well in that role.

Baked Potato: A single Idaho potato about the size of Boise, rubbed with oil
and baked until soft inside and crisp outside. Best baked potato I've had
all year! (Well, it's not like I have baked potatoes often; I've been
low-carbing for a while now...)

After waiting a short while, we had homemade vanilla pudding with brandied
mandarins. I started the mandarins at the beginning of December, so they
were ready for tonight. The pudding was OMG awesome; here's the recipe I
used:

Homemade Vanilla Pudding
(mostly from Better Homes and Gardens' _New Cook Book_ 1981 edition, but
altered fairly significantly)
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups half-and-half
1 vanilla bean
2 beaten egg yolks
2 tablespoons buter

In a heavy saucepan, combine sugar, cornstarch, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Add
half-and-half. Split vanilla bean and scrape innards into milk mixture. Add
husk to pot. Place over medium heat and stir until thickened. (The vanilla
bean internal grains stubbornly stuck together like tar, so I removed the
husk and used an immersion blender to disperse the "vanilla guts" through
the pudding, then added the husk back in and finished cooking.) Remove from
heat. Gradually stir 1 cup of the hot mixture into the egg yolks, then add
yolk mixture to pan. Return to heat and cook another 2 minutes. Stir in
butter. Pour into bowl; remove vanilla bean husk. Cover with plastic wrap
directly on the surface of the pudding and chill without stirring.

Bob