Preview: Dinner to get whacked for!

Tomorrow, we cook a long overdue offering we made at Horizon's fall service auction.  (J was sick when we had it originally scheduled.)  Seven guests paid good money (to the church) to dine with us, so we need to live up to our side of the bargain.

The only thing I really haven't decided on yet is...a signature cocktail to serve, along with beer.  I'm thinking mojitos or maybe a subtly exotic margarita (prickly pear?), but still toying with other ideas as well.  Any suggestions?

The meal is built around Puerco (or Cochinita) Pibil, banana-leaf-wrapped pork braised in achiote paste, as featured in the Robert Rodriguez movie Once Upon a Time in Mexico.

• Cochinita Pibil (this link includes the recipe as well as the 10-miunute cooking school video; very funny but not rated G!)
• Salad of avocados & citrus (will be consulting Judy Rodgers on this, and plan to create a citrus-cilantro dressing)
• Fried platanos (plantains, the yummy soft ripe ones, a la comida Cubana)
• Buttery white rice
• Black beans
• Corn tortillas from the local mercado
• Aztec Chocolate Pudding with vanilla ice cream
• settled on Tequila Refrescas

P.S. No pictures of the food, but did snap the tablescape...

I love a parade...or whirlwind!

G-man's folks have been staying with us since Thursday, heading home tomorrow. It's been a bit of a flying visit; I think the Juj was hoping for a bit more time together, but with school, and the school's Fall Festival as well as the church's annual Halloween Party on Saturday, and church on Sunday...well, it's been a whirlwind.

Actually managed to get a photo of us early in the evening at the Halloween party for a change, so I hope to post a picture of the "Fam In Black" soon. We went in MIB costumes - black suits, shades, and name tags that said "G", "D", and "J". And in the cakewalk, "J" won some mini-cupcakes that are still calling to me from their home in the microwave (safe from the cats, not so safe from me and Gram).

In other good news, I received my official offer letter from the company that is buying out my division. Nice equitable offer, including vacation & benefits, and so I guess my employment situation is as secure as any can be in this day and age. *phew & blessings counted*

On the food front, we hit Babe's Chicken en famille Friday night. Next time, gotta remember that it's BYOB, in Carrollton at least.

Saturday night, I made a quick pot of corn chowder (hooray for frozen potatoes o'brien -- that's the heart of your system, along with some nice southwest spices).

Sunday, Ron and Elsa joined us and we had:

• Arugula, Avocado & Fennel Salad, simply dressed with olive oil, lemon juice and perhaps a bit much salt (inspired by Verdura)
• Chicken Provencal with Orange Peel, Saffron, and Basil (thanks, Cook's Illustrated)
• Polenta with Parmesan
• Lemony Haricots Vertes with lemon-thyme & lemon zest
• Pair of Sugar Free Ricotta Cremes: Citrus and Mocha (inspired by Verdura & South Beach Diet book)

Tonight, I made a quick and yummy supper of

• Sauteed pork chops with my spicy-sweet BBQ rub
• Savory apple chutney (leftovers from the freezer, but just as delicious as the first time)
• Can o' baked beans
• Green beans & polenta reprise from Sunday

Not sure what the week will bring, other than a conference call too damn early tomorrow, then the hubster is off to Cleveland Wednesday for a UUCF board meeting, and J & I have a birthday party to attend, then Halloween weekend, then hopefully dinner with friends the next weekend, then a little surgery for me (more on that later; nothing major, except it will require some bed rest, and you can bet that will mean too much time on the intar-web for me), then before you know it, Thanksgiving, and then maybe the deal will close and the new employer will be official (God and government regulators willing), and then Christmas and New Year's...I'm tired just thinking about it!

Oh, and for all you cold-blooded sun worshippers, I have to show my true (Northerner) colors -- I LOVE our recent weather. Rainy and clouds is so much more autumnal than sun and humidity. Although it would be nice if it would get cold enough to kill off the fleas and mosquitoes! (Pet owners, can I get an "amen" on the flea infestation?! Worst summer ever; have had indoor cats for ten years here and this is the first time we've had a flea problem.)

