Hi, kids! In atonement for taking so long to summarize our recent business meeting (see below!), I figured I could share a video of an extraordinary French counter-tenor, Phillipe Jarrousky. What a voice! Eet eez zee voice of an ahn-zhell...
Enjoy!
via NY Times
Dec 2, 2010
November KTC Event: Annual Meeting at William's
It was a dark and stormy night…
Well, in truth, it wasn’t that stormy, but it was indeed dark this past November 13 when we convened at our beloved William’s home for our KTC annual business meeting and tasting menu extravaganza.
Our plan was to greet each other effusively, hold our business meeting as efficiently as possible, and then dine in high style: between our delectable tasting menu of (mostly already-prepared) personalized courses and William’s fine table linens, we felt we had bragging rights to count ourselves among the snootiest diners in Seattle. Wouldn’t you agree?
Anne had prepared some delightful savory shortbread cocktail cookies for us to nosh on while we got down to business.
We did some minimal preparation for our respective dishes; notably Meg, who would be baking her tarts early to free up oven space for later. Here’s a sneak peek:
Some homemade tart shells, pre-baked, with some of the fixin’s:
And here’s the rest of the fixin’s—oh my!
William presented each of us with a perfectly-chilled glass of champagne, and asked us to determine the order in which we would serve the courses of our KTC tasting menu. Here’s the rundown:
Anne’s Tongue-Tantalizling Tomato Soup paired with Rick’s Seared Scallop Surprise
Shawn’s Put-on-the-Poundage Pork Loin Pieces paired with William’s Rapturous Rice-Cooker Risotto
Meg’s Teasingly Tasty Temptress Tarts
Jessica’s SO Scrumptious Set of Somethings (Something Chocolate and Something Pumpkin)
But first, we needed to attend to some bizzz-ness…
We got started without Joyce, who would join us later in the evening. We would also spend our evening sans Fernando, who was in Florence for a “dental conference.” Ahem.
My inner nerdy schoolgirl came barreling up to the surface squealing with glee at the sight of a flip-chart, generously provided by Meg (a flip-chart! I’m still squealing!). And I wasn't the only one. Here’s Anne, demonstrating the most appropriate method for effective page-turning:
Our brief agenda included:
Here is a brief summary of our discussions of each topic:
Learn/cook: We had a very nice discussion regarding “less is more,” i.e. it isn’t necessary or preferable to carry out an all-day marathon of cooking before sitting down to tuck into our vittles. Consensus was that we’ve somehow managed to become overly complicated regarding quantity and scope to the detriment of learning new techniques, so the group suggested some guidelines for decreasing the “hard labor” factor while increasing the “learning new stuff” and “enjoyment” factors:
Events/Trips: We decided that, barring a fabulous lottery windfall, a big travel trip (a la España this year for some of us) probably wasn’t in the cards for 2011. Nevertheless, we brainstormed several short-trip possibilities, which we will discuss more in depth during our January meeting. Some ideas:
December 12th is the date, and we’ll meet at Anne and Rick’s place.
Non-profit activities: It seems that giving back to our community by cooking together was an idea that many of us shared, and we thought of some nice ways to carry it out.
We adjourned our business at this point, and will re-convene for more business discussion in January at Joyce and Jessica’s house to make real plans for all our super-cool ideas. Now that business had been duly conducted, it was time for the evening’s most pressing and important matter: Dinner.
Damian and Frank were up first, and they ducked into the kitchen to put the finishing touches on their amazing crabcakes and to crisp them up for us. Don’t they look delish? All crab, no cake!
Meanwhile, Meg’s tarts had been happily baking away as we business’d away, and I snuck a first peek at them—they were gorgeous!
William also made some magic happen during our business meeting. We found he’d presented us all with an official menu for the evening—he’s so fancy! :) Here’s another shot of that gorgeous table:
Speaking of William, here’s one of my favorite ways to think about him: master of his domain, fully comfortable in his great armchair, glass of bubbly at the ready, and engaging us all with a fascinating tidbit:
Here’s Anne, listening with undeniably great attention:
And Rick, squarely in the middle of the sofa. <Off-topic, but slightly related, my friend Julie, whom I’ve known for 25+ years, adamantly refuses to purchase a sofa with three cushions because she insists that people always occupy only the center cushion, and that subsequently the cushion develops unsightly “ass grooves,” which Julie finds to be an off-putting quality in a sofa. I always pooh-poohed her theory… Hmmm…>
For fun, a couple more “hanging out before dinner gets started” pics (and a reminder that I need to figure out how to use our new camera! Sorry for the blurrrrr):
When the call for “Soup’s on!” came, we didn’t hesitate. We arrived at the table and found this gorgeous display awaiting us:
Look how happy we all are to see such beauty on our plates!
