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Heather

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The pear cake with vanilla creme fraiche and caramel sauce did not turn out as expected. It took a lot longer in the oven than the recipe suggested and came out more like a cobbler. Maybe that's what to expect when you get recipes out of Washingtonian magazine.

And caramel burns if you don't watch it.

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The pear cake with vanilla creme fraiche and caramel sauce did not turn out as expected. It took a lot longer in the oven than the recipe suggested and came out more like a cobbler. Maybe that's what to expect when you get recipes out of Washingtonian magazine.

And caramel burns if you don't watch it.

I have a recipe originally from Fine Cooking magazine for upside down cake that I've made many times with pears, apricots or plums--I made it last night with pears. It has a simple caramel made with brown sugar and butter and a dense cake made with yogurt. I have tweaked the recipe some--it is supposed to be made with pineapple, and I've added orange zest, nutmeg and cardamom to it. It takes 40 minutes in the oven and has never yet failed. I'll be glad to send you the recipe.

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for 25 on saturday

roasted shallot custard - caramelized fennel with celery root - forest mushroom terrine with truffle vinaigrette

butternut squash soup with brown butter and nutmeg crème fraiche

baby spinach, pine nut, and pomegranate salad

oven braised cornish hen with cider vinegar and warm vegetable sauce

maple walnut shortbread with burnt sugar ice cream

chocolate earl grey cake

ive made the burnt sugar ice cream three times now. either the sugar is too burnt or not burnt enough.

argh.

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Vegetarian menu for 8:

Roasted three-chile and potato soup garnished with queso fresco, chopped cilantro, and lime wedges.

Salad with pepitas & dried cranberries, pumpkin seed oil vinaigrette.

Cornbread, probably gussied up somehow.

And? Do we need another dish? And I am totally stuck on a dessert. Dinner is Wednesday night.

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Vegetarian menu for 8:

Roasted three-chile and potato soup garnished with queso fresco, chopped cilantro, and lime wedges.

Salad with pepitas & dried cranberries, pumpkin seed oil vinaigrette.

Cornbread, probably gussied up somehow.

And? Do we need another dish? And I am totally stuck on a dessert. Dinner is Wednesday night.

Maybe something "meaty"? Given the theme and the fact that Wed is supposed to be a gorgeous day, why not use your grill for veggie fajitas?? Grilled green onions, grilled eggplant, grilled portabellos, and skewered grilled cherry tomatoes? Served with grilled lime halves and a chipotle sour cream? A good way to put Scott to work, no??
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Vegetarian menu for 8:

Roasted three-chile and potato soup garnished with queso fresco, chopped cilantro, and lime wedges.

Salad with pepitas & dried cranberries, pumpkin seed oil vinaigrette.

Cornbread, probably gussied up somehow.

And? Do we need another dish? And I am totally stuck on a dessert. Dinner is Wednesday night.

I'm not sure if it fits with your theme, but I made the mushroom pie described here recently and it came out really well.
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And? Do we need another dish? And I am totally stuck on a dessert. Dinner is Wednesday night.
Personnally, I wouldn't do another dish, but would just be sure to have lots of salad on hand. Some of that, however, is based on the fact that it's a weeknight dinner, which I interpret as more casual. In that vein, I would consider doing brownies with cinnamon spicing (somehow, making them 'mexican' brownies). I get pumpkin-ed out at this time of year, so vote against a pumpkin-type dessert. I might try to combine dessert with some other baking goal (e.g. do I need to produce baked goods for some holiday affair at school/work/something else?). But, maybe I'm just lazy :P
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Vegetarian menu for 8:

Roasted three-chile and potato soup garnished with queso fresco, chopped cilantro, and lime wedges.

Salad with pepitas & dried cranberries, pumpkin seed oil vinaigrette.

Cornbread, probably gussied up somehow.

And? Do we need another dish? And I am totally stuck on a dessert. Dinner is Wednesday night.

