Fresh Tart

Hello friends!  Yes, I'm still here, still cooking, despite falling way behind on taking pics and posting.  Like everyone, we are in full summer mode and that has meant non-stop entertaining and dining out, whew. Funny thing, you'd think that since I step up my cooking game for guests that I'd have more to write about, but lately it just hasn't panned (pun!) out.

Whirlwind overview of recent tasties, I hope it inspires a fun night out or some barbecue fun at home:

Last Thursday night, John and I broke out of our usual groove and headed over to Bradstreet Craftshouse, in the Graves 601 Hotel, for the finest drinks in the Twin Cities.  We had some nice food too - mini burgers, marinated vegetables - but Bradstreet is all about the drinks, highly crafted and beyond delicious.  I particularly loved the Juliet & Romeo (Plymouth gin, lime, mint, cucumber, rose water), refreshing with just a hint of sweet, perfect on a 90-degree day, ahhhh.

Last Friday night, we were invited to a Farewell to D'Amico Cucina (at least in Butler Square) Dinner with Debbie and Stu The Wine Genius Williams and Genie & Joe Dixon (as well as Genie & Joe's daughter-in-law and son, Twyla and Joe Jr.).  Lord what a feast, completely immoderate, ah well. I (over) indulged in seared foie gras with fresh figs (badly pictured above) and the most seriously kill single ravioli I have ever encountered.  Filled with smooth-creamy ricotta, and a whole egg, I cut into it to spill cheese and yolk into the browned truffle butter drizzled at the edges of the plate.  Oh yes, beyond decadent, luckily small portions, I won't say more, uff, except it appears the D'Amico Cucina team will soon be taking over the Chambers Kitchen.  When one door closes, another opens...

Saturday, we...golfed.  Yes, golfed!  I just started playing, oh about a month ago, John doesn't play at all, but we golfed anyhow, with our kindly neighbors Kasey & Dan Hatzung, in our neighborhood's "Better Half Invitational," hosted by Ellen & John Skahan and Lindsay & Dave Polyak.  Such fun, such non-serious golf, we had a complete blast, topped off by a lovely party at the Polyak residence.  I brought an appetizer - a thin-crust "pizza," lightly topped with pancetta, caramelized onions, tomatoes, and fontina cheese and served at room temp - and enjoyed the buffet of gorgeous appetizers brought by all the golfers.  Yum, I do love myself a pot-luck buffet...almost as much as my husband does...

Monday night we hosted my cousin Peter, his wife Kristin, and their adorable - adorable! - twin three-year-old daughters Emily and Erin.  Stacey and Cooper were here too, to dig in to garlicky pork tenderloin, tsatsiki (yogurt sauce with cucumber, garlic, and dill), grilled pita bread, a giant Greek salad, and Suz's to-die-for blueberry kuchen for dessert (she served it to me on Friday Afternoon Coffee with Suz.  I crave it - bonus, it's a breeze to make...).

Tuesday night, Kim The Maven of Mischief and I snuck out to Barrio Tequila Bar for mid-week tasty drinks and Mexican snacks.  Crab empanadas, potato-chorizo tacos, and shrimps grilled on sugar-cane skewers didn't put a dent in their fine menu, but put us in a fine mood nonetheless, completely making up for the fact that I didn't make a res (which the annoying hostess gravely told me was a BIG mistake - ugh).

Tonight, no entertaining, but a recipe I'll (re)post, in case you're looking for a tasty appetizer for weekend entertaining.  Crab cakes, baby, this version from our friend Carol Mack via Andrew Zimmern, is a stellar recipe.  The focus is the crab (not breading), tender in the middle, crispy on the exterior, not too thick, not too thin.  Basically, Perfect Crab Cakes.  For a twist, tonight I stuffed them in toasted buns (moderate it: cut the middle out of the bun to make it much thinner, spritz with nonstick olive oil spray, then toast) and giggled that we were having Krabby Patties for din.  Sauteed kale - fresh from my veggie share, likely picked this morning - alongside, a nice foil for the richness of the sandwich.

And this weekend, ah yes, another party, woo hoo!  I'm counting 15 of us at this point, including my bro David, for a big ol' 4th of July Barbecue.  I'm planning pork ribs, mini-burgers (with home-made mini-buns, I'll let you know how they turn out...), broccoli salad, garbanzo bean salad, potato chips (Cape Cod 40% reduced fat kettle-cooked chips are seriously yummy), and bing cherries, along with snacks by the pool (guacamole, raw veggies, and tortilla chips), along with dessert (compliments of Suz), along with cold beer and wine, along with fireworks on the golf course...  Ooh, aah, one of my fave holidays.