WOW, were those crabcakes yummy! Served atop some fresh greens and with what I’m guessing was a beurre blanc style sauce with maybe shallots (guys? Is that right?), these crabcakes didn’t have anything in the way of filler—see for yourself!
Next course was Anne and Rick’s tomato soup and scallop combination. Either of these elements could have easily stood on its own, but together they worked very nicely. The tomato soup had a kick of chipotle that offset the sweetness of the scallop really well. Yum!
The next occurrence wasn’t on our menu, but was still occasion for great delight: Joyce’s arrival!
Next up: Shawn’s chanterelle-smothered pork tenderloin and William’s amazing farro risotto. We peeped into the pots to be sure everything looked right with the risotto…
…and with the tenderloin medallions…
While we worked to plate things up, the other Kissers chatted at the table.
Et voilà!
As our post-“secondo” salad course, our next superstar was Meg’s wee tart, redolent with luxurious custard and sweet, winter squash deliciousness. Have a look:
As you may (or may not!) recall, at this point, we’d downed several bottles of wine already. As occasionally occurs, our decorum began to wilt a bit, and we all became a bit more, shall we say, “animated.”
It started innocently enough with a snappy “Well, butter my buns and call me a biscuit!!” from Joyce’s end of the table. Next, during a discussion about restaurant supplies, discussion veered quickly southward at the mention of Dick’s Restaurant Supply. Witnessed during said discussion was this extraordinary photographic moment:
From here, we slid down the slippery slope of whether we were “scrunchers” or “folders.” At this, I made the executive decision to hold off on photographing my human subjects for a while. Hell, by this point, even one of Jessica’s dessert “Somethings” had acquired phallic overtones:
In the end, the voluptuousness of both dessert “Somethings” in our collective mouths was what finally shut us all up. What a magnificent finale to our meal! The best part was that Jessica recounted the story of a dessert disaster recovery that rivaled any, and after hearing her tale of woe and creativity, I was left with only a strong hope that we would be able to recreate a similar <disaster-turned-culinary-marvel> at a future time. Love. Love. Love.
Time to toast for a marvelous and perfect evening of friends, food, and fun!
Now came the most fun part of the evening: celebration and thanks to our fearless leader and all-around group smarty-pants, William. As is perfectly fit, Meg offered a toast:
We Kissers showered our dear William with some fun gifties: Best Food Writing 2010, a bottle of port from 2000 to commemorate our 10 years of kissing while cooking, and another book, Cooking with Cognac.
We left William’s dining room upside down, and besides William himself (who sure isn’t telling), the plethora of glassware will serve as sole witness to the amount of wine we consumed.
In short (or maybe “in long” would be more appropriate considering the length of this post!), a delightful evening was had by all. We’re looking forward to seeing everyone at the cookie bake on Dec 12 at Rick and Anne’s place – Until then, Kissers!
OXOX
Well, in truth, it wasn’t that stormy, but it was indeed dark this past November 13 when we convened at our beloved William’s home for our KTC annual business meeting and tasting menu extravaganza.
Our plan was to greet each other effusively, hold our business meeting as efficiently as possible, and then dine in high style: between our delectable tasting menu of (mostly already-prepared) personalized courses and William’s fine table linens, we felt we had bragging rights to count ourselves among the snootiest diners in Seattle. Wouldn’t you agree?
Anne had prepared some delightful savory shortbread cocktail cookies for us to nosh on while we got down to business.
We did some minimal preparation for our respective dishes; notably Meg, who would be baking her tarts early to free up oven space for later. Here’s a sneak peek:
Some homemade tart shells, pre-baked, with some of the fixin’s:
And here’s the rest of the fixin’s—oh my!