Seems like I saw some Meyer Lemons in Whole foods the other day. That means its time for Keller's lemon tart, which is in both the FL cookbook and Bouchon. Simple, and can be made in advance.

Mushroom Napoleon for an additional course?

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For dessert, what about something simple with fruit?

This is something my mother-in-law makes:

Oranges and Sour Cream

Combine 1 cup sour cream, 2 Tbsp. light cream, 1/4 cup sugar, and 1/2 tsp.

vanilla. Grate 1 oz. semisweet chocolate and add to cream mixture. Stir until

well-blended. Serve over segmented oranges. Enough for 6-8 servings.

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Seems like I saw some Meyer Lemons in Whole foods the other day. That means its time for Keller's lemon tart, which is in both the FL cookbook and Bouchon. Simple, and can be made in advance.
Oh excellent. I just picked up Bouchon, after checking it out at the library 20 times.
Mushroom Napoleon for an additional course?
Maybe grilled mushroom (thanks xcanuck) napoleon with chipotle crema?
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Portobellos looked manky this morning, and there are no Meyer lemons to be found. Revised vegetarian menu for eight:

Pepper jack gougeres

Roasted chile soup

Green salad

Sweet potato, chipotle, and goat cheese gratin

And for dessert, Keller's lemon curd tart with pine nut crust, except with lime, and with some lime zest added to the curd. It feels a little sacreligious to tinker with TK's recipes, but it tastes good. :P

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This past Saturday for eight.

Jellyfish with cucumber

Mom's defrosted pan-fried dumplings

Tom yum soup with shrimp

Roast ducks

Potatoes roasted in duck fat

Spinach sauteed with garlic

Scallion pancakes

Coconut milk rice pudding with apricots, pistachios and cardamom

Post-cutting duck picture here: http://flickr.com/photos/synaesthesia/327733961/

Duck carcasses to be made into congee. Mmm...

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Not a dinner party (although people did linger and graze well into the dinner hour), but we hosted a NYD brunch for seven. Menu was:

Ramos Gin Fizzes

Leek, smoked salmon, and goat cheese frittata from "The New Basics"

Green chile, roasted garlic, and Gruyere frittata

Marcella Hazan's Mangoes and Strawberries Macerated in Sweet White Wine

Lemon bars from "The New Best Recipe"

Guest contributions: excellent Trader Joe's mushroom turnovers; lovely sour cream and orange torte-like thing.

The frittate had such a great effort:impressiveness ratio that I foresee them becoming my go-to brunch items in the future.

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Tomorrow night's "Cheeks to Trotters" for six:

Raw veg with anchovy dip.

Appetizer portion of Port Trotters with Mache and Sauce Gribiche (Bouchon)

Braised Pork Cheeks in the Friulian Style (The Babbo Cookbook), cabbage with pancetta*, fresh fettucine.

Fruit and cheese. Possibly more fruit.

Dessert is being provided by one of the guests. It should be good. :unsure:

Alka Selter and stomach massages.

(*because there wasn't enough pork on the menu already :lol: )

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Fruit and cheese. Possibly more fruit.
Your menu sounds fabulous. A suggestion: Couldn't you work some pork into the fruit and cheese course? They've started carrying some wonderful speck at Calvert Woodley (at about $20 a pound if it's not on special, which it's not this week). That would be nice with cheese and fruit. Oh, and I see that they do have Westphalian ham on special this week, at $5.49 a half pound, a product similar to speck for a lot less. I see they've also got Bolly for $31.99 a bottle, which would go beautifully with cheese, fruit, and pork.
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Last Saturday, Chris and I made a birthday dinner for his dad and me...

While we were cooking, his family munched on crostini with brie and caramelized onions and drank cocktails (Hypnotic, rum, and pineapple juice). Sorry, no pictures.

