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Friday July 23, 2010

July is not the busiest cooking month for us which is always a bit frustrating because food is fantastic this time of year. Figs, greens, okra and herbs are coming from our own garden and the offerings from our friends at Path Valley Cooperative are extensive...I had a choice this week of 15 types of beets! We were happy to cook three times last week for enthusiastic eaters– 2 Home Restaurants and one Nomadic Restaurant. Below is the food and wine we served on Friday night.

passing
Whitmore Farms chicken liver with garlic, lemon and fennel
Whitmore Farms scrambled eggs and sorrel
Whitmore Farms bbq rabbit
Whitmore Farms grilled goat on kohlrabi
Figs with cabbage and radish
Chilled beet soup with cauliflower
Stuffed squash blossom

Lavender Vodka Martini
(Cuilleron) ROSE 'Sybel' VDP des Collines Rhodaniennes 2009

seated
Eco Friendly Foods beef sirloin with tiny potato, fermented grains, chives and parsley
(Pierre Gauthier) Bourgeuil "Vingt Lieux Dits" 2006

Purslane, tomato, peas, figs, green beans, corn, arugula and basil salad
(DeAngelis) Passerina DOC Offida 2009

Pacific black cod, okra, eggplant, carrot, blackened onion and baby red kale
(Regis Forey) Nuits Saint Georges AOC 2006

Ardrahan Cheese on a Walnut Cracker

Corn cake with raspberries, black berries, frozen maple syrup and caramelized pecans
(Tissot) Cremant du Jura "Indigene" NV

Friday June 4, 2010

A friends husband contacted me a couple months ago asking if we would be doing a Home Restaurant on Friday June 4 because he wanted to surprise his wife with dinner at 1508 as a birthday gift. This seemed like a great reason to schedule an open Home Restaurant for that night. The rest of the guests who made reservations were a mix of old friends and others that we met for the first time on Friday night...all were first time Home Restaurant goers.

One of our guests generously offered to coordinate with our menu and Tom (who helps us select wines to match our food) and contribute wines for a couple courses. He made two excellent choices from wines he had in his cellar– the champagne for the passing and the pinot that we served with the Halibut course. Enjoyed by all, both were great additions to the meal.

Below is the menu with wine pairings...

Passing
Egg and Sorrel Mousse
Beet Noodles with French Breakfast Radish and Parsley
Barbeque Whitmore Farm Rabbit
Asparagus with Garlic Scapes and Basil
Chilled Baby Zucchini Soup with Black Rice Cream
Basil Lime Vodka Martini
Henriot Brut Milliseme Champagne 1996 (Magnum)

Seated
Eco Friendly Foods Sirloin with Pea Shoot, English Peas, Sno Peas and Small Tomatoes Salad
(Roucas Toumba) Vacqueyras "Cabassoles" 2007

Pasta with Black Truffles, Stinging Nettles, Squash Blossoms, Morels and Porcini
(Mestre-Michelot) Meursault "Narvaux" 2006

Pacific Halibut with Saffron Mashed Potatoes, Spinach, Fennel and Leeks
Ken Wright, Canary Hill, Pinot Noir 1999 (Magnum)

Tome de Recollets with Walnut Cracker

Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble with Frozen Coconut and Candied Pistachio
(Grange Tiphaine) Nouveau Nez - Sparkling Montlouis 2008

Tiny Chocolate Birthday Cake with Candle and Small Cookies

Farm at Walker Jones

After months of talking there was finally some digging...
Very Exciting!

Non Dairy Milk and Yogurt

We have a few cooking projects that we are working on this summer. We have made non dairy milk before but have never come up with a specific recipe that we could regularly make to have in our pantry in lieu of buying cartons of milk. This milk will now be incorporated into our larder.

Non-Dairy Milk:

2 cups cashews
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup pearled barley
1 cup brown rice

1.Place cashews in a large bowl and cover with 6 cups of boiling water. Let sit for 20 minutes to an hour.

