Fresh Tart

Hola! Hola! Back from Mexico, in fact since Thursday night, but I've been having too much fun hanging with the Bryt family, visiting from New York, to scratch a post together! It's been a fast blast of weekend, with Bartley arriving Wednesday for work, and Maud and their daughters Catherine and Natalie joining him (us!) Friday night. We just had dinner here at the hacienda, simple pasta and roasted vegetables.

Yesterday Maud and I stole over to Stacey's to see Cooper Cuteness, Stacey's amazing Stacified house, as well Stacey's studio/new work. Thanks Pooh!

Then back here to cook and cook, with Harry Cunliffe and Suz et al coming for dinner to join all of us. For a little appy I made shrimp paste, a recipe from The Gift of Southern Cooking, basically sauteed shrimps pureed with lots of sweet butter, with a hint of cayenne pepper, sherry, and lemon. We spread it on toasts, but I'm dying to try it stirred into some hot grits, oooh... I'm a little obsessed with it in fact. (Recipe posted in comments, below.) For dinner, I grilled an insane amount of beef tenderloin (lots of tasty leftovers, more than enough to put Bartley & Maud on the plane with thick roast beef, tomato, lettuce, and horseradish sandwiches!), whipped up my new favorite saute of okra, onions, and tomatoes withbacon, and made a pile o' popovers. Ahhh, popovers. Nothing is better alongside beef, especially with pan juices to soak them in. Just kill me. It was a pretty magical evening - literally, since Harry is a sometimes magician and was gracious enough to show off a few of his tricks for the kids. (And adults!) Great, great fun!

And now, the Bryts are gone, sniff. House is very empty feeling, although not for long. Nathan is home from Florida soon (yay!) and then we're heading out for Cooper's 2nd Birthday Party! Happy Birthday Cooper Cuteness!

Many, many highlights from Mexico to share, a little later today, so stay tuned...

An even better treat than going to a restaurant for dinner is heading to someone's home for dinner. Granted, I'm shockingly blessed with friends and family who are not just good cooks, but great cooks. (Thank you, Food Gods!) Seriously - some of the best tastes I've ever savored have been courtesy of none other than my parents, grandma, and aunts, not to mention in-laws and friends. Veal scallops a la danoise (my father-in-law), roasted goose with cabbage, lardons, and whipped potatoes (Dad & Susanna), fresh lemon-coconut cake (Suz), grilled tuna on Georgica Beach (Bartley), guacamole on Georgica Beach (Maud), grilled leg of lamb (Carol), Christmas prime rib roast (aunt Mary), apple pie (aunt Marge), crispy homemade pizzas (Kathie), Greek salad (Mary P), spanikopita (Mary P's mother-in-law), almond puff pastry (Mom), braised lamb (Stu & Debbie), heirloom tomato salad (Rudy & Ana), oyster stew (Andrew), fried fresh walleye with garden green beans (Grandma & Grandpa Meyer), Schaum torte (Polly), oven-roasted potatoes (Harry)... Oh my goodness, I could go on and on and on. It's unbelievable, really. From the simplest to the most involved, all completely memorable. So there you go, proof that I remember fondly damn near everything I've ever eaten. (Curse or blessing? Not sure...) Hey, if I am what I eat, I'm so jamming! As well as French, Greek, Mexican, Italian, Danish, German, British... NICE!

Also nice? In fact, where I'm going with all of this? (Sorry, I tend to get a little carried away with my reminiscing...) We're going to Suz& Cory's for dinner tonight - yays! For raclette - melted cheese served with all sorts of tasty Frenchy/Swissy accoutrements: potatoes, ham, pickles, vegetables. Little wine, little chat, little checking out Planet Earth in high def (The Coreman, like The Batman, has all the best toys). Aaaaahhh, Total Tasty Relaxation. Thank you in advance Shuberts! Wheee!

I'll hope for you that you're lucky enough to be heading to someone's home for dinner tonight too. If not, whip up a little somethin' somethin' for yourself (perhaps a simple pasta with broccolini with a nice glass of red) and...well...pretend? (Actually, it works, I do it all the time!)

Time for a Cooper-Doo update, don't you think? We had a visit this week from my busy nephew, on Wednesday, and he was on-the-move. He's an expert button-pusher and knob-twister. Anything that even sort of resembles a button or knob and out shoots his darling little hand, with his little carrot-shaped finger, and push, push, twist, twist, there he goes. He's spending lots of time at the park now that the weather is - finally! - warmer. And he's thisclose to walking around, which will quickly become running around, and THEN Stace and Bowen will have their hands full. Oh my. A little red-haired streak of lightening, zooooom!

Our friend Bartley was in town for business last night, from NYC, so we got to steal him for dinner. I made a simple frittata with potatoes, peppers,tomatoes, and onion (recipe in comments, below) and a salad with lots of shaved Parm. We split the bottle of Silver Oak my friend Michelle gave to me in Palm Springs - thanks Mich, we toasted you. AND Happy Birthday, girlfriend, belatedly!

Today I had a lovely, lovely breakfast with my dear friend Mary, at the Edina Grill. It was so good to see her, made my whole week. I ordered their yummybuckwheat pancakes, the kill. Lots of (decaf) coffee, LOTS of chatting, and we had to be on our way. Boo! I could talk to Mary all day (and in fact I used to, when we shared an office at Park Nicollet...)

From there I met up with jeweler Todd Crabtree, maker of my beloved engagement ring. He's currently making a gift for my stepdaughter (shhh!) as well as a ring and a necklace for me, from scattered diamonds I own from various other pieces of jewelry. In fact, I got the necklace today, made from my Grandma Meyer's engagement-ring diamond and oh, I got tears in my eyes when I put it on. I love wearing her diamond, because I loved her so much. I'm thrilled to be able to wear it.

For now? I'm outta here, man, it's gorgeous outside! Time to move my Napa-Butt on a nice, long walk. Tomorrow, Nathan's Boy-Soup Birthday Swimming Party - this year, it's looking to be a nice day, yay! Stay tuned...

And oh, ps, I just read this on Suz's blog...if you need a day brightener - and really, who doesn't? - this'll do ya, most definitely.