The first course was a butternut squash, apple, and sweet potato soup (garnished with sauteed apples, bacon and basil), inspired by cjsadler's recent lunch at David Gregory.

soupgarnishsmallup3.jpg

soupsmallvy9.jpg

The main course was braised short ribs (from Happy in the Kitchen) and garlic mashed potatoes.

shortribssmallow1.jpg

And finally, for dessert...Fried poundcake with roasted fruit and whipped cream.

poundcakelt7.jpg

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I highly recommend recipes from "Sunday Suppers at Luques" for dinner parties. I am hooked on this book! It is organized by seasons, and each menu has one first course a choice of two main courses (Fish or meat) and one dessert. Even when we are not entertaining I have been cooking the something from this book for our Sunday night dinner. Some of the recipes require a lot or work, however they have been worth it.

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And finally, for dessert...Fried poundcake with roasted fruit and whipped cream.
Um. I toast poundcake but FRY it? Wow. I've never even heard of the concept. Do you grill it or is it really fried? Also, did you use homemade or Sara Lee (which is great toasted btw).

Thanks!

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Um. I toast poundcake but FRY it? Wow. I've never even heard of the concept. Do you grill it or is it really fried? Also, did you use homemade or Sara Lee (which is great toasted btw).
This was a dessert idea we stole from Nectar. It certainly doesn't do their version justice, though. The poundcake needs to have a pretty dense crumb in order to fry (txaggie made it), otherwise it soaks up too much oil.

And I take no responsibility for the drinking of Hypnotiq-- this was my step-mother's cocktail... that's how she rolls these days, apparently.

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For six adults and four kids:

Two kinds of chili: beef chuck with ancho and chipotle chilis, and a milder version made with ground beef and pinto beans for the kids. With various things to put on top: lime wedges, sour cream, minced cilantro, scallions, grated cheddar, and pickled jalapenos.

cornbread

pine nut foccacia

green salad

idiazabal, drunken goat, and manchego cheese

chocolate peanut butter pie

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We're having people over for dinner Saturday. We used to entertain a fair amount, but we've really been slouching on this lately. I'm hoping I'm not too rusty. I tend to be overly ambitious, and the house also needs to be cleaned.

Briefly I contemplated the fact that it's St. Patrick's Day but decided I'd rather do a largely Italian-focused meal instead. (The reason for the date is scheduling issues, not to have a St. Patrick's Day party.)

I had thought of Meyer Lemon Eclairs (Chez Panisse recipe) for dessert but wasn't sure if Meyer lemons were available right now, and I think I may be at my limit for the amount of food I can produce by Saturday. With all of the rest of the food, I think I'll just go with cookies. This is for 4 adults and 2 teenagers.

The short ribs recipe calls for a side of pumpkin orzo, but since pumpkin is out of season and I already have a pasta course, I'm going with chard stalks for the side; the leaves go in the soup.

This is where the menu stands, pasted in from my notes:

Bittman’s whole wheat molasses bread [this gets dropped if I don't have time]

Bittman’s no—knead bread

assorted cheeses and olives

Swiss chard, parsley, and garlic soup [James Peterson, Splendid Soups, p. 221]

Wild mushroom pasta handkerchiefs [Alice Waters, Chez Panisse Café Cookbook, pp. 28-30]

Braised short ribs with horseradish gremolata [Mario Battali, The Babbo Cookbook, p. 230]

Swiss chard stalks with Parmesan cheese [Marcella Hazan, The Classic Italian Cookbook, p. 357]

Bittersweet chocolate cookies [babbo, p. 323]

Lemon shortbread cookies [The Chicago Tribune Good Eating Cookbook, pp. 481-2]

1999 Barbaresco [We won't be consuming a lot of wine, so I wanted something to go with the short ribs. I'll probably open a white wine to start.]

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The short ribs recipe calls for a side of pumpkin orzo, but since pumpkin is out of season and I already have a pasta course, I'm going with chard stalks for the side; the leaves go in the soup.
I looked through piles of bunches of the various chards at Whole Foods yesterday, and much of the ends of the stalks had been helpfully cut off (because who would want the stalks? :o ). I ended up buying many more bunches than I needed leaves for soup to try to get enough stalks, but I don't think it's going to work. The recipe calls for the stalks to be cut in 4-inch pieces, and I don't think there's a 4-inch piece of stalk in any that I bought :P . I really didn't feel like running around store to store to see if I could find swiss chard with more intact stalks. We like chard, so having the extra leaves isn't a problem, but I'm a little grumbly about not being able to find the stalks.

