Except for a sauteed radicchio experiment that went south, the birthday dinner went smoothly. Courses ended up timed well with some advanced preparations and then "holding." And I even got to enjoy our guests! Among the olives, nuts and figgy brie appetizers, I made a white bean pate, which will double as sandwich spread for my lunches this week. Then we had a creamy curried parsnip soup- rich and delicately flavored. I'll be making this one again, though now that my season of heavy cream has concluded, soy milk will be substituted. Then a salad of roasted beets, toasted pecans, goat cheese and mesclun greens. I loved the presentation of the lentil ragout in puff pastry. It was worth running out to buy a few extra ramekins to make sure everyone had one on their plates beside the maple-glazed baby carrots.
Between dinner and dessert there was much talking and drinking of wine. We had picked up a few different French reds from Sam's and particularly liked the Chateau Cassas 2004 Bordeaux.
Around 11 we popped the champagne and dug into the cake, a mega-dense chocolate raspberry truffle cake from Letizia's.
With the success of our 3rd annual birthday dinner I kind of wish my summer occasion were rolled into the holiday season as well.
((--recipes forthcoming. much freelance work to return to for now.. though i'm eager to distract myself with some cooking experiments involving leftover mushrooms, kale and cauliflower. perhaps tomorrow. must kick things back up to pre-holiday speed.))
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