Blame it on the economy...and Twitter

Haven't posted for a month; gah! I never read anyone else's blog either, because I was reading blogs of folks I actually know (or at least have met a few times, except Pioneer Woman who's got a HUGE following, and A.McQ. but I feel like I've met her), and now I seem to spend my evening online time catching up on Twitter, and sometimes Facebook, or LinkedIn. And then I don't get around to any blogginess.

Work's been stressful, but the layoffs in our area are complete for the time being, so now I'm just back to working hard.

And I'm behind on menus! Rather than try to recreate the past month, I'll just go from this past Sunday, and try to stay more on top in the future. Last Sunday was one of our service auction offerings, so we had seven folks over for dinner - here's the description from the auction catalog:

Sunday dinner - Old School Guerrero-style, the way the Tias STILL do it. Start with a cocktail? Mojito? Margarita? Cuba Libre? Then get into it: Delicious rich chocolaty Chicken Mole, Arroz Mexicana, Frijoles, Guacamole, Home Made Flour Tortillas, Fresh tender Corn Tortillas from the tortilleria. Finish it off with hot coffee or "Chocolate Popular." To kick it up a notch how about Pastel Tres Leches for dessert? You've been looking a little thin, you need some hearty comida mexicana to build you up for the cold winter days. ¡Sabroso! ¡Hasta entonces!

The funny part is that this little gringa did most of the cooking (kudos to G-man for the cleaning and the homemade tortillas!), but, as the husband said I've "learned from the best!"

A Delicious, Delightful Dinner

To finish up January, we had a nice dinner with another family from our church, whose little girl is the same age as Juj. Nothing too fancy, just good food, good friends, and good conversation. I do have to say the chicken (from Saveur) was a great find by Gilster. Basically, a round up of favorites:

• Shrimp Bisque (from Ina Garten)
• Guido's Garlic Bread (from Mario Batali)
• Butter Lettuce, Fennel & Avocado Salad
  
• Roasted Herbed Chicken & Vegetables (from Saveur)
  
• Aztec Chocolate Cake (from Nigella Lawson) with Vanilla Ice Cream (from our guests)
  

How did it get to be November already?

September and October are gone in flash, filled with stressors both fun -- Horizon Women's Retreat, birthdays, anniversary, autumnal and All Hallow's E'en festivities, early voting -- and more mundane -- worrying about our parents' health (as well as my own; however, nothing a little exercise and meditation wouldn't cure), uncertain economy, corporate restructuring, hyper intelligent six-year-old who ranges from tyrannical to heartbreakingly sweet in a blink of an eye. Anyone want to take bets on how few posts I manage between now and the New Year?

All I can say is thank goodness that we "fall back" tonight and Daylight Savings Time finally ends; I need that extra hour of sleep (although I am already wasting here at the computer). That whole right-wing government plot to extend DST that held off until AFTER Halloween was really stupid.

But November holds my two favorite holidays: Thanksgiving -- all the food and family of Christmas without the gift-related anxiety, and my birthday -- just for the cake. And this year, I might just get an early birthday present of an American President I can feel optimistically cautious about. If the weather would just cool down and behave like fall (sweaters, please!), I'd be thrilled.

Tomorrow, I will tackle a vegan meal for the wonderful young ministerial intern at our church and his wife, along with the three of us and uncle Ron. Part of me wanted to stay "pure" all the way, but G-man wanted a little turkey sausage on the side to stir into his stew -- besides, he said, she's not even a vegetarian! So I am going to adapt a couple of recipes slightly to make them vegan (yes, I picked up special margarine as well as soy milk), and serve:

• Lentil Pate from MSL (have done this before and enjoyed it - will forgo the egg whites this time)
• Homemade Country Bread with Oat Flour from Mollie Katzen's Still Life with Menu (somehow, the thought of home baked bread seemed to anchor the meal for me)
• Green Salad with Fresh Fennel
  
• White Bean and Sausage Stew in Pumpkin Bowls from MSL (with a few adjustments, including sausage on the side)
• High Heat Roasted Green Beans
• Aztec Chocolate Pudding Cake from dear Nigella (with a soymilk substitution), and a variety of ice creams: one delicious non-dairy option for the vegan (and me!), one local sugar free for the diabetic (and me!), one basic standby everyone else (and me!)