2.Place oats, barley and rice in a large pot. Add 9 cups of water, bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and let cook for 3 minutes. Cover mixture and let sit for 10 minutes. Letting this mixture sit longer will result in a thicker milk. Do not worry if the grains do not seem completely cooked they are ideal for extracting milk.

3.Place the grain mixture in a high power blender, I suggest at Vita Mix. Blend in batches for 30 seconds each. Strain mixture through a very fine strainer, discard the solid and keep the liquid.

4.Wash the blender thoroughly. Blend the cashew mixture until completely smooth and there is no remaining grainy-ness, about 2 minutes.

5.Combine the cashew and the grain mixture, chill your milk. This might be more of a cream like texture. If this mixture is too thick for your taste or desired use it can be thinned slightly with filtered water.

Non dairy yogurt has always been illusive because what is available at the market has lots of sugar. We are thrilled to have this as an option.

Non Dairy Yogurt:

9 cups non dairy milk (see recipe above)
1 cup yogurt starter (for first batch you can purchase any non dairy live yogurt for subsequent batches you can save 1 cup of your own yogurt to use as the starter) at room temperature

1.Heat milk to 110 degrees. Wisk in yogurt starter. Pour yogurt into glass or plastic containers, leaves lids ajar, partially covering the mixture but allowing air into the yogurt as well.

2.Let containers sit in a warm place at room temperature until yogurt reaches desired sourness and thickness. This will take anywhere from 8-20 hours. Cover with lids and refrigerate.

Vegan Class, Thursday July 8th

Thursday morning a great group of women came over to 1508 to talk about vegan food, vegan cooking and then we sat down to eat what we had prepared…while continuing to talk.

Luckily Suzanne was part of the group and took notes to help document the discussion…

As everyone gathered I asked what had drawn them to spend a good part of the day talking about vegan food. The answers were varied but everyone was interested in at least incorporating more vegan food into their diets. This led to a discussion about how each of us needs to determine a way of eating that works for us as individuals. This method of eating needs to take into consideration your metabolism, lifestyle, desires, schedule…Basically each of us needs to determine what feels right.

While preparing and enjoying lunch we talked about, among other things:
-Nutrition, sources of protein (beans, nuts, grains)
-Satisfaction, nut purees were of great interest
-Seasonal Ingredient Driven Food, sources and availability
-Cooking Methods
1. Roast, grapeseed oil, salt and pepper
2. Pickle/Marinate (raw), salt, pepper, acid (vinegar or lemon juice) and oil
3. Boil or Soak (mostly grains or beans), salt and pepper
4. Seasoning, allium, herbs, spices, vinegars and oils
-Processed vegan food and how to avoid
-Sweeteners, vegan sugar, agave nectar, honey, maple syrup, stevia
-Soy how much is good? How much is too much?
-Benefits of coconuts, especially young coconuts
-Setting up a vegan friendly pantry

Beforehand, John helped me prep a bunch of ingredients to facilitate the discussion and the lunch…
Grains (except where noted we cooked one cup of grains with 2 cups of water and 1 teaspoon salt)
Cracked wheat- pour 1 ½ cups hot water over and let sit until absorbed, about 5 minutes
Red lentils- bring to boil take off heat and let sit in water (drain sooner or later depending on desired texture)
Quinoa- cooking time depends on your desired final consistency
Brown rice- bring rice and 1 ½ cups water to boil, cover, turn to simmer, cook for 20 minutes, turn off heat and let sit for 10 minutes.
Farro – cook until soft, about 15 minutes
Barley- cook until soft, about 15 minutes

Nuts (soaked in water for a couple hours and then pureed in Vita Mix Blender)
cashew
pistachio
almond

Seeds (made into dressings)
pumpkin seed dressing
1 cup pumpkin seeds
1 tablespoon olive oil
¼ cup plus 2 teaspoons water
½ teaspoon salt

sesame dressing
½ cup tahini
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons water
1/4 teaspoon salt

