Fresh Tart

Ah, the glassware. Crystal flutes and goblets, mere hours ago filled and fragrant, cradled and kissed, now stand alone - a stark bouquet of dried red and gold in the morning light...

Sorry, got a little carried away there.

Suffice it to say, we had a party last night, woo hoo!  A dinner party - six of us total, few snacks, little meat-n-potatoes, sips of wine, chat and laughs, cheese and fruit, everyone toddled home and off to bed.  (You might have read about a few of those here before...)  But this party was different than our usual, a new trick for us old dogs - we didn't know our guests!  You see, our dinner was a silent auction item for a local school fundraiser that someone bid on and purchased.  (Thank you Pam Van Ert for coming up with the concept and setting it all up.)  How cool is it that someone actually paid to have dinner with John and me?  Very cool.  Very, very cool.

As are the two couples who joined us, Cindy & Ed Bennett and Liz & Mark Pihart.  I confess, I'd met Cindy & Liz, as we're all neighbors and such, but I hadn't met the boys and John had met no one.  With a "we eat anything" all-clear (yes!), I sat down earlier in the week to plan the menu.  I have to say, I had a blast thinking about what to serve and how to serve it.  A soup course?  Plated entree?  In the end, I decided that it would be most fun for everyone if I just did my usual - appetizers with drinks, buffet-style dinner, simple dessert.  I wanted to actually talk with our guests, so I made sure I wasn't standing out on the deck grilling while all the fun happened inside.  I chose uncomplicated dishes that have been successful in the past.  And I chose dishes I could prep in advance with just minor finishing (sweating over a hot stove in heels and jewelry, in front a group of people I've just met, uh no).  Here's how it all shook out:

Grilled bread with a platter of ricotta, tapenade, salami, roasted tomatoes, and olives
Grilled artichokes with mustard sauce
Prosecco, Pinot Noir, Fume Blanc

Herb-roasted beef tenderloin (garlic, rosemary, thyme)
Wild mushroom sauce
Mashed potatoes (sour cream, pecorino romano)
Swiss chard (pancetta, pine nuts, currants, balsamic)
Malbec, Grenache

Cheeses, brownies
Muscat

I spared our new friends from having their pictures on my blog - a first-timers' pass.  I also spared them from watching me photograph the food I was serving them - not exactly what they bid on, ha.  In the end, John and I had a complete blast.  Both couples are smart and funny, and gracious guests, and the whole night flew by, whoosh.  Bonus?  They're all four serious Foodies.  As in wild-asparagus-hunting, organic-vegetable-growing, whole-pig-roasting Foodies - love!

Sharing a meal with friends old and new...yeah, it's all good.

On Wisconsin! Or, not so much, since I've been back for a week already, and the Badgers are 0-3 in the Big Ten as of last night. Ouch. But no matter, the real reason for last weekend's trip was to get together with my long-time friends Cami and Michelle, and the three of us had a BLAST. Beautiful weather, lots of walking, drinks on the Terrace, Saturday morning Farmer's Market, dinner at Kabul, beer at the KK, and a real-deal Badger tailgate party (grilled brats with all the fixin's!) more than made up for a sorry football game. We had low expectations for the game anyhow - the fabulous Wisconsin Marching Band had been suspended from playing last weekend. Boooooooo! Camp Randall without the band? Pfffft, nothin'. Oh, the student section managed a few raunchy cheers on their own, but the pom squad had no drums to shake it to, half-time was completely silent, and at the end of the game, everyone just...left. No 5th quarter = no fun.

As is typical for me, a few nights of less than adequate sleep (and more than adequate beer) means getting sick. I knew I'd blown it by Sunday night - sore throat, raspy voice, here we go. I did my best to fight it off this week, but here I sit, coughing and sniffling, damn those Badgers! (But totally worth it!)

I even rallied to put on a bit of a feast Thursday night as we loosely celebrated Yom Kippur. John doesn't fast, and I'm not Jewish, but no matter - we invited Jewthran Suz and her family, and Stacey, Cooper, and Bowen as well, and had a lovely meal in honor of the most important of Jewish holidays. I made matzo ball soup with very rich chicken broth, beef brisket with gravy, mashed potatoes, green beans, and challah. Suz made a caramel apple pie and a pumpkin pie for dessert, both to die for. It was a school night, plus we had little Coop, so we ate early (and heartily, uff), and toddled off to bed by 10:00. L'chaim!

This weekend, keeping things pretty low key. Tortilla soup for dinner last night - its spicy garlicky-ness cleared the sinuses quite nicely. Wish I had some of that matzo ball soup for today, oooh, but no, it's all gone. Sniff. I still have a spot of delicious, beefy gravy left from Thursday's meal, however; I'll have to innovate around that so it doesn't go to waste. Perhaps something a la stroganoff - whisk in a bit of sour cream, serve over sauteed steak and mushrooms, I can picture it. Yeah, I can picture it quite clearly, in fact. I'm off to the store...