To all my friends and loved ones that I am so bad about staying in touch with: I think of you often, and my early New Year's resolution is to take more time to make sure that you know that. November might seem a trifle premature, but given that we didn't get out any holiday cards last year, this gives me a chance to work on that in pursuit of my resolve. (Is dat English? Never mind, T-Rob, don't answer that!)

Wein-rerro Dinner

We polished off the last of our HUUC service auction offerings Saturday, with a wine & dine extravaganza co-hosted by the W's (although with Ms. W under the weather, it was just not as fun!)

• Alsatian Flammekueche (puff pastry tart with soft cheese, bacon & onion) - LUCIEN ALBRECHT WINERY, RIESLING, 'CUVEE HENRI' , 2004
• Chilled Green Pea Soup aux Fines Herbes Mousse - GROTTE DEL SOLE GRECO DI TUFO, VE NATO, 2006
• Poached Beef Tenderloin with Savory Sabayon & Wild Mushroom Saute, accompanied by Herb Potato Maxims and Julienned Vegetables - GROTH WINERY 2005 OAKVILLE CABERNET & RESONANCE WINERY WILLAMETTE VALLEY PINOT NOIR 2006
• Chocolate Dome - QUINTA DO VESUVIO 2001 PORT, PORTO, PORTUGAL

Mr. W outdid himself on the pairings (as always); I'm not sure I could pick a favorite if I had to! All the recipes except the beef & soup can be found in Julia Child: Cooking with Master Chefs, and the beef is from the 1996 edition of Cooking at the Academy, from the California Culinary Academy & KQED. (The soup was made up on a riff from How To Eat -- just frozen peas cooked with chicken stock, fresh basil and a pinch of curry, pureed, and chilled; whip some creme fraiche to stiff peaks, fold in some finely chopped herbs, and dollop on top.) We used the 120+ year old Limoges china, the silver plate, and four "stems" per person, all of which are lovely, but have to be hand washed. (In fact, 36+ pieces of glassware are still waiting for some tender loving care, although we did rinse out the red wines and port...)

Did manage to take a picture of the cake, but nothing else!

So Sunday night family dinner with Unca' Ron & Tia Elsa was take-out from First Chinese BBQ (hey, T-Rob -- I see there's a location in Austin!):

• barbecue roast pork
• young chow fried rice
• stir-fried rice noodle with curry
• crispy shrimp
• beef with snow peas
• broccoli chicken

We switched up and had frozen pasta tonight, but tomorrow will be leftovers by the yard -- have everything but the shrimp to eat a second time.

A Civilized Cocktail Hour

We hosted another one of our Horizon service auction offerings last night -- something about Summer Night Cocktails -- I'll have to find G-man's flowery description. It included:

• Maytag Blue Cheese & Crackers
• Crispy Green Beans & Carrot Chips
• Cantaloupe Slivers with Lime & Black Pepper
• Fig, Thyme & Gorgonzola Tartlets
• Warm Marinated Olives
• Crab Gazpacho Shots (from Central Market)
  
• Dry Jack Crisps
• Elderflower Sours
  
• Classic Gin & Tonics
• Martinis
  
• Cuba Libres
• Dark & Stormys
• Chocolate Stout Mini-Floats (yes, beer with ice cream - try it, you'll like it!)
  

It was a smallish (5 plus us) older crowd, but lively. J played his Lego Star Wars video game in our room; when I asked him if he was having fun, he said "Yes! Are you having fun talking?" What more can I say?

I'm baaack...

Forgive me Blogger, for I have sinned. It's been four weeks since my last post...

Seriously -- this summer is whizzing by, and I am not keeping up (in fact, I planned to include some links in this but I wanted to get it posted; maybe I'll update later, LOL).