William presented each of us with a perfectly-chilled glass of champagne, and asked us to determine the order in which we would serve the courses of our KTC tasting menu. Here’s the rundown:
Damian and Frank’s Criminally-Delicious Crabcakes
Anne’s Tongue-Tantalizling Tomato Soup paired with Rick’s Seared Scallop Surprise
Shawn’s Put-on-the-Poundage Pork Loin Pieces paired with William’s Rapturous Rice-Cooker Risotto
Meg’s Teasingly Tasty Temptress Tarts
Jessica’s SO Scrumptious Set of Somethings (Something Chocolate and Something Pumpkin)
But first, we needed to attend to some bizzz-ness…
We got started without Joyce, who would join us later in the evening. We would also spend our evening sans Fernando, who was in Florence for a “dental conference.” Ahem.
My inner nerdy schoolgirl came barreling up to the surface squealing with glee at the sight of a flip-chart, generously provided by Meg (a flip-chart! I’m still squealing!). And I wasn't the only one. Here’s Anne, demonstrating the most appropriate method for effective page-turning:
Our brief agenda included:
Learn/cook
Trips/events
Non-profit
Guests (friends, family)
Trips/events
Non-profit
Guests (friends, family)
Here is a brief summary of our discussions of each topic:
Learn/cook: We had a very nice discussion regarding “less is more,” i.e. it isn’t necessary or preferable to carry out an all-day marathon of cooking before sitting down to tuck into our vittles. Consensus was that we’ve somehow managed to become overly complicated regarding quantity and scope to the detriment of learning new techniques, so the group suggested some guidelines for decreasing the “hard labor” factor while increasing the “learning new stuff” and “enjoyment” factors:
- Consider working within a theme. Some suggested themes included:
- Essential pantry items
- 30-minute meals for “real people”
- Substitutions
- Meals with 5 ingredient maximum
- Spice field trip – buy and use
- Guest chefs
- Friends OK, but they may not want to cook when they are out of their kitchen
- Inviting any industry professional warrants discussion – we should be clear about what we want to get out of their visit before inviting them.
- Also, if we pay someone, we need to discuss in depth
- Partner switching (No, not that kind of partner-switching!). Monthly event planning doesn’t have to be done by household.
- Suggest putting names in a hat and having “new” pairs host events jointly
- “Less is more”
- Don’t have to prepare an entire meal
- Learn one single dish – this way all have a chance to learn and practice technique
- Consider practicing technique or item from previous meeting at each meeting
Events/Trips: We decided that, barring a fabulous lottery windfall, a big travel trip (a la España this year for some of us) probably wasn’t in the cards for 2011. Nevertheless, we brainstormed several short-trip possibilities, which we will discuss more in depth during our January meeting. Some ideas:
- Oregon wine country
- Salt Springs Island
- Lopez Island
- Visit Mikey/Walla Walla
- Cooking classes
- Possible to do this instead of regular monthly meeting?
- Art/craft classes
- Wine, whiskey tasting
- Cookie Bake
- Can we find an organization who might take our leftover cookies?
- Let’s limit ourselves to one variety of cookie per person this year
- Um, have we planned this yet...?
December 12th is the date, and we’ll meet at Anne and Rick’s place.
Non-profit activities: It seems that giving back to our community by cooking together was an idea that many of us shared, and we thought of some nice ways to carry it out.
- Cooking for other people
“Other people” was loosely defined as anyone we know or know of who may be having a difficult time. Folks who are in treatment for cancer, women with difficult pregnancies, folks who are providing near-nonstop care for their aging elders, someone who has just lost a loved one, or any person who just generally could use a hand. We could help make their days easier and help nourish their hearts by nourishing their bodies.
- Ronald McDonald House
This organization houses families of sick children from out of town who are receiving treatment for life-threatening or terminal illnesses at Children’s Hospital. Reportedly, many families take great solace simply from having a home-cooked meal available to them, and RMHC has a program available in which volunteers come in and cook for the families. Some concerns from our KTC group included the time commitment involved, but general consensus was that cooking for a very large group would be a valuable skill to learn and practice. Shawn is obtaining more details, and will share when we next meet.
**********
We adjourned our business at this point, and will re-convene for more business discussion in January at Joyce and Jessica’s house to make real plans for all our super-cool ideas. Now that business had been duly conducted, it was time for the evening’s most pressing and important matter: Dinner.