Vegetables
Tomato, Fava Beans, English Pea, Sno Peas, Pea Shoots, Fennel, Leeks, Baby Beet with Greens, Carrots, Cucumbers, Purple and Yukon Gold Potatoes, Kohlrabi

While talking Thursday morning we prepared:
-walnut whole wheat bread, follow this link to a blog post I wrote about bread...the last paragraph has a recipe

-water soup, water, roasted garlic, caramelized onions, thyme, rosemary, sage, tiny potatoes and baby carrots

-red lentils with sorrel, farro and olive oil

-roasted baby purple and Yukon gold potatoes with pumpkin seed dressing and fresh chives

-roasted snow peas with barley, walnut vinegar and cider vinegar

-pursalane with kohlrabi, small tomatoes, fresh mint, parsley, lemon and olive oil

-roasted baby beets and tops with basil, balsamic and pistachio cream seasoned with pink Himalayan salt

-english peas, fava beans with cracked wheat, thyme, olive oil and sherry vinegar

-black and red raspberries with cashew cream (sweetened with maple syrup)

-oatmeal cookies
2 1/2 cup oatmeal
1/4 cup soy, almond or rice milk
1/4 cup grapeseed or olive oil
1/2 tablespoons baking powder
1 tablespoon agave nectar or honey
2/3 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
(add anything...dark chocolate chips, dried fruit, spices, puree fresh herbs with sugar...)

1.Combine all ingredients in a mixer and mix until about half of the oatmeal is broken into small pieces.
2.Bake individual cookies in a 350 degree oven until they are golden brown around the edges, about 12 minutes.

-chocolate white poppy seed shortbread

-salty rosemary walnut biscotti, follow link for this recipe and other vegan cookies

Great way to spend the day. I look forward to more discussions like this in the future.

Grandmothers Pink Peonies

These fabulous photos by Jennifer Domenick are from one of my June weddings. As I often say, I love doing flowers for weddings because of the collaboration. This wedding was just that...the brides bouquet and some of the other arrangements contained pink peonies from the brides grandmothers garden. The flower were carefully picked and wrapped by the brides mother who brought them to me to store until the wedding day (picked at marshmallow stage, wrapped in newspaper and stored in a cooler for a few weeks).

This wedding was the first time that I had worked with Jennifer Domenick of Love Life Images. The images below are stunning, to see more from the wedding check out Jennifer's blog posting about the event.

Thank you to Aimee and Danielle who I adore working with from Aimee Dominick events, as usual they took care of every detail–

Yeast, Fungi and Curing Diseases??

I make bread all the time and have a fascination and respect for yeast. I am not sure if I knew before reading this article but yeast is fungi– something else I have fascination and respect for–thinking about how yeast could potentially cure degenerative diseases... Olivia Judson, who I am a big fan of recently wrote an article about all of this called "Bubbles, Bread and Beer"...I really enjoyed reading it.

May Wedding– Dressing at The Tabard Inn and Wedding at The Darlington House

Just got some more photos today from a recent wedding...there have been a bunch ...tis the season.

I particularly loved this bouquet, much of it came from my own downtown garden...the popcorn hydrangea, mint, peonies and blueberries. My daughter was not thrilled that I cut from the blueberry plant for a bouquet before the berries had a chance to ripen! I will be sure to get her plenty from the farmers market this weekend.

Kate Headley's gorgeous photographs are below. You can find additional photographs from this wedding on her blog here. Kate shoots lots of her photographs with film, a rarity these days, at this wedding she used two of her favorite cameras the Twinlens Rolleiflex and the Contax 645--both use medium format film.

Deep in the Wedding Season, May Newseum

I have not been blogging much the last several weeks...from spring through mid-summer all my worlds collide with flowers, gardens and food in full swing.

