Sunday, April 4, 2010

The End of a Chapter - Not the Book!



Verse 2 – lyrics Nine to Five…..
“They let you dream just to watch them shatter;
You're just a step on the boss man's ladder,
But you've got dreams he'll never take away.”

It’s dream time for me, Wednesday, March 31; I officially became a lady of leisure no more nine-to-five five days a week for me anymore! It is the end of an exciting chapter in my book of life, the next chapter is in the concept stage but it is sure to be fun filled and exciting. Occasions like these have to be marked in a special way so on that monumental day I hosted a small party. It was an intimate gathering with a few very special people; the party was mostly to show my appreciation to three amazing women for their support and strength of character.

The girls love good food and all know their way around the kitchen so the pressure was on to prepare something fitting their culinary agility. The party was early evening so a few appetizers were in order;

The Menu

Salume Platter
Tapenade
Gougeres
Stuffed Mushrooms
Ceviche

Chocolate Covered Strawberries & Walnuts
Lavendar Shortbread

The meats on the platter came from Boccalone http://www.boccalone.com/ in the Ferry Building; I love this place and shop there almost every week, the pancetta is to die for, so is everything else for that matter. I think the girls particularly enjoyed the orange fennel salumi.

Alton Brown is credited for the Tapendade recipe http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/tapenade-recipe/index.html . The recipe called for 2 Tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil, I made a mistake and added 2 Tablespoons of blood orange olive oil. What a happy mistake, everyone seemed to like it and I will make the same mistake again!

The recipe for the Gougeres I picked up in Burgandy a couple of years ago but it is really quite simple, see the April 4, 2010 Food Section of the San Francisco Chronicle for a very similar recipe.

Stuffed Mushrooms recipe was courtesy of Giada De Laurentis http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/stuffed-mushrooms-recipe/index.html
They were great and the mint really married well with the other ingredients. I made my own bread crumbs other than that I followed the recipe to the letter.

I used Emeril Lagasse recipe for Ceviche http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/ceviche-recipe2/index.html. I substituted Italian flat parsley for cilantro because my husband was the wine server for the party and he doesn't care for cilantro to much.

Lavender Shortbread came from Miette http://www.miettecakes.com/ in the Ferry Building. I also love their chocolate wafers, I often make ice cream sandwiches with them – yum.

For the chocolate covered strawberries, I bought two or three types of really good chocolate, melted the chocolate in a double boiler and dipped.

My husband was a gem, he stayed with us girls all night and kept the wine flowing – it was nice to have our very own personal garcon!

It was a wonderful evening of laughter, good food and friends; I’m ready for the next chapter and adventure!

1 comment:

Hungry Dog said...

Such a fabulous cocktail party! The food was simply amazing, I've been talking about it for days!