Monday, December 7, 2015

Party Comes Off Fine And We Did Not Blow Up The House

The party was a success. The food was well received and the guests seemed to all get along well - a good thing since none really knew each other before hand.  We had a number of cancellations the day of the party which was annoying as it led to us having quite a bit of leftover food. If all had come who had originally accepted, we would have judged our food pretty well. I took some pictures but because of it being in the evening and with the lighting of our house the way it is they really didn't turn out very well so I'm not posting them. However here is the menu.

Antipasti/Tapas/Hors d'oeuvre/Mezze

Three kinds of Spanish Chorizo
Jamon Serrano
Home made Pate de Compagne
Two kinds of home made bread
Four kinds of cheese including a crazy Spanish blue cheese that everyone scarfed up
Borani - a Turkish yogurt and roasted vegetable paste
A Turkish inspired bean paste

Soups

Austrian pumpkin soup with toasted pumpkin oil
Cambodian style chicken soup with coconut milk

Mains

Austrian goulash with buttered potatoes
Bucatini with Veneto style ragout

Desserts

Three (count'em) Three home made gelatos
Home made chocolate salt truffles
Peppernotten  - a Dutch specialty cookie
(hand carried by maidens across the Atlantic from Amsterdam)

We had a bit of excitement as I was trying to cook the bucatini in broth, a trick I got from an old Italian cookbook to replicate the flavor of the pasta we had in Italy. Unfortunately broth does not react the same way as water and when I put the pasta in literally half the boiling liquid boiled over the top. Fortunately my gas stove top has a deep pan and most of the liquid stayed there. But then we had the problem that I'd flooded all the burners. Guest and friend John Le Grain had had a similar problem and we were able to gradually get things dried out enough so the electric starters were no longer arcing (which was freaking everyone out) and we were able to finish the pasta.

On another note it also happened to be my birthday - the party was not a birthday party it just happened that was the best day to schedule it - and wife went online to the World of Errev store a bought me my very own Purple Wizard Official Bathrobe Complete With Evil Spell Warding Cowl And Matching Harmonic Power Back Lighting. Sweet!



6 comments:

Renee Michelle Goertzen said...

What an impressive menu! The borani sounds really interesting.

Renee Michelle Goertzen said...

What an impressive menu! The borani sounds really interesting.

alexis said...

only you guys would be sad to have leftovers from a feast like that. :)

Bernice said...

You gave yourself a great party. Happy Birthday.

JRR said...

that was a wonderful evening!
... and I sure do like the bathrobe- its so versatile: you can cook magical meals; wear it to a Star Wars opening, or knock off a 7-11.

Tee said...

I guess it's always expected that someone might cancel, but having "a number" of guests cancel is disappointing. Considering I've tasted your cooking, I can only think that those guests had some pretty dire conflicting circumstances.

The menu sounds amazing and I'm glad the stove issues didn't really slow you down.

Happy belated birthday! And congratulations on your amazing purple wizard robe!