A glimpse of what I have been up to can be gleaned through the fabulous photos below taken by Jay Premack (to see more of his photos from the wedding click here).

I really enjoyed this one. The bride was a joy to get to know, great team for the wedding–immaculate planning by Aimee Dominick and the dramatic setting of the Newseum...

There were so many fun touches including the terrarium wishing table, grass for place cards, eclectic vases with bountiful spring flowers...
More glimpses of weddings and musings about food to follow soon!

Impruneta Terracotta

I have planted several container gardens this season. One was a large outdoor kitchen and fireplace area that was begging for the warmth of plantings. I collaborated with the family who lives there and we decided to use a variety of containers made of heavy glazed pottery, copper and terracotta. They wanted all the pots to be maintenance free and durable with year round plantings. We talked about different varieties of terracotta– the inexpensive terracotta readily available vs. Impruneta terracotta.

Impruneta terracotta comes from the Tuscan village of Impruneta which is unique because the clay from there has a high concentration of minerals including iron, calcium and aluminum. The result is that the pots are much stronger than other terracotta pots and can be very large since the weight of the clay does not compromise the structure of the pot. These pots are able to withstand negative 20 degree Fahrenheit temperatures without damage. All of the pots are made by hand and are available in a great variety of sizes and shapes as well as custom sizes. One of the many things I love about these pots is that since they are hand made each is a bit different. I have used Impruneta terracotta for projects before but this time I got them from a different company, Tuscan Imports. They were efficient and a pleasure to work with and their pots are priced less expensively than others. The beauty and scale of the many pieces that I got were impressive.

3 Birthdays

We celebrated a couple of May birthdays...and one that was rescheduled from the February blizzard this past week. It is an honor to be part of celebrations. All three birthdays this weekend were a pleasure– made up of some people who we just met for the first time this weekend and many who we have been fortunate to get to know over the last year since we have been cooking at home.

We served many firsts of the season- tomatoes, baby zucchini, porcinis, celery, squash blossoms, rabbit, summer truffles...We are looking forward to another birthday dinner for an old friend this weekend.

The menus were all a bit different– here is Saturday nights food and wine:

Passing
BBQ Whitmore Farms Rabbit
Scrambled Eggs with Sorrel
Kaleidoscope Carrot Soup
Asparagus with Lemon and Garlic Chives
(Caves Jean Bourdy) Cremant du Jura Brut NV

Seated
Wild King Salmon with Beets, Beet Ketchup, Spring Onion and Summer Truffle
(Gerard Boulay) Sancerre ROSE 2008

Pasta with Baby Zucchini, Squash Blossoms, Young Garlic, and Porcini
(Vercesi) Pinot Nero Bianco "Gugiarolo" 2008

Pork Chop with Red Mustard Greens, Grits, Leeks and Celery
(Dom. des Hauts Chassis) Crozes Hermitage "Les Chassis" 2007

Tome des Recolletes with Olive Oil Cracker

Strawberry Pie with Frozen Mint Coconut and Candied Pistachios
(Grange Tiphaine) Nouveau Nez - Sparkling Montlouis 2008
Tiny Chocolate Birthday Cake

Cookies: Lavender Oatmeal, Peppermint Chocolate Chip, Salty Rosemary Walnut Biscotti

Spring Wedding

A few flower photos from a wedding this spring at The Fairmont Hotel.
Thank you to Alejo and Theresa of Flutter Photo for the fabulous photos...and congratulations to them on their marriage this weekend!

Overfished Species

We are fortunate to get both our fish as well as fish information from Jim Chambers. These days between health and environmental concerns it is complicated knowing which fish to eat.
Wanted to share a recent email he sent:

If you ever want to know which popular fish species are still in trouble (due to very low population levels) and have been listed by the federal government as "Overfished" in the annual report to Congress, see this link, then for the detailed list, choose FSSI and non FSSI Stocks.