Happy Independence Day!

Ah, the parties are over. In the last week, we've entertained almost 100 people (30 on Tuesday, 70 on Saturday), and I have to say, it all went off without a hitch. Whew! And both were really...FUN, which is the point of course. Reconnected with old friends, met a lot of new ones, ate good food, drank good wine, and in preparation, really got our house in order. Feeling good. Next big one: Thanksgiving, woo hoo!

I luckily didn't have to prepare food for 70, since Saturday's party format - parent party - had folks bring either an appetizer or dessert. You know what that means - WAY more food than everyone can eat, but lots of fun tasties to try! I did make a few things, to get the party rolling, including gougere (cheese pastry puffs), a platter of cold sliced beef tenderloin surrounded by couscous, and a plate of toasts topped with ricotta and roasted tomatoes (I'm into them lately, what can I say?). I was even able to take leftover ricotta and tomatoes, puree them together, and make a quick-n-lovely pasta for dinner last night. That's about as far I was willing to go with 1) prep, or 2) clean-up, no surprise there.

Today, back to reality. Few things to put away, but not much (thank you John and Nathan, my official clean-up crew; thank you also to my extremely polite guests, who tossed almost every plate and napkin and deposited every bit of glassware in the kitchen - if that's Minnesota Nice, I'll take it). The pool gets put to winter-sleep this week, so it's time to think about putting away patio and porch furniture. The lights and lanterns have come down. Flower and herb pots will soon be emptied (I've still got a few tomatoes coming in, although they are the obviously the very, very last). Yes, the parties are really over. Sniff.

Guess I'll just have to cheer myself by...going out for dinner with Kim & Suz! To celebrate Kim's birthday - Happy Birthday Maven of Mischief! Look out, True Thai, here we come!

Moderate it: there's nothing like hosting a huge party to get a good workout. I'm not kidding! I hauled around four cases of wine, 100 bottles of water, 80 lbs. of ice (up and downstairs a couple of times), furniture, trays of glassware (I rented wine glasses), not to mention all the groceries and trash. I felt it in my lower back, for sure!

Had to snap a pic today of one of my favorite appetizers. Crusty bread, topped with a smear of hand-dipped ricotta cheese from Whole Foods (the stuff should be illegal, it's that good) and roasted tomatoes (which I didn't make myself, although they're easy enough; these I also picked up at Whole Foods, in the produce section, and they are particularly delicious, roasted in olive oil with garlic and herbs). I might have had some for breakfast this morning. Maybe. (Or, try this gorgeous recipe from our friends Kris & Harry, they of the beautifully Foodie dinner a few weeks back - tomatoes roasted with a bit of honey, atop scrumptious home-made ricotta cheese, finished with a drizzle of honey-balsamic. Beyond good. Recipe posted in comments, below.)

I don't usually have all these goodies on hand, but had purchased a round of tasties in prep for tonight's Susie Silpada Sales party, here at the hacienda. Girls, girls, girls, with snacks and wine and jewelry to boot. I put together a big platter of said tomatoes, as well as roasted peppers, carrots, and onions; salami; cornichon pickles; black olives; and rouille. Also set out a frittata cut into small squares, as well as chips and guacamole. With Kim as my Bar Beyotch (she is the fiercest bartender I've ever seen), Kathie and her sis Lisa doing party prep, and Suz jeweling her thing, we were all good. Even in pouring sheets of rain! Thanks ladies, for turning out and making it a great night!

Moderate it: a frittata is a terrific light, simple dinner, filling and tasty to boot. Without the crust and cream of quiche, but definitely with the perks of delicious fillings, nothing makes a better short-on-time dinner. And, good party food as well.

The Minneapolis Farmer's Market is a fun place. It's not as fabulous as say, San Francisco's - what is? - but I still get a rush walking around, especially on Saturdays when it's crowded, buying beautiful veggies and thinking about all the ways I can use them. Today I picked up heirloom cherry tomatoes, for the garlicky tomato & bread gratin I made for dinner tonight (we had our neighbors the Hatzungs over for a chilly swim and warm din). I also bought (more) green beans, as well as raspberries and fingerling potatoes. We ate the green beans tonight, and the raspberries (atop a lemon picnic cake), but the potatoes I'll save for tomorrow or Monday.

