 |
| We are pretty busy right now Mom! |
 |
| Mitch hand-crafted the place mats that also served as menus for the meal based on the geographical locations of the kids now-start in the middle at Lava Flows and follow the red pathway! |
 |
| "Lava flows"-light rum, coconut rum, frozen strawberries, a banana, pineapple juice and coconut cream-delicious! |
From Joe:
modified from: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/
Original recipe makes 4 servings Change Servings
Ingredients
1/2 cup butter
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 large onion, diced
8 ounces fresh morel mushrooms, sliced-I switched this for ~4oz morels and 4oz chanterelles
1 tablespoon chicken soup base
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
2 cups water
2 cups heavy cream
1/8 teaspoon ground dried thyme
salt to taste
2 teaspoons ground black pepper
Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Stir in the garlic, onion, and morels; cook, stirring frequently, until the onions have softened and turned translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in chicken soup base and flour; cook for 1 to 2 minutes. Pour in water and cream; bring to a simmer, and cook 5 minutes.
Puree half of the soup in small batches, filling the blender no more than halfway full each time. Return soup puree to pot. Cook on low 10 to 15 minutes. Season with thyme and salt and pepper before serving. (Here I might have used more pepper, salt, and definitely more thyme). I added 1-3 tablespoons of truffle oil after all cooking was complete and stirred it in. I also added a drop on top of each bowl with a shake of pepper.
Christin made an Asian salad (click for recipe) followed by her Grandmother's Shrimp Thermidor-lovely! (I have her handwritten notes but will make a word doc later to attach!)
Nick came in strong with Kuay Tiaw Pad Thai-both chicken and shrimp (Click for Recipe). Nick and Nicki pulled this off by multiplying x 6 so luckily we enjoyed it several days in a row!
We took a breather (!) and played "Hit or Miss" for a few
hours. They are questioning my sanity but the scoring for hitting on a miss and missing on a hit somehow challenged my cerebral cortex function with the double-negative issues. "She's smart too, but she can't get it right" (that made me feel better!) was heard as I consulted my "cheat sheet" for scoring. There are a few of us on earth that missed this "grid" in our brain--the one that scores games like this and can visualize the room directly above and below me in the house without closing my eyes and really thinking! Sadly true. (where are you Emily? You would have borrowed the cheat sheet I am certain!)
Mitch then topped off the night by making mini-cannoli with sorbet! He made a cherry flavored and chocolate chip version of fillings (my first cannoli! The store in Boston put me off by serving such huge ones, I never really cared to try one--wow-I love the smaller version!) and served with Raspberry Rose Sorbet--a fabulous ice cream treat made with 3 ingredients-rose, raspberries and sugar (Click for recipe).
Afterward Nick said--"Ok- I know you love us all equally and all that, but what was your favorite part?" Each of them named their favorite course, but I really truly feel it was all the most wonderful food ever---and of course I do love them equally and thankfully especially for making memories like this!
Kids-you don't need to do this every year-but as long as you do, I'll be there!
As we all know, Torrey was unable to join us on December 30th for "Bummerfest" but arrived the next day and had time with Mitch before leaving for a semester abroad at Trinity College in Dublin. By then we were staying pretty chilled-out by the fire with football games but did sneak in a game of Cranium. We were so thrilled to meet her and know that they had another chance to celebrate the season with this time together.
~~~~~CHEERS~~~~~
Gesondheid (Afrikaner)
Skål (Norwegian)
Chok dee (Thai)
Å’kålè ma’luna (Hawaiian)
Salute (Italian)
Sláinte (Irish)
No comments:
Post a Comment