Geeky food post

Alright, so here it is: I'm a food geek. It's the main vocation I've been pursuing after quitting my job. Tonight I threw a birthday dinner for a friend of mine, and I must post the menu. I haven't put this much thought and care into a menu in a long time. She's vegetarian, so that's the reason for the absence of meat.

We started with a drink called a Fresh Prince. My friend Christine Murphy shared it with me about a year ago, and I really dig it. You muddle the hell out of cucumber and fresh mint, then mix it with lime juice, simple, and lime-flavored bubbly water. Yummy, refreshing, an awesome aperitif!

Then we moved on to the first course, which consisted of a cheese platter with grapes and Blue Diamond nut thins. There was a variety of cheeses, among them gruyere, goat cheese, Gjetost, and a local sheep's milk cheese from Locust Grove Farms (the Galloway variety). I was quite pleased with all of them, especially the Galloway and the goat cheese.

Along with the cheese course, we had some deviled eggs. I planned on making this a separate course, but it just didn't seem practical at the time. These aren't just any deviled eggs, either - these deviled eggs made me remember how great deviled eggs can be, made me wonder why I don't make them more often. They're a mustard-curry concoction with other yummy things, and I love them.

Next on the menu was a Mexican-inspired bean salad. The different thing about this food foray was that I was super excited about plating things. So for starters, I took a salad plate and put on it two round slices of jicama, several long slices of red pepper, and chili-lime chips. Then, in the middle of the all of it, I put a mango-black bean salad with cilantro, scallions, and spices. Yummy! The mango was actually ripe and happy, which totally made it, and the spices from the salad went really well with the jicama (such an awesome veggie!).

Here we took another booze break - it was, after all, a celebration of Davenne's 21st birthday. I found a recipe for a Rum Swizzle and modified it. What we ended up with was fresh-squeezed Minneola tanglo juice, raspberry wine liqueur, fresh mint, lime juice, lime-flavored bubbly water, and some homemade vanilla. I experimented with adding some of the red wine from dinner, which totally made it pop, and we all enjoyed that.

The end of the savory portion of dinner came with a green salad tossed with olive oil & red wine vinegar that had been hanging out with 2 smashed cloves of garlic for several hours. I also mixed avocado and grapefruit with lemon juice and topped it all off with walnuts. A great combination, definitely one of my favorites.

Ah, dessert. This was the part Davenne had been skeptical about. The first time I read the recipe for Strawberries Balsamic, I was definitely a bit wary. I thought it would be really gross... and then I made it and didn't want to stop eating it ever. You just quarter strawberries and macerate them (add sugar) like normal, but you also add balsamic vinegar (maybe 2 Tbsp.) and some freshly cracked pepper, coarse grind. Let that sit for at least 30 minutes, then put it in a bowl and top it with whipped cream. You're done, and your tastebuds will be so happy. :) To serve it, I chose a big martini glass and alternated one layer of strawberries with one layer of whipped cream; I ended up with two layers of each. I topped it off with a small leaf of basil, and then we finished off the red wine with it.

The one thing I forgot to mention was the champagne. I found a bottle of yellow label Veuve Clicquot on sale and had to buy it back in the fall. I had no idea what to do with it. I thought of using it for New Year's, but champagne was already provided there, so I didn't want to waste this amazing bottle of champagne. Then Davenne, whose family visits France a lot, inspired me (just by being her amazing self) to throw a dinner party, and the perfect excuse came up! It's such great champagne.

This is what I love: to make a big huge fuss over someone by creating an awesome dinner and then spending time with a group of friends enjoying it all. It was a day well spent.