Another feast prepared by the Mother

To celebrate our appearance on Indy Style (http://www.wishtv.com/dpp/indy_style/kitchen/making-marshmallows-at-home-tips-from-240-sweet), Chris served us a wonderful feast. While sitting on the deck, we leisurely enjoyed the meal pictured above. I've noticed that I don't often take pictures of dessert--even though I love it.

We started the meal with delicious steamed mussels and tuna sashimi. Chris accompanied the sashimi with a ponzu sauce. I enjoyed the contrast of the caper's bite with sweetness of the fish. Alexa says that tuna is always her favorite item at a meal.

For our salad course, Chris created a yogurt sauce to dress the pear and kumquat salad. The walnuts and romaine added crunch and crispiness. Usually, she serves the salad as the last course. This time, she chose to include it between the appetizer and main entree.

On a spring evening that is turning a little chilly, nothing is more warming than beef stroganoff. Chris grilled the beef instead of braising it. This gave it a different dimension of flavor. Egg noodles and sour cream sauce completed the yummy dish.

For dessert, we ate a cherry pie. It was tasty.

After this delicious meal, we were ready for the next morning's show. I think we did well--thanks to the lovingly prepared fortification.

Sam

The Mother Prepared a Feast

To celebrate Alexa's birthday, Chris, her mother, prepared a wonderful feast. From top to bottom, here's what we enjoyed this evening. The pictures are in reverse order of enjoyment.

1. For this birthday celebration, even Marley enjoyed a special treat. Chris, Alexa and Marley inspect the giant bone. Even though Alexa thought we should prepare it for marrow, Marley was allowed to enjoy it all.

2. Chris created a beautiful Beef Wellington. In this picture, you can't see the flavorful duxelle or red wine sauce that we enjoyed.

3. Here's Chris with the grilled haloumi. Made with a mixture of goat's and sheep milk, this hearty cheese tastes like no other.

4. We started our meal with some light appetizers. Red grapefruit, kiwi and nectarines added a lighter note to compliment the Pico and other cheeses. The cippolini onions and blue cheese stuffed olives made delcious additions. Of course, there's guacamole (Yes, most of our meals include avocado).

A 1981 Antinori by Tiganello accompanied the meal. It was heaven.

And we finished the feast with a decadent chocolate cake topped with curls and candles. Chris made some whipped cream that I am having to resist right now.

In fact, I can hear the leftovers calling from the fridge. I don't know that anything else will fit in my stomach, though.

Are you familiar with Christine's latest project? She is producing a series for PBS called Dreamtime. Here's a link to the website: www.dreamtimetv.org.

Happy Birthday Alexa!

Sam

Marrow is Yummy

So tonight we were gifted with marrow bones. It really is God's butter, pure essence of deliciousness.
Beef bones we marinated in 1 cup extra virgin olive oil, a pinch of rosemary, 10 garlic cloves sliced, two good grinds of pepper, the juice of 1 lemon, 2 teaspoons himalayan pink salt. We let that marinate until the oven reached 450 degrees then we popped the bones in along with some oil brushed bread and some veggies. 20 minutes later we feasted. It is such a primal and delicious taste- earth, animal, fat and salt. I can't think of anything better.
alexa

Today was quite a day. After making tons of marshmallows and working on Ladies' Night Out, we needed a nice meal. A delivery of meat for smoking yielded an unexpected treat: bones. Alexa's right--they are full of deliciousness.

When we arrived home from the grocery store (to pick up a few things to go with our bones), I made lemondrop martinis. We enjoyed them while the bones roasted. Dinner was heaven.
Sam