The list is arranged by geographic region with the Northeast first, followed by the Southeast, then Gulf of Mexico, etc.

To understand how severely some populations have declined, look at the Bmsy ratio (next to far right column). A Bmsy of 1.00 means the population is "healthy" (as a fisheries biologist would say, it's at its Maximum Sustainable Yield). When Bmsy gets down to 0.05, it is nearing extinction. Anything below 1.00 is officially "overfished," which in itself is not too bad (as it can be rebuilt by controlling fishing pressure), but when it gets down below 0.50 things are getting very serious. Below 0.10, the population may never recover even if all fishing were to stop.

Seafood Guide
For a quick way to evaluate various seafood choices, I recommend using the Blue Ocean Institute's Seafood Guide.

All the seafood Prime Seafood offers is from sustainably managed fisheries and they are free of dangerous contaminants. Did you know that the cheap farm-raised salmon which is readily available from seafood vendors contains cancer causing contaminants (PCBs and PAHs) in concentrations high enough that eating "just one 6 oz. meal a month poses a high risk" of cancer?

This time of year we are enjoying Jim's King Salmon, Ivory King Salmon and Pacific Halibut.

Last Weekends Dinner Music

We cooked a few dinners last week. Monday night was at a friend's home in honor of guests from abroad. Friday night was an open Home Restaurant with some repeat diners and some who joined us for the first time. Saturday night was a joyous 50th birthday celebration.
We love cooking this time of year, the ingredients are exciting...dinners this week included morels, fiddle head ferns, soft shell crabs, ramps, wild shallots, rhubarb, king salmon, fava beans, sorrel, chervil and stinging nettles.

Friday and Saturday nights at the Home Restaurants we dined and cooked to a great play list that John put together:

How Deep Is The Ocean?, Doc Cheatham & Nicholas Payton
Jeepers Creepers, Doc Cheatham & Nicholas
Stardust, Doc Cheatham & Nicholas Payton
Black And Blue (Aka What Did I Do To Be So Black And Blue?), Doc Cheatham & Nicholas Payton
Save It Pretty Mama, Doc Cheatham & Nicholas Payton
Lush Life, John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman
Bye Bye Blackbird, Miles Davis & John Coltrane
Kathy's Waltz, Time Out, The Dave Brubeck Quartet
Ruby My Dear (Take 3), Solo Monk, Thelonious Monk
Summertime, The Blue Note Years - Volume 1 - Boogie Blues & Bop, Sidney Bechet
Moanin', Blue Note Years Vol 2- The Jazz Message (Disc 2), Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers
My One And Only Love, John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman
Everybody's Jumpin', Time Out, The Dave Brubeck Quartet
Cantaloupe Island, Cantaloupe Island, Herbie Hancock
Three To Get Ready, Time Out, The Dave Brubeck Quartet
In A Sentimental Mood, Duke Ellington & John Coltrane
Song For My Father, Blue Note Years- Vol 4 Hard Bop And Beyond (Disc 1), Horace Silver
Monk's Mood, Thelonious Monk
Freddie Freeloader, Kind of Blue, Miles Davis
Off Minor (Take 5), Monk's Music, Thelonious Monk
But Not For Me, My Favorite Things, John Coltrane
Strange Meadow Lark, Time Out, The Dave Brubeck Quartet
Misty, Compact Jazz:, Sarah Vaughan
They Say It's Wonderful, John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman
April In Paris, Thelonious Monk
The Sidewinder, Lee Morgan
Take Five, Time Out, The Dave Brubeck Quartet
Epistrophy, Monk's Music, Thelonious Monk
Goodbye Pork Pie Hat [Unedited Form], Mingus Ah Um [Remastered], Charles Mingus
Watermelon Man, Cantaloupe Island, Herbie Hancock
My Romance (fr Jumbo), Keith Jarrett Foundations, Keith Jarrett
Driftin', Fingerpainting: The Music Of Herbie Hancock, Christian McBride, Nicholas Payton & Mark Whitfield
Dolphin Dance, Fingerpainting, Christian McBride/Nicholas
I Was Doing All Right, Stan Getz & Oscar Peterson Trio
Little Sunflower, Number Two Express, Christian McBride
Fingerpainting, Fingerpainting: The Music Of Herbie Hancock, Christian McBride, Nicholas Payton & Mark Whitfield
Speedball, The Blue Note Years, Vol. 4: Hard Bop & Beyond 1963-1967 [Disc 2], Lee Morgan
Detour Ahead, Stan Getz & Oscar Peterson Trio
A Flower Is A Lovesome Thing, Lush Life: The Music of Billy Strayhorn, Joe Henderson
Asiatic Rates, Goin' Up, Freddie Hubbard
The Eye Of The Hurricane, Fingerpainting: The Music Of Herbie Hancock, Christian McBride, Nicholas Payton & Mark Whitfield
Smells Like Teen Spirit, These Are the Vistas, The Bad Plus
If I Were A Bell, Relaxin' With The Miles Davis Quintet, The Miles Davis Quintet
As Time Goes By, The Other Side Of Round Midnight, Dexter Gordon
All The Things You Are, West Coast Jazz Box (Disc 2), Hampton Hawes Trio
Tea For Two, I Got Rhythm, Vol. 3, Art Tatum
I Fall In Love Too Easily, I Remember Miles, Shirley Horn
Big Nick, Duke Ellington & John Coltrane