As I was trying to puzzle this out, I saw that they did have butternut squash, which can be used in the pumpkin orzo. I'm now thinking I'll make the Babbo short ribs recipe as is, accompanied by the orzo. Once I see if I can salvage enough decent lengths of stalk to make a small side dish, I may make that as well...just because I'm stubborn :lol: .

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If you want big chard stalks, you can find mature chard at Shopper's Food Warehouse, and sometimes at Giant or Safeway.
Thanks. And to think I drove right past a Shoppers Food on the way home and decided not to stop :o .
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Does anyone remember seeing chard at the farmer's market last week? I wasn't on the lookout, so I don't know if there was any around, Pat, but there should be some at this time of year.

The refurbished Giant near me tends to get its supplies for the weekend on Friday nights. I seem to recall the bunches with mixed colors (Bright Lights) were just as youthful/hacked as the ones at WFM, but not the ones with dark leaves and white stalks.

The green chard seemed to have somewhat longer stalks than the others, but not by much. I could check Eastern Market tomorrow. I don't have much time to go any further. There's one vendor who has a lot of vegetables from the Amish country who might have some, and there are a couple of other vendors I check in with too. At this point, though, I'm up to my ears in chard, and really shouldn't be buying more just to get the stalks. I think I'll just see what i can do with what I've got. Sigh. I was feeling so efficient about using the stalks in one part of the meal and the leaves in another :lol: .

I'm way behind schedule. I wanted to have the cookies and one of the breads made by now but haven't gotten any baking done at all. I did have tonight's dinner precooked by 11 am, though :o . If I'd at least gotten the house cleaned, it wouldn't be so bad.

Right now, I'm in the midst of making the chicken stock for braising the short ribs tomorrow. It smells heavenly.

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After all my fussing about the chard, I was running so late yesterday that I jettisoned it (in both forms) from last night's menu. I'll attack the chard tonight. I also dropped the molasses bread. Results of the meal were mixed, though overall it went well. I really have to get myself together to put meals out on time. I was aiming for dinner at 6 and we didn't eat until 7:30 :P . Fortunately, there was plenty of food out to keep people from starving in the meantime.

We started with tortilla chips, salsa, and sour cream; a cheese plate; and crusty bread and butter. For the cheeses, I put out a morbiere, roccolo, edam, and an Irish cheddar. The roccolo was deemed too stinky a cheese and was compared unfavorably with old socks. More for me! :)

I reverted to using all white flour with the no-knead bread (I also used bread flour for the first time), and I had the problem with it being too wet again. It made a nice crusty loaf with a little char on the bottom, but it didn't hold its shape real well and was flatter than other efforts. That bread recipe just can't be ruined. I'd like to be able to predict more consistent results, but no matter what I do to it, the resulting loaf is wonderful. We ate all but a sliver of the bread. I like the results with 1 part whole wheat to 2 parts AP flour the best, I think.

The braised short ribs with horseradish gremolata from The Babbo Cookbook were spectacular. I was able to get the full-sized 1 lb. ribs the recipe calls for (as opposed to the precut packaged ones at the supermarket) at Union Meat at Eastern Market. Making 6 of them in the Le Creuset dutch oven was pushing the limits on proper cooking space but didn't seem to affect the results. (I browned them in two separate pans before combining them.) I made the orzo using butternut squash. The kids didn't want any orzo. They didn't believe it was really pasta (and the fact that I used whole wheat orzo was probably an additional turnoff). I thought it was pretty good. I wouldn't think of putting honey and balsamic vinegar into the squash puree, but that gave a really nice flavor, subtle enough that it would be hard to identify the components if you didn't know what they were. The brown chicken stock for the short ribs got a good workout, turning up in three dishes (also the orzo and the mushrooms). That is some good stuff.