Been to my last week of Lean Six Sigma training (all Lean all the time for this one - ask me about 5S sometime!)... been to San Antonio by train (where I spent most of a week napping or splashing in the pool with J)... been to see some movies in the theatre (Wall-E, and Indiana Jones rides again)... been working on coming out of my self-absorbed depression wallow (which seems to be finally ending)... been trying to get caught up at work and at home (see previous items -- did take a whole carload of stuff to Goodwill already 'though we're still got a ways to go)... been trying to stay cool (the usual Texas summer challenge).

I have even been cooking a bit. Sunday supper last week was a nice Thai beef salad, 'cuz I love flap steak, and leftover cheese with dried fruit, nut and chocolate nibbles for dessert because we'd been to a fabulous wine tasting / potluck the night before. And Julian stayed with an honest-to-goodness babysitter, said he liked her, and fell asleep before we got home! No doubt, we've cooked one or two other meals, but I'm not sure what they were.

Tonight we had over a couple we met through Horizon, and had a delicious dinner:

• Elderflower Sours
• Killer Shrimp
• Wolfgang Puck's Chino Salad
• Martha Stewart's Peach, Cornmeal and Lavender Upside-Down Cake with vanilla ice cream

Wine with dinner, and Averno afterwards -- a good time was had by all, especially because Unca' Ron was kind enough to take the Juj to the movies for part of the time. (J gave Space Chimps a thumbs up; haven't got Ron's review yet.)

However, I think Sunday supper may be take-out. We did a a pretty good job cleaning house today -- Gil even spot-shampooed the carpet -- and we were both showered and relaxed with all the dinner prep work done before our guests got here. And anyone who's been to dinner at house knows what a rarity that is. ;-)

So a happy weekend to all, and to all a good night!

La Vida Cubana

We hosted one of our Horizon service auction dinners this evening.  Here's Gil's description from the auction catalog:

A Cuban feast!  Start off with a refreshing Mojito or a Cuba Libre.  The meal will feature our infamous 3-day Roast Pork!  We massage and pamper this pork roast for three days to make it extra succulent!  And no Cuban meal would be complete without buttery arroz (rice), frijoles negros (black beans), and platano (fried plantain).  How about a cool sweet-onion and vinegar salad to add a little crunch and counterpoint this rich meal.  And to ensure a foodgasm, we'll finish the meal off with a Pastel de Tres (maybe even Quatro) Leches (moist cake soaked in three different milks).  And of course, musica Latina!  Ciao!

My normal "menu" version with recipe links:

• Cuba Libres & Mojitos ('cept Gil makes 'em with simple syrup - mixes better than sugar)
• Avocado & Sweet Onion "Salad" (just slice them thinly and douse with white vinegar, fresh cracked pepper, and a dash of olive oil and salt -- makes us long for Versailles)
• Cuban-Style Grill Roasted Pork (still couldn't find skin-on shoulder roast, but this is the second time we've made it, and works out fine -- although I'm always too tired at the end to do anything about the Mojo Sauce and bought out the Goya Mojo Criollo again, garnished with some fresh slices of orange)
• Black Beans with Ham Hocks, Cilantro, and Lime
• Fluffy White Rice
• Fried Plantains (slice on the diagonal and fry in a few tablespoons of oil until well caramelized -- the black ones are ripest and my favorite, the less ripe ones are harder to peel and more starchy)
• Tres Leches Cake (we've made several of these over the years, and agreed that this was the best, most balanced recipe ever -- although we topped it with softly whipped cream with a touch of vanilla, run, and brown sugar rather than meringue and fruit)

*phew*  It was an eight-pound roast, and one of the three couples who won the bid couldn't make it, so needless to say, tomorrow's Sunday supper en famille is going to consist of a lot of delicious leftovers!

Gee, it's good to be back home again...

Saturday found us catering the Horizon Spring Service Auction, FIASCO. (That's the title, not the description.) The theme was Mardi Gras, and luckily, it was nibbles, not a meal. The hard part was getting folks to take an appetizer-sized serving of red beans & rice -- that ran out pretty early!

