Fiber Dreams

The dinner

Once upon a time Dave and I gathered up our friends for a holiday dinner. We did them five years in a row before things like life and babies got in the way. The life thing settled down a bit, the kids got older, and it was time to do it again. Saturday, December 1 was the day.

Yes, we planned to host a seven-course dinner only five days after getting home from Montana.

Just to prove we’re not completely insane, we started cleaning a couple of weeks before we left for Montana—cleaning the fuzz off the ceiling fan blades, finishing the woodwork around the window in the dining room, you know, the big stuff. Friday we dusted, vacuumed, washed all the kitchen towels, finished up the bathrooms, that sort of thing, so by the time Saturday got here we were basically done. Amazing thing.

Setting the table was the last big thing to do, and that got done a little at a time over the course of the day. Since the table cloth isn’t linen I tossed it in the washer to get it wet, spun it, then threw it in the dryer. As soon as it was dry it got put on the table. No ironing! We weren’t so lucky with the napkins, being linen, but they’re small so not such a big deal to iron. Especially for me. Dave ironed them while I laid out the silver, set out the glasses, got candles ready. Long before dinner was ready and the first guests arrived, we were done doing all that could be done, and weren’t rushed. This is new for us. I even had time for a nap!

Somewhere in there, just before 11:00, Ron and Troy arrived with the fixin’s, and started to cook. At 5:30 the guests started showing up. The appetizers came out and the champagne was poured. Dinner had begun.

There are pathetically few photographs from this party. Most of them are of food, but even so… I guess I was too busy talking and laughing and eating and drinking to take many pictures at all. Sorry about that. But there are a few. Below are the pear “sushi,” the parmigiano-reggiano crisps (grated cheese that was baked and formed into cups) filled with herbed goat cheese, and an action shot of Ron putting the finishing touches on the kabocha squash soup.

It’s all about presentation.

Here Ron’s dishing out the soups. Some of the soup plates have the squash soup in the center with the celery soup in a ring around it, other plates the soups are reversed. Either way, they were yummy. The soups were thick enough that they stayed that way until they were served. Yum.

Looking back, I’m amazed we didn’t get more pictures of people! Gads. Oh well. Everyone looked really nice, and we all had fun. That’s the most important part, right?

I was late getting back to the table at the start of the salad course, so I took a picture. I know. Backwards thinking. I should have hurried to the table. Oh well. At least I got this picture of most of our party. That’s Dave’s hand there at the head of the table. On the far side of the table you can see Beth, Steve, Rachel, and Mike. On the near side of the table you can see the back of Nora and Ron.

Missing from the picture but present at dinner were Troy, Kim, and Bob. Oh, and me. The eleven of us were cozy around a table meant to seat eight. Good thing we’re all friends.

This last picture I have to share with you is of the wines we drank with dinner. They’re listed on the menu, so I won’t bother you with that again here. We did pretty well. Eleven people. Seven hours of eating. Effectively less than one bottle of wine consumed per person. The magnums each count as two, and the half bottles count as, well, half each. We have been known to consume considerably more wine than that. This was better wine, though, over all, and represented more than half of our budget of $125 per couple.

We all greatly enjoyed this opening to our holiday season. It’s a wonderful thing to be able to get together with such good friends to break some bread and share each other’s company.

The menu

Honestly, none of us have a clue how Ron comes up with these menus. They’re inspired. He has a gift, that’s for sure. Things like the pear “sushi” (thinly sliced meat wrapped around pear slivers) and the granita of pomegranate and basil are of his own devising.

Hors d’ouevres

Pear “Sushi”
Parmigiano-Reggiano Crisps with Herbed Goat Cheese
Garlic Roasted Potato Skins
Canard-Duchene Champagne Brut Non-Vintage, Reims, France, en magnum

Commencer

Kabocha Squash and Celery Root Soup
Tramin Gewürztraminer Nussbaumer 2005, Alto-Adige, Italy

Course Premier

Butter-poached White Sea Bass over Mascarpone Orzo
Bodegas Naia Naiades Verdejo 2005, Rueda, Spain, en magnum

Intermezzo

Granita of Pomegranate and Basil

Plat

Braised Beef Short-Ribs with Cauliflower Puree and Haricots Vert
Cain Five Meritage 2001, Napa Valley, California, en magnum

Finis

Field Greens with 15-year old Balsamico Tradizionale and Grilled Asian Pears
Etorki, sheep’s milk, Pyrenees, France, aged 4 months
Piave Vecchio, cow’s milk, Piave, Italy, aged 12 months
Gouda, cow’s milk, The Netherlands, aged 5 years
Bodegas Dios Baco Amontillado Sherry, 20-year VOS, Jerez, Spain

Dessert

Crème Brûlée
Yalumba Late Harvest Viognier 2005, Wrattonbully, Australia

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