A Conversation About Greens

Today I had the pleasure to speak with a dynamic group of women about greens...some of the group had heard me talk several times over the last few years and some I just met today.
The topic greens...kind of a sprawling topic...
The hostess gathered a fantastic array of oils and vinegars for the event that we used for the demonstration. She provided mason jars so participants could mix their own dressings after lunch and take them home.
I brought a variety of spring greens from Path Valley Cooperative...mum leaves, wild cress, pea shoots, red ribbed dandelion greens, fava bean greens and spinach.
I also brought a soup that I made with stinging nettles that we served in small cups to sip on as the talk began.
I spoke about the individual greens, making salads, cooking greens and making soup. I presented the idea that having great oils, vinegars, salts and freshly ground black pepper in your larder invites experimentation and lots of greens eating. We made a few dressings but instead of giving recipes I encouraged the idea of experimentation and variety.
I also brought some wild ramps, baby leeks and red spring onions that we chopped finely and roasted quickly with a variety of greens in a hot oven.
Conversation was plentiful and jumped from relevant subject to subject including smoke point, sources, nutrition, washing methods of greens, dressings for young picky eaters, organic vs non-organic, olive oil classifications, farm market vs grocery store, how to grow your own...
After talking for a while we got plates of salad greens, wilted greens, whole wheat walnut bread and black bean spread. After the lunch we ate a rhubarb banana crumble with a mint sauce. While enjoying the food the conversation continued.

Recipe sketches from today to use as a starting point for experimentation...

Stinging Nettle Soup
grapeseed oil
1 onion finely sliced
1# clean stinging nettles (if you purchase dirty use rubber gloves to wash because they will irritate your skin)
water
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Heat stock pot over medium high heat. Lightly coat the bottom with grapeseed oil and cook onion until lightly browned. Add stinging nettles and enough water to just submerge the greens. Add some salt, bring to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes. Puree until very smooth in a high speed blender. Re-season with salt and pepper and serve.
-You could make this soup with a variety of different greens.

Sesame, Ginger, Rice Wine Vinegar Dressing
2 part sesame paste
2 part rice wine vinegar
1 part sesame oil
1/2 part soy sauce
1 part water
drop of agave nectar
finely grated ginger to taste
salt to taste

Start with these basic proportions, mix thoroughly and then adjust to your personal taste. Sesame paste can be substituted with peanut butter, almond butter or cashew butter.