Horizon FIASCO MENU, Spring 2008 (included a number of improvised recipes)

• Red Beans & Rice (vegetarian, much to G-man's chagrin)
• Sliced Andouille Sausage (beef, pork, chicken, turkey)
• Merle’s Spinach Balls
• Blue Cheese (& Parmesan) Mystery Rolls (thanks, P-dub!)
• Pecan Crusted Goat Cheese Log
• Shrimp & Crab Spread
• Spiced Pecans
  
• Banana & Chocolate Moon Pies (Little Debbie Marshmallow Pies, to be precise, but close enough)
• Assorted Pepperidge Farms Cookies
• Hershey's Kisses in Dark Chocolate (purple wrappers) & Caramel (gold wrappers) -- all I needed was green for Mardi Gras...
  

So tonight, it was a simple supper with Ron as our only guest. Some of Nigella's "temple food" (as in, my body is a temple)...

• Hot & Sour Shrimp Soup
• Vietnamese Chicken Salad with Mint
• Julie's Organic Caramel Ice Cream with fresh strawberries for dessert (hey, a girl needs a little vice!)

(I also wrote a depressed diatribe last night that I meant as blog post, about how much I am not enjoying my early forties, but it's on my other computer. Besides, it's probably best not to wallow in writing that veers towards "Fabulous forties? More like fat, frazzled, and frumpy..." and goes on in a most self-pitying way from there. Perimenopause, what a joy!)

It's Always Five o'Clock Somewhere...

There will be no Sunday supper club, because we're going to jaunt over to the museum after church to see an exhibition of early Christian art. (Hmmm, who would have thought I would be saying such a thing?!)

Plus we held our final PASTA offering for the year this evening, La Hora de Cocteles con Los Guerreros. And a lovely cocktail hour (or three!) it was. Inspired by a feature (check out Elevated Basics and Extra-Credit Elements for recipes) in the now-defunct Blueprint magazine, it included:

• Elderflower Sours (and Gin & Bitter Lemon, and good ol' G&T, and even a couple of Dark & Stormys)
• Dry Jack Crisps (these worked much better than the Parmesan ones we did with the Caesar at Christmas)
• Fig, Thyme & Gorgonzola mini-Tarts
• Crunchy Garbanzos (the leftovers are destined to become hummus)
• Warm (Spiced) Olives, Almond Stuffed Olives, Hot & Spicy Pickled Green Beans, and Pickled Carrots
• Stephen Pyles' Sweet & Spicy Pecans (a perennial favorite)
• Crudites with White Bean Dip
• Dry cured Spanish Soria Chorizo & Aged Manchego with plain and toasted baguette
  
• Dark Chocolate Nestle's Crunch Eggs with Caramel (the chocolate selection at Target rocks, and the wrappers matched my decorating scheme of lavender, blue, and green!)
  

No time to lose -- we've got to figure out our offerings for the spring fundraiser FIASCO next. This cocktail party was so fun, I'm leaning towards another one, and Gil wants to do the three-day Cuban Roast Pork from Cook's Illustrated, and hopefully we'll rope the W's into another Wein-rrero wine & dine surprise. And I kinda wanted to do a white trash / Elvis thing, but I'm feeling so stuffed tonight after all the nibbling and imbibing that perhaps a more virtuous offering built around summer Thai beef salad or barbeque salmon would be a better choice.

Wein-rerro Wine & Dine Redux

We had our second co-hosted service auction dinner benefiting Horizon this past Saturday. We pondered how to top our August efforts, and decided it was going to have to involve beef this time. Not just any beef; how about a nice Chateaubriand?

Once again, Jen worked her hostess magic -- at our house this time! -- with decor and menus (and lovely pictures coming soon), Chuck outdid himself on the wine, and Gil and I shared the cooking honors.

Le menu --

• Bacon Wrapped Breadsticks & Pecorino Crackers with Lucien Albrecht brut Rose NV (a lively sparkler to start everything off in a festive way)
• Vichyssoise (from Anthony Bourdin's Les Halles Cookbook) with Tio Pepe Extra Dry Palomino Fino Sherry & Morgan Winery Chardonnay 2006 (your choice, or try 'em both!)
• Beef Wellington, Haricots Verts, Slow Roasted Tomatoes with magnums of Grgich Hills Cabernet 2004 and Groth Winery Cabernet 2004 (big and perfect)
  
• Almond Cake (from Amanda Hesser's Cooking for Mr. Latte, a wonderful collection of essays and recipes) & Cherries Jubilee sauce with Dr. Pauly-Bergweiler Bernkastler Badstube BA (mmmm.... oh. so. good.)
  