The pasta for the mushroom handkerchiefs did not come out right. It was way too thick. It may have needed to be rolled at a thinner setting than the recipe called for (or maybe I misinterpreted the recipe). I'd try that again because I really want it to work. The mushroom filling (which ended up being a topping) was excellent.

The cookies were a big hit, both before and after dinner :o . The lemon shortbread cookies were excellent. I forgot the egg wash, but I liked them fine without it. I only baked about half the dough and am looking forward to pulling the rest out of the refrigerator to make some more. Most of the batch I produced yesterday are gone. The bittersweet chocolate cookies were also good, even though I'm not a huge chocolate fan, but there seemed to be something off in the timing and/or temperature for the recipe.

The short ribs and lemon cookies were the real highlight foodwise. It was great to see these friends again, but I've really got to get things better prepared in advance so I have more time to socialize, not to mention delivering the meal in a more timely fashion :lol:

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Based on your recommendations, I'll have to try the braised short ribs some day.

Are there any leftovers? Braises only get better over time and the sauce would be perfect with either creamy polenta or buttermilk-laced smashed potatoes, long-braised chard on the side. A chard gratin's always good too.

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Based on your recommendations, I'll have to try the braised short ribs some day.

Are there any leftovers? Braises only get better over time and the sauce would be perfect with either creamy polenta or buttermilk-laced smashed potatoes, long-braised chard on the side. A chard gratin's always good too.

There was some braising liquid left, but in the hectic cleanup last night, I told my husband not to keep it. That was stupid :o . I was thinking of how full the refrigerator was, but once it was too late, I realized that I should have found a way to make room. Oh, well...Next time I make this, I'll be sure to keep the braising liquid to reuse.

I would definitely recommend the recipe. About the only deviation I made from it was to use prepared horseradish in the gremolata. I guess using whole wheat orzo was also a deviation. While I do like whole wheat orzo, I think the presentation would be cleaner with plain white orzo. It was exciting to turn out a dish that looked pretty much like the photo in the book. :lol:

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There was some braising liquid left, but in the hectic cleanup last night, I told my husband not to keep it. That was stupid :o . I was thinking of how full the refrigerator was, but once it was too late, I realized that I should have found a way to make room. Oh, well...Next time I make this, I'll be sure to keep the braising liquid to reuse.

Not knowing the recipe you used, my thought about "leftover braising liquid" is this--why wasn't the braising liquid reduced and turned into a wonderful, rich winy sauce? To me, that is one of the best things about braised meat--the intense, savory sauce.

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Not knowing the recipe you used, my thought about "leftover braising liquid" is this--why wasn't the braising liquid reduced and turned into a wonderful, rich winy sauce? To me, that is one of the best things about braised meat--the intense, savory sauce.
The recipe didn't specifically call for a reduction (though I was wondering if it was supposed to). It said, to serve, "top with a little of the pan juices." Later it occurred to me that the reason for only using a little liquid is probably that the meat is served in a bowl along with the orzo, and adding much liquid would drown the orzo. I guess there's no reason it couldn't be reduced and then only a little sauce used, except the degreasing (it was a pretty fatty liquid) and reduction would have taken time I didn't have on Saturday night :o . I'm really kicking myself over not keeping the liquid for later use, though.
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Here's an etiquette question for you: What do you do when your guests don't get the hint that it's time for them to leave?

Call me crazy but if one of your hosts is starting to pass out on the couch and the other keeps making comments about how they have to get up early the next morning, and it's close to midnight, one would think your guests would take a hint. :o

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A friend of mine who spent a lot of time as a salesman on the telephone taught me something that might apply. When he wanted to end a conversation he'd say:"Well, I'm going to let you go now.." As if he were the one who had been extending the conversation. This anonymous, overburdened host could say to the guests: "Well, I'm going to let you all go home now." Greedy ol' me, I've been holding you all hostage, when I know you've been wanting to leave for ages, now. :o

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Here's an etiquette question for you: What do you do when your guests don't get the hint that it's time for them to leave?

