In lieu of our “normal” format, we Kissers decided to do things a bit differently in September and host a dinner party to celebrate the birthday of William’s friend Julie. After some initial confusion about how we would set things up, we decided that we would meet in Julie’s and Brad’s home, and William would prepare the food for a multi-course birthday dinner. We other Kissers would bring a couple of bottles of wine to pair with a course of our choosing.
Julie asked us to plan for dinner to begin at 5:30, so William asked us to arrive at 4:30 to help lend a hand where we could relative to starting dinner promptly. The early-hour arrival had its oh-so-tasty rewards, however:
An additional bonus to arriving early: we were able to poke around a bit in Julie and Brad’s gorgeous, recently-remodeled home. They have some impressive art, meticulously selected and placed. We didn’t even take any photos since it seemed impossible to capture via a photograph just how lovely everything was and the wonderful feeling of “flow” that was palpable in person.
The third (and cutest!) bonus: We got to play with these guys before Julie’s guests arrived:
William had done most of the setup prior to our arrival, and everything looked oh-so-elegant:
What’s more, that pesky William had managed to get so much pre-serving work done that he didn’t have much else to do other than relax, chat with the guests, and enjoy his glass of bubbly.
Oh, I forgot to include “and get a little sugar from resident hottie, Meg” in the previous sentence. What a great photo!
And lagniappe! Here’s one more additional “feelin’ the love” shot, a tad fuzzy but still fun:
We enjoyed a perfectly delightful cocktail hour and met Julie’s other guests. Some of us helped in the kitchen, and some of us enjoyed the view:
Shortly, however, it was time to begin, so we rallied the culinary-minded troops to find a seat. First course: Chermoula Shrimp. This mouth-popping spice marinade makes these butterflied shrimp extra-special (not to mention extra-tasty!).
Next on the menu was smoked sturgeon. Frank and Damian provided the wine for this course, although I don’t recall what it was. The sturgeon was served with a radish salad and superb in its simplicity. Doesn’t this look delish?
Dinner was served and eaten at a relaxed pace. Fernando was tickled to death with the l-o-n-g weiner dog salt and pepper shaker he found on the windowsill:
William even had time to provide an impromptu knife-sharpening lesson:
Our third course consisted of a single, succulent, sautéed scallop served with a savory sauce (like my alliteration?). This was my favorite dish: the scallop was gorgeous, and presented on a cute little bed of “risotto” made from emmer and wild rice. Again, very simple, but such a symphony on the palate! Added bonus: you can prepare this emmer risotto using a rice cooker. I can’t wait to try it!
Joyce and Jessica brought wine to accompany the scallops, but I did not capture a photo of Joyce during her (extremely brief!) introduction, and I don’t recall what they selected. I DO remember that it was yummy!
We managed to move things along briskly from course to course with little interruption of the festivities. Here’s a snapshot of just how briskly we’re moving them along from Julie and Brad’s great kitchen – that smiley guy in the corner sure looks pleased with the progress!
Next up was the saumon en croute – A William specialty. This was served with pickled grapes and cucumbers (doesn’t that sound nice?). It looked as if it must have been fun to make, and I would be very interested in a repeat performance of this dish during one of our KTC meetings to check out the particulars of the assembly process in person. William included this drawing, which besides being very explanatory, also happens to be the sweetest-looking fishie I have ever seen (I've edited to add back text that got cut off, otherwise the drawn details are all original to the artiste):
Meg provided the wine for this beauty, and (surprise) I didn’t catch what it was, but it was also white wine. We hadn’t seen a drop of red wine at this point, not even a rosé!
Here’s the finished (moist and delicious!) salmon. Yum!
Cheese and fruit followed, and the selection was so appealing that I forgot to take a photo until I’d eaten my way through half of the goodies on my plate – yikes! A firm sheep cheese + a Spanish blue cheese + Délice de Bourgogne + fresh fruit = a marvelous dessert course!
Fernando and I brought two kinds of wine for this course, and I can at least tell you what varietals they were – we decided on a fruit-forward Grenache and a Chenin Blanc, a teeny bit of sweet.
Last, but certainly not least, William prepared a fantastic shortcake with fresh fruit and a lip-smacking apple cider caramel sauce. None of us could guess his secret ingredient in the shortcakes – it was kind of spicy and peppery, with a familiar-but-unidentifiable flavor. Remember what it was?
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| Betcha can't see the rose petals! |
We closed the evening with a rousing version of “Happy Birthday” for Julie, and then cleaned up a bit and cleared out. It WAS a school night, after all. Not everyone was happy to see us go, however…
Next up: Tamales at Shawn and Fernando’s place! Stay tuned!
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