We even farmed out all the kids for the evening to a sitter at casa W, and a very good time was had by all!

I finally went to the doc to see if it's just been a rhinovirus or if I have Haemophilus influenzae which is bacterial, as opposed to "the" flu which is viral -- hmmm...

Turned out the G-Man had h. influenzae (he'd basically been sick off and on since Thanksgiving), and it was time to ascertain whether the lingering tiredness, mucosity, and intermittent sore throat I've entertained for more than two weeks was perhaps worthy of antibiotics as well.

So I spent two. hours. waiting. to. see. the. doctor.

Yes, that's right -- my appointment time was 11:15 and I finally saw her after 1:00 PM. And now I wait until the results of my throat culture come back, hopefully on Friday. We do like her, and partly because she does care enough to talk and listen to all her patients, and that was why she was so late (someone before me was apparently having personal as well as physical crisis), but I have to say it was a rather sizable chunk out of my day. And my productivity had already been shot by staying home the day before, when I slept for four hours (remember the lingering tiredness?)

However, what I really meant to post about was how much better this blog would be if I let G-Man do the Sunday supper club posts. We are hosting one of our PASTA (HUUC service auction) dinner offerings this Sunday, and here's how he described it in the auction catalog:

La Comida di mi Vida -- Guerrero Sunday dinner OLD STYLE, the way the Tias STILL make it.

• Pollo en Mole: tender steamed chicken smothered in rich spicy chocolate peanut sauce,
• Mexican rice redolent of cumin,
• hours simmered frijoles borrachos,
• home-made flour tortillas and salsa fresca.

Finish it off with

• Pan de Dulce (mexican sweet bread - real bread not that gringo pancreas/thymus stuff!) and
• a steaming mug of Chocolate Popular (can you say choh-koh-lah-teh poh-poo-lahr?) -- cinnamony mexican hot chocolate! And maybe a shot of Kahlua or Tequila liqueur?

The food of my youth!

Now isn't that a heck of a lot more appealing than my dinner menus?

PASTA

Hooray to my DH for pulling off the HUUC service auction Saturday night with basically no help from me. I got to come back from my trip to Chicago, and just dress up, show up, and drink up! (Oh, and I think I bid on a few things; love my new bracelet.) A good time seemed to be had by all, and we took Sunday off to relax.

(And, just like childbirth, I've already forgotten the pain -- since it was all Gil's anyway -- and started thinking about how we could make it even better next year. Isn't that pathetic?)

So look for the Sunday Supper Club to return next Sunday...

Wein-rerro Dinner: The original

OK, for all those waiting impatiently (=none!), here's the menu and recipe links from our FIASCO dinner on Saturday night -- I pulled pictures from Jen's blog (and you'll see why she's a professional photographer!) and I'll be back with the details of the wonderful wines that Chuck paired with these later...

Spicy Glazed Shrimp
Summer Squash Tart with Kalamata Olives
Salt Crust Fish (our variation was halibut scented with lemon and fennel)
Shaved Fennel & Mushroom Salad (from Julia Child’s Cooking with Master Chefs)
Toasted Almond Panna Cotta with Saba (from Judy Rodger’s The Zuni Cookbook)

Jen's pix... The table



the tart

the salad


the fish...

FIASCO Dinner #2: L.A. (Food) Story

Gil got back from DBLE on Friday afternoon, and we went ahead with our FIASCO (HUUC service auction) dinner as planned on Sautrday. Had four and a half folks from Horizon -- Julian set up the kids' table for himself and our youngest guest -- plus Grammy and us.

The menu featured food from our Los Angeles days:

• Prosciutto & Parsley Pizzas
• Killer Shrimp with sourdough bread
• Wolfgang Puck's Chino Chopped Salad
• Chilled Lemon "Souffle"

A lovely time was had by all, with much flapping of gums and belts loosened all around...