It’s All Over But the Dishes
04 Jan 2012 2 Comments
The dinner party went swimmingly! A good time was had by all. I cut way back on the appetizers – too far. I won’t make that mistake again. I just needed one more great ‘bite’ on the table. I’ll be on the lookout over the year for the perfect thing.
The menu was:
- Cocktail of the year – Pomegranate martinis
- Shrimp shooters (large shrimp, marinated in olive oil, lemon and garlic, skewered to keep them straight, then grilled. I put about 1 inch of mango salsa in tall shot glasses and added the shrimp, tail up. YUM!)
- Nuts
- Cream cheese covered with pepper/onion jam (sounds white trash, but oh so good) with crackers
- Steak tartare (a risk, I know, both biologically and culturally, but I’d just had it on my last biz trip to SF and thought I’d died and gone to heaven. I made one major mistake – I used my food processor to chop the meat and it was sort of pasty. It tasted great – I used Emeril’s recipe – but the texture was, well, odd. I should have partially frozen the steak and diced it really small by hand. In any case, everyone tried it, liked it, then found out what it was and didn’t eat any more. Sigh…I’ll make it again for ourselves, but not for a dinner party)
- Dry Riesling for salad course
- Romaine salad/red wine vinaigrette with parmesan crisps (I love them! Just pile some grated parmesan in a circle about 3’ in diameter on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake at 350 until lightly browned. It changes the flavor of the cheese to a deep nutty and savory cheesy taste. It makes a great garnish)
- Pinot noir for main course
- Prime rib with blue cheese/horseradish sauce
- Garlic green beans
- Twice baked potatoes
- Wheat/white rolls w/ jam and honey butter
- Raspberry champagne cocktails
- Three layer chocolate ganache filled cake on a pool of white crème de cacao sauce
Is your mouth watering?
The holidays went very well. Nice day with my side on Christmas Eve. We were home by about 5:30 so that my crazy brother could be with her (and I didn’t have to be with him). We had a nice supper at home with M’s oldest brother. He always brought my darling mother in law over for Christmas eve and I couldn’t stand the thought of him being home alone. It was nice.
Christmas day with the husband’s family. Nice, less gifts than normal FINALLY. Good night – that side could go over the top with volume. I was so glad to see one gift, carefully chosen, instead of 10 whatevers.
I had the week off between Christmas and New Years. It had been so long since I took that time and now I remember why. I’d rather have the time when the weather is nice.
Travel starts again next week –California then Dallas.
Oh, and I dreamed about dying in March again. Same dream, same feelings, same everything. Weird.
Jan 07, 2012 @ 15:53:56
While I don’t think you’ll actually pass away in March – death dreams rarely symbolize actual physical death – you could see substantial life changes occur in that time window.
Oh, and the dinner party menu? *Drools* You’re more ambitious than I am but holy moley it sounds fantabulous!
Jan 11, 2012 @ 13:28:19
Holy shit. I would never despair of not having enough. It sounds like you had a feast! I could eat prime rib nightly, seriously. And I had a pomegranate martini at a restaurant recently and didn’t much care for it…too acidic. I still think appletinis are the best kind. Someone made me a chocolate martini once and asked me if I felt as if I’d died and gone to heaven. I was polite and nodded, but I privately thought it was awful.
And I’m with you about gifts. Bing and I get each other one small thing. And if we have a large purchase around Christmas time, we just count that as our gift to each other. Last year, we gave each other new tires for our cars. The romance continues….