Rhubarb Crumble
2 1/2 cups oatmeal
1/4 cup milk or soy milk or almond milk
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup sugar plus additional sugar for fruit
2 tablespoons agave nectar or honey
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
rhubarb sliced
banana sliced

Combine oatmeal, milk, oil, 1/2 cup sugar. agave nectar, baking powder and salt in a mixer and process until oatmeal breaks down into smaller pieces, about 1 minute.
In a large bowl combine rhubarb, banana . Toss fruit with enough sugar for fruit to be lightly coated with sugar (approximately 1 tablespoon of fruit for every 2 cups of fruit).
Place fruit in an oven proof dish and cover with oatmeal topping.
Place in a 350 degree oven and bake until top is golden brown and fruit is soft.
-This cobbler recipe can be used will all types of fresh fruit, less sugar can be used if you are using sweet fruits

Mint Sauce
juice and meat from 1 young coconut
2 cups coconut milk
1 cup fresh mint
1 tablespoon Artisan Coconut Butter
Agave Nectar to taste
large pinch of pink Himilayan salt

In a small pot combine coconut milk and mint. Bring to boil and remove from heat, let mint seep for at least 20 minutes. Remove mint from coconut milk and discard the mint.
Combine all ingredients in a high speed blender, chill before serving.
-This sauce is a great compliment to most fresh fruit and many fresh fruit desserts. It can also be frozen in an ice cream maker resulting in a delicious frozen dessert

April Birthday Lunch

Birthday Cake mid-way through being frosted

We have been cooking a lot the last couple of weeks. It is exciting as each new spring ingredient shows up. Early in the week I got a call from Katie at Path Valley Cooperative telling me that she had the first few pounds of asparagus. She asked if she should save it for me...YES! The most tender sweet purple asparagus arrived.

Today was nomadic, not at 1508, a small birthday lunch. Perfect weather made it possible for them to eat in a small city garden. When we arrived grandchildren were decorating for their grandmothers surprise 75th birthday, spring flowers were blooming...

Buffet Birthday Lunch
April 11, 2010

Passing
Carrot Soup
Corncake and Avocado

Buffet
Pacific Halibut with Spring Onions
Morels and Fiddle Head Ferns with Wilted Pea Shoots and Garlic Chives
Roasted Baby Red Ace Beets
Small Yellow Finn Potatoes with Sorrel
Hand Harvested Wild Rice with Wild Cress and Herbs
Purple Asparagus
Shaved French Breakfast Radish with Girasol and Sunflower Sprouts
Spelt Baguettes

Dessert
Chocolate Birthday Cake with Buttercream Icing and Vanilla Ice Cream

Piano at 1508

A week ago we had a piano salon at 1508. The event organized itself somewhat by chance upon meeting a new friend who knew the pianist Sara Danesphour. Sara was looking for a small venue to perform in preparation for a larger concert. We set our front room up with rows of chairs, sent out an invitation and took the first 30 who responded. The audience ranged in age, the youngest being 5 years old. We all sat mesmerized as we listened to Sara...she is amazing. Certainly I had no idea that our piano could sound like that.

We prepared a simple buffet, with spring ingredients, and after the music all enjoyed dinner and conversation.

It was fun. Last month we did a photo opening with Abby Greenawalts images of an artisinal slaughter at Eco Friendly Foods. Recently a Home Restaurant guest told me that he would like to do a magic show at our house! Very much looking forward to that and whatever comes next!

The program from Last Sunday, April 4th:

Sonata no. 7 in D major, op.10 no. 3 Beethoven

Presto
Largo e mesto
Menuetto: Allegro
Rondo: Allegro

Variations on the name ABEGG Schumann

Concert Paraphrase of Rigoletto Liszt

Intermission

Estampes Debussy

Pagodes
Soiree dans Grenade
Jardin sous la pluie

Variations on a theme by Corelli Rachmaninoff

Toccata Prokofiev