Call me crazy but if one of your hosts is starting to pass out on the couch and the other keeps making comments about how they have to get up early the next morning, and it's close to midnight, one would think your guests would take a hint. :o

Other than putting on music you know they'll hate? :lol: . I haven't had this happen in years, now that everyone is older and needs to get home to sleep or send babysitters home. One thing I recall working: "This has been great. When shall we get together again? Let's set it up now, before you leave." [if you're sitting, stand up to say this.] Something about moving it into the future seems to get people to move.

I remember one guy at a party years ago who just would not leave. Everyone had been long gone and he was still there. Saying we were out of alcohol finally did the trick.

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Here's an etiquette question for you: What do you do when your guests don't get the hint that it's time for them to leave?

Call me crazy but if one of your hosts is starting to pass out on the couch and the other keeps making comments about how they have to get up early the next morning, and it's close to midnight, one would think your guests would take a hint. :o

Stare down one of the clued-in guests until they leave and start the flurry of others leaving. Even if this means the first guest has to drive or walk around the block and come back because they were going to help clean-up or stay for a drink and gossip after everyone else leaves. This can work with one of the hosts leaving too but you need to be prepared to drive another guest home or come up with a great excuse for running an errand at midnight. :lol:
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Cjsadler and Txaggie: as many times I've pushed you out the door, wanna take a stab at this?

Here's an etiquette question for you: What do you do when your guests don't get the hint that it's time for them to leave?
It's simple: you hand them their coats and tell them the next bus leaves in 10 minutes.
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Cjsadler and Txaggie: as many times I've pushed you out the door, wanna take a stab at this?

It's simple: you hand them their coats and tell them the next bus leaves in 10 minutes.

We usually get either that or "I think I hear the bus coming" :o

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It's simple: you hand them their coats and tell them the next bus leaves in 10 minutes.
This is really good advice. In my experience, guests who do not take subtle hints tend not to be offended at blunt requests to leave. A "Well, it's been a fun evening, but we are exhausted and need to get to bed" given with a smile will usually do the trick. :P

The only exception I've found to this was rwtye's immediate boss at our last duty station. He was a Colonel, out-ranked everyone at dinner and took full advantage of that (which is actually very rare, typically, the more senior the military, the more thoughtful and polite). Earlier in the evening, when I asked him and another guest to please come to the dining room and sit down because dinner was on the table, he told me that he was still talking and would come in whenever he wanted. :lol: Then he stayed late (past 0130) and held the whole dinner party hostage. I suspect that if we'd asked him to leave, we would have gotten the same response as when I asked him to the dinner table. :o We never invited him over again.

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Here's an etiquette question for you: What do you do when your guests don't get the hint that it's time for them to leave?

Turning up the lights, putting on bad music, and announcing "last call" usuallly gets me out the door quickly.

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Easter, for sixteen:

appetizer - haven't figured this out yet

braised pork cheeks

polenta

green salad

roasted asparagus

bread

various cheeses

lots of wine

bunny shaped coconut cake, if I can my mold, or coconut cupcakes

My friend Tom is bringing two pies, one chocolate and one cherry, with cherries from their garden. I am very excited about it because this man makes the best pie I have ever tasted. Better than my mom's. Better than your mom's. Cherry with a sugared lattice crust - for years he's made me either a blueberry or a cherry pie for my birthday. I will try to post a picture so that all can behold the pinnacle of pastry that is Tom's pie.

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My friend Tom is bringing two pies, one chocolate and one cherry, with cherries from their garden.

The cherries are frozen, of course. Unless he is making an Easter cherry BLOSSOM pie. Does he pit or pit and pre-cook them a little before freezing? I froze some pitted, uncooked feral Queen Anne cherries I picked in Battery Kemble Park last year, planning to use them in a Clafouti, but haven't gotten around to it yet. I have no idea what the flavor/texture will be like.