Although, hmmmm, I'm not going to be making din tomorrow night since Kim, Suz, and I are heading to True Thai for our every-few-weeks dinner out. Well, luckily potatoes taste good even several days after being picked... Especially these little gems, I bought them once before from the same vendor and was pretty blown away by how delicious they were. I'm thinking a little lemon-butter and salt will do them nicely. Can't wait.

Hey, look at that, I've been on Facebook for one full year! Thank you, Maud, for introducing another (very fun!) timesuck into my life! I think I've most enjoyed seeing everyone's pics, especially of their kids, especially of friends from high school and college that I don't get to physically see often enough. It's like an everyday reunion/Christmas card - nice! If (realistically, when) you join up, I suggest you become a fan of moderate epicurean (and painters staceyemeyer and maudbryt) to boot.

Sleep tight!

Moderate it: baking half of a cake is a nice way to not have a bunch of sweet leftovers hanging around - Whole Foods cake mixes make just one 9-inch layer. Works nicely with the lemon picnic cake recipe.

Dang I had a great time tonight (uh, technically last night) at Lurcat with Kim & Suz. We spiffed and spritzed up a bit and sashayed into the sparkly bar, ready for gazpacho with anchovy toasts, mini-burgers, and frites with naughty Bearnaise for dipping. Went down like buttah (Bearnaise!), baby, sooo good. Especially the brrrgrrrs, on home-made potato rolls, slathered in shallot-red wine butter, rarrr (recipe here).

Right in the middle of our cacklefest, in walked Kevin & Kristi Hykes, great to see them (haven't since the Badger Blast last fall)! No community blocks of cheese to bite into, and no podcast mic (Kevin checked under the bun of a burger, ha), just quick hellos before they joined another couple for din.

About half-way through our evening, we somehow wandered into the topic of Eddie Murphy's rendition (are there others?) of Boogie in Your Butt. Real classy, that song, and yet...20 years after first hearing it (Cami played it for me in our freshman dorm at UW), it's still absolutely slaying me. I mean, we cried we were laughing so hard, just like the first time I heard it. Take a hot cup of Brim, fill it to the rim... Luckily, upon hopping in my car for the drive home, we were able to pull it up on my iPod. A little Lake of the Isles' scenery, little Boogie in Your Butt, and poof, we were home, just like that. Awww, it always goes too fast when I'm out with my minxes. Thanks for a great night - and deeelicious food, uff I'm stuffed - miladies!

You know, I did remember to pick up my veggie share, but I have yet to go through it. Too tired, more tomorrow on what little gems await me...

Moderate it: I figure when I dine a la Kim & Suz, I burn so many calories laughing that I don't worry so much about what I've ordered. Therefore the frites with Bearnaise. Therefore the chocolate profiteroles with salted caramel ice cream. Urgh. Hahahahaha (that's the sound of me, you know, burning more calories)...

L'chaim! Yep, I get dinner out with my minxes tonight, woo hoo! We're hitting up Bar Lurcat this time, for gazpacho, mini-burgers, and those irresistible, cursed frites. I even have straight hair (for now) since I got my hair cut today - a blow out in this weather is only worth it if someone else does it. Since that happens, oh, about every 8 weeks, it's feeling a bit rare and swingy. Whee! Hey, what can I say, I measure my days in dewpoint, always have. It's a frizz thing, not a curl thing (I can handle curl, curl is cute; frizz is, uh, I'll let you fill in the alliterative blank).

Anyhow. Just quick meals lately, last night nothing more than good ol' spaghetti with meat sauce for Wild Wednesday, although I did grill thin slices of zucchini to go alongside. Way easy - brush both sides of slices with olive oil, sprinkle with a bit of salt, let sit a few minutes to soften, then grill away. Eat hot off the grill, as is or showered with fresh herbs, maybe even a grate of Parm. Mmmm...

Oh, speaking of zucchini, I can't forget to pick up my La Finca CSA veggies on my way to pick up the girls (Thursday is pick-up day, just a few blocks down). Maybe some tomatoes this week! I received two huge, juicy beauties as a little gift this week, OMG, so good. Nathan and I had BLTs for breakfast today, loving every juicy-crispy-salty-smoky bite. We agreed that whoever made up that blessed sandwich was a genius. So simple - which means the ingredients have to be top notch. Nueske's bacon, a garden-ripe tomato, crisp lettuce, good toasted bread, and real mayo. Oh man, pretty hard to beat.

Moderate it: BLTs don't have to be unhealthy - on whole-grain bread, easy on the mayo, two slices of well-drained bacon, heavy on garden-ripe tomato. Fabulous.