Hedonia

A holiday dinner fête

Gluttons for punishment that we are, DPaul and I embarked upon another of our madcap dinner party concepts. We entertain relatively frequently, but maybe once a year we go balls-out and conspire to make something a little extra over-the-top. Last year, we did a big Iberian-themed fiesta; the year before, we celebrated the holidays with a carnilicious crown roast of pork. This year, we took the inadvertent pork theme to a whole new level.

The two of us are (luckily!) similarly wired. We have aligned sensibilities around the arc of a meal, and enjoy throwing ourselves into the creative process of planning events. We love devising menus, dreaming up table decorations, and taking a project manager's mind to the tasks that must be achieved leading up to the party. In this post, I'll give you a little visibility into the special madness that is our method to entertaining.

I present to you the menu: 

Appetizers
"Snowballs"
House-cured olives
Coppa-wrapped persimmons

Amuse-bouche
Porcini gelée, brussels sprout, chestnut purée

Soup
Pomegranate borscht

Entrée
Roast leg of boar (feral swine)
Butternut squash risotto

Salad
Dandelion greens, persimmon, hoshigaki, pomegranate, pecan

Dessert
Mission Pie apple-cranberry
Mitchell's egg nog ice cream

Lobster rolls

Happy Labor Day!

I often tell people that my hometown in Upstate New York is a lovely place to be from. I love living in San Francisco, and in California in general, and I have little desire to return back to the Northeast. However, there are a handful of things I do miss.

When I was young, I spent a fair amount of time on and around the New England shores. My father lived in Massachusetts and New Hampshire for most of my life, and my mother and I would often take summer trips to Cape Cod or Rhode Island. I loved those pebbly beaches, the balmy days and, above all else, lobster rolls.

I have been pining for years -- years -- for lobster rolls. There's really nothing all that remarkable about them: Just lobster meat barely dressed, served in a bun with a side of potato chips and a pickle spear. But two things have thwarted me in fulfilling my craving. First, lobster is not particularly common out here, and when it's available it's insanely expensive. But second and more importantly, I could never find the right kind of bun.

You see, lobster rolls are served in hot dog buns, but they must be top-cut buns. That way, you have the most important feature: Sides that have exposed crumb, which you then brush with butter and broil or griddle. Cuz, you know, the lobster and mayonnaise just aren't rich enough. Lo and behold, Whole Foods stocks hot dog buns that have not been sliced in either direction, so at long last I was able to achieve lobster roll nirvana.

The contrast of the warm, toasted sides of the bun and the cool, creamy lobster salad are the perfect taste of summer, and a flash of nostalgia from my childhood. My craving has been sated for at least another year.

Spring Frolic 2007

Ah, the benefits of an East Bay Monarchy. This year's Spring Frolic, hosted by our Berkeleyite regent Queen Liz, was held in Tilden Park yesterday. Cool breezes gave way to balmy sun as we flaunted our gaudy, silly hats in competition for pointless prizes. Above, DPaul displays his decomposing flower hat while Reese takes in a little sun.

This year's theme was Clowns 'n' Compost, a complex concept to be sure -- yet the judges had a difficult time deliberating for the winner of the eponymous category between the over-the-top compost of glamour chapeau and the beyond-cute family effort with circus tricks and all. But there were many other categories to compete in as well, such as Biggest/Tallest, Most Genderbending and Most Seasonal (DPaul took that one). Myself, I managed to take the dubious honor of Puh-lease, Queen, You Shoulda Left It At Home with my ozone-depleting styrofoam cup hat. I maintained that I should have won for Clowniest/Most Decomposed as my hat, literally millions of years in the making, was made from dead dinosaurs. Ah well.

More photos here and here. Do you have a creative itch that can only be scratched by building crazy hats? Ask me about getting invited to next year's event.

Break fast

Each year DPaul and I give up something for lent. It's not that we're the least bit Catholic, but we have found it to be a nice study in self-discipline, which has never really been our strong suit. Every year we give up something different, driven by factors in our lives. One year we gave up beer, back at a time when we were pretty big beer drinkers. In 40 days we lost several pounds, and it forever changed our relationship with that beverage. We still enjoy it, but now much more sparingly, such as on the three or four really hot days we get here in San Francisco.

This year, we gave up bread and potatoes. This was really DPaul's idea, as he had a little burger-and-fries monkey to get off his back. Within the first few days, though, we began to redraw the boundaries just a little bit, qualifying "bread" with the word "leavened." So tortillas were fair game, and they quickly became our new staple. Pita, matzoh and other flatbreads were also not verboten, but still didn't creep much into our diet save for my occasional bag of Stacy's pita chips.

This fast was no real hardship for me. I don't have the deep craving for potatoes that my other half does, and though I love bread as much as anyone, I have the mettle to refuse it. The only real change was that, since lunch options in my neighborhood are generally limited to sandwich or salad, I ate a lot more salads.

But what I did miss, actively, was pizza. For us to go a week without it is unusual; to go 40 days is unheard of. Many nights, as we came home exhausted and numb from busy days, we were tempted to break our fast for the sake of convenience and comfort, but held true. Even when we ordered Indian in its stead, we eschewed the naan to keep in the spirit, even though we technically could have gotten away with it, as it is unleavened.

So this Easter, in lieu of a traditional ham, it's all about pizza. Delivery, thank you very much.

(To be perfectly honest, we did break our fast last night. We were having a pre-Easter dinner at Cam & Anita's place, and Anita was checking in on our lenten restrictions. I told her that we had decided that by the time we arrived for dinner at their house, it would already be Easter in the Vatican, so we were free and clear. Jesus would have eaten that potato gratin, too ... though probably not the ham, delicious though it was.)

Feeling good

"It's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life/And I'm feeling good..." -Nina Simone

Moreover, it's a new year, and I'm feeling good. Good about the year's prospects. Good about where I am, and where I'm going. Good.

I'm an optimistic person by nature, and not especially superstitious, but that didn't stop me from preparing and eating a traditional New Year's Day meal that's meant to inspire good fortune for the upcoming 365.

Many people know about the Southern tradition of eating black-eyed peas and collard greens; in fact it was a popular topic on the food blogs. Fewer people are aware that Italians have a beany tradition all their own, involving lentils. And me, I have to Italian everything up a bit.

The real traditional dish involves cotechino, a pork sausage. I hadn't planned that far ahead, and just stuck with some (very good) Niman Ranch applewood-smoked bacon. The greens were Swiss chard purchased from the farmer's market on Saturday, prepared how I always do them, with garlic, chili flake and lemon. Oh, and bacon.

The bread was also homemade, and really excellent. But I feel it deserves a post of its own, so stay tuned for that.

It's not pretty food (the colors got some enhanced saturation thanks to the magic of Photoshop), and certainly not food I would serve company. But the flavors were solid and the overall dish was humble, hearty and satisfying. Good, even.