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He and his partner have several sour cherry trees, and every year pit and freeze quarts of cherries. He also makes brandied cherries, which are seriously delicious.

I forgot to add that the previous trotter/hock debacle made Scott pull out the Bouchon recipe again. We'll be having that too.

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I remembered at 7am that we have guests coming for dinner tonight. :blink: Fortunately I love a challenge. Tentative menu, composed after four hours of sleep and not enough coffee:

Asparagus soup

Grilled steaks (fortunately, we had a chunk of our beef from Ray's defrosting)

sauteed mixed wild mushrooms

Red wine pan sauce (helps to have demiglace in the freezer

potato/thyme/goat cheese gratin (daughter of friends is vegetarian, so this will be her main)

salad (bitter greens) and cheese

vanilla ice cream, homemade rhubarb compote, cookies It's rhubarb season. I love serving it; it's very old-fashioned.

I'm going to stew the rhubarb, make the salad dressing, assemble the gratin, saute the mushrooms and whizz up the soup this morning, after a trip to the grocery store. The steaks will be last minute, as will the sauce.

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I remembered at 7am that we have guests coming for dinner tonight. :blink: Fortunately I love a challenge. Tentative menu, composed after four hours of sleep and not enough coffee:

Asparagus soup

Grilled steaks (fortunately, we had a chunk of our beef from Ray's defrosting)

sauteed mixed wild mushrooms

Red wine pan sauce (helps to have demiglace in the freezer

potato/thyme/goat cheese gratin (daughter of friends is vegetarian, so this will be her main)

salad (bitter greens) and cheese

vanilla ice cream, homemade rhubarb compote, cookies It's rhubarb season. I love serving it; it's very old-fashioned.

I'm going to stew the rhubarb, make the salad dressing, assemble the gratin, saute the mushrooms and whizz up the soup this morning, after a trip to the grocery store. The steaks will be last minute, as will the sauce.

I've had dreams like this, but not with that much time to plan. (You mean it was TODAY you were coming over? ;) .)

The menu looks quite good and do-able. That goat cheese gratin sounds wonderful.

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Yeah, it's the real-life version of that dream you have where you show up at school and there's a hugely important test that day, and you haven't studied, don't have a No. 2 pencil, and don't have any pants on.

The gratin I always make up as I go along...sometimes it's gruyere, or cheddar and dry mustard, or horseradish. I made it a few months ago with sweet potatoes, goat cheese, and some minced chipotle peppers in the cream - that turned out good enough to make again. The only thing that never changes is buttering the pan very thoroughly so that nothing sticks. Burned on cream is miserable to scrub off.

The salad is raddichio, frisee, endive, pears, toasted walnuts, and a little gorgonzola dolce, with a dressing of honey, dijon mustard, olive oil, and some pear balsamic that porcupine gave me as a hostess gift last weekend.

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Last night's cocktail party featured a Latin-inspired (for lack of a better word) collection of things:

Tortilla chips and Sadie's salsa from Albuquerque, NM

Grilled eggplant and tomatoes with a cumin-cilantro dressing

Chipotle sweet potato pancakes with Mexican crema

Chicken thigh bits braised in Sadie's green chile sauce

Roasted pork with adobo sauce

Corn tortillas for picking up the pork and chicken bits

Gazpacho

Meringues with dark rum whipped cream and grilled pineapple

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Last night's cocktail party featured a Latin-inspired (for lack of a better word) collection of things:

Tortilla chips and Sadie's salsa from Albuquerque, NM

Grilled eggplant and tomatoes with a cumin-cilantro dressing

Chipotle sweet potato pancakes with Mexican crema

Chicken thigh bits braised in Sadie's green chile sauce

Roasted pork with adobo sauce

Corn tortillas for picking up the pork and chicken bits

Gazpacho

Meringues with dark rum whipped cream and grilled pineapple

Wow--these dishes sound terrific! I'm curious about the sweet potato pancakes. Did you shred the sweets raw to make the pancakes, like a potato latke or make them with cooked, mashed sweets as more of a breakfast-style pancake?

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