Damian and Frank were up first, and they ducked into the kitchen to put the finishing touches on their amazing crabcakes and to crisp them up for us. Don’t they look delish? All crab, no cake!
Meanwhile, Meg’s tarts had been happily baking away as we business’d away, and I snuck a first peek at them—they were gorgeous!
William also made some magic happen during our business meeting. We found he’d presented us all with an official menu for the evening—he’s so fancy! :) Here’s another shot of that gorgeous table:
Speaking of William, here’s one of my favorite ways to think about him: master of his domain, fully comfortable in his great armchair, glass of bubbly at the ready, and engaging us all with a fascinating tidbit:
Here’s Anne, listening with undeniably great attention:
And Rick, squarely in the middle of the sofa. <Off-topic, but slightly related, my friend Julie, whom I’ve known for 25+ years, adamantly refuses to purchase a sofa with three cushions because she insists that people always occupy only the center cushion, and that subsequently the cushion develops unsightly “ass grooves,” which Julie finds to be an off-putting quality in a sofa. I always pooh-poohed her theory… Hmmm…>
For fun, a couple more “hanging out before dinner gets started” pics (and a reminder that I need to figure out how to use our new camera! Sorry for the blurrrrr):
When the call for “Soup’s on!” came, we didn’t hesitate. We arrived at the table and found this gorgeous display awaiting us:
Look how happy we all are to see such beauty on our plates!
WOW, were those crabcakes yummy! Served atop some fresh greens and with what I’m guessing was a beurre blanc style sauce with maybe shallots (guys? Is that right?), these crabcakes didn’t have anything in the way of filler—see for yourself!
Next course was Anne and Rick’s tomato soup and scallop combination. Either of these elements could have easily stood on its own, but together they worked very nicely. The tomato soup had a kick of chipotle that offset the sweetness of the scallop really well. Yum!
The next occurrence wasn’t on our menu, but was still occasion for great delight: Joyce’s arrival!
Next up: Shawn’s chanterelle-smothered pork tenderloin and William’s amazing farro risotto. We peeped into the pots to be sure everything looked right with the risotto…
…and with the tenderloin medallions…
While we worked to plate things up, the other Kissers chatted at the table.
As our post-“secondo” salad course, our next superstar was Meg’s wee tart, redolent with luxurious custard and sweet, winter squash deliciousness. Have a look:
As you may (or may not!) recall, at this point, we’d downed several bottles of wine already. As occasionally occurs, our decorum began to wilt a bit, and we all became a bit more, shall we say, “animated.”
It started innocently enough with a snappy “Well, butter my buns and call me a biscuit!!” from Joyce’s end of the table. Next, during a discussion about restaurant supplies, discussion veered quickly southward at the mention of Dick’s Restaurant Supply. Witnessed during said discussion was this extraordinary photographic moment:
From here, we slid down the slippery slope of whether we were “scrunchers” or “folders.” At this, I made the executive decision to hold off on photographing my human subjects for a while. Hell, by this point, even one of Jessica’s dessert “Somethings” had acquired phallic overtones:
In the end, the voluptuousness of both dessert “Somethings” in our collective mouths was what finally shut us all up. What a magnificent finale to our meal! The best part was that Jessica recounted the story of a dessert disaster recovery that rivaled any, and after hearing her tale of woe and creativity, I was left with only a strong hope that we would be able to recreate a similar <disaster-turned-culinary-marvel> at a future time. Love. Love. Love.
Time to toast for a marvelous and perfect evening of friends, food, and fun!
Now came the most fun part of the evening: celebration and thanks to our fearless leader and all-around group smarty-pants, William. As is perfectly fit, Meg offered a toast:
We Kissers showered our dear William with some fun gifties: Best Food Writing 2010, a bottle of port from 2000 to commemorate our 10 years of kissing while cooking, and another book, Cooking with Cognac.
We left William’s dining room upside down, and besides William himself (who sure isn’t telling), the plethora of glassware will serve as sole witness to the amount of wine we consumed.
In short (or maybe “in long” would be more appropriate considering the length of this post!), a delightful evening was had by all. We’re looking forward to seeing everyone at the cookie bake on Dec 12 at Rick and Anne’s place – Until then, Kissers!
OXOX
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