Had a dinner party with some friends, everyone brought a dish and I made apps and paella.
Apps: charcuterie board, shrimp cocktail, Rueben egg rolls and pizza dip and an old family favorite slender James with a bourbon dipping sauce.
Entrees: paella - skirt steak - beef bourguignon w/mashed potatoes. Let’s say the bourguigon and skirt steak were the highlights of the night. My paella while looking pretty was in fact a mess. Soupy and salty to say the least. Thankfully the company made up for the lackluster paella. (shout outs to @BossaNova & @seal)
Desert: over the moon chocolate pie courtesy Mrs Notjr.
Ok well now that I have 10+ likes on my dinner party post, I’m rather surprised nobody called me out on my “prank”. The “slender James appetizer is actually a cut up HUGE Slim Jim my brother in law gave me a few weeks ago. I’ve had the stupid thing laying around staring at me so I decided to pass it off as a Vienna style sausage with a bourbon based hickory dipping sauce. (Sweet Baby Ray’s bbq sauce) I was called out on it by one of my guests. Lol
“Bite into a Slender James” when you want to sound classy!!
I actually did get the joke, and thought it was really funny. I should have said something. I bet it got hoovered up quickly. Did your guests figure it out?
Last night we had some appetizers out followed by a small salad with seared ribeye and oyster mushrooms at home. Tonight we had blackened salmon, COTC, broccoli cheese, and a green salad.
Cheeeeesesteak on a toasted brioche bun (toasted on the wrong side) with sauteed red bell peppers, mushrooms, and caramelized onions, topped with grated Manchego cheese.
Tonight I prepared one of our favorite simple summer dinners, inspired by a warm Sunday in May.
We had baby greens and greenhouse-grown cherry tomatoes from our CSA box. I decided it was time to grill a strip steak outside in the warm evening, reverse-sear style. Dressed with blue cheese, balsamic vinegar, and a peppery Greek olive oil.
The wisteria that dominates the side porch in this old house also decided to bloom today. We look forward to this sight every year so I’m sharing a bonus photo.
We were all fooled by paella . I’m changing my recipe next time too . Less Spanish paprika. Though after having much wine to drink I ordered some fish stock and base from Spain off Amazon. The sweet life . Cheers.
Apparently I made an Olive Garden soup! Though I’d never had theirs (only been to OG once, in the 80s, which was more than enough.) Italian sausage, bacon, potatoes in chicken broth with heavy cream. instead of kale, i used the radish greens i had on hand, and arugula, fresh rosemary & oregano. Also chopped red bell pepper, a red fresno chili, and a parm regg rind. Mostly it was to use stuff i had in the fridge and tooth-friendly for the BF. White beans would have been even better than potatoes in this. it was good if a bit salty.
Tonight was an adventure! This afternoon, the museum I co-manage opened for the season and had a very successful first day in this COVID-era world. Mind you this is a volunteer position that manages to be more work and stress that my two other jobs. But I love it, so whatever.
Got home in the late afternoon and had drinks and snacks outside in this beautiful weather. Twisted Tea for the BF, and a martini with gin, elderflower liqueur, and Rose’s lime juice for me. A basket of “roasted” popcorn and some endive salad to snack on while we decided what to order. And decided and decided and decided…
We ended up DoorDashing Indian food from our favorite place. We ordered at 7. The time of delivery was confirmed to be between 8 and 8:25 PM. Okay, not a disaster…more time to drink! 7:45 comes, we check the app, and it says no driver has confirmed pick up. The restaurant is less than 10 minutes away, neither of us are sauced, so I call the restaurant. They say the food is ready. I tell them that I’m going to cancel the DoorDash and come in and pay directly. They said no problem. I add another appetizer. BF goes on the app to cancel and we are told that we would only be refunded $9.97 of our $71 order if we cancel. No f*ckin’ way. So I call the restaurant AGAIN and say nevermind, we can’t cancel, and forget the appetizer since it’s not through DoorDash. They understood. Finally, 8:30 comes around and a driver confirms pickup. It arrived at 8:45. Not that I didn’t mind waiting, it’s just the not-knowing factor. Lesson learned? Unless we’re incredibly inebriated, no more DoorDash (a rarity anyway). No pics of the food. Was too buzzed…and hungry!
Though I’d never had theirs (only been to OG once, in the 80s, which was more than enough.) Italian sausage, bacon, potatoes in chicken broth with heavy cream. instead of kale, i used the radish greens i had on hand, and arugula, fresh rosemary & oregano. Also chopped red bell pepper, a red fresno chili, and a parm regg rind. Mostly it was to use stuff i had in the fridge and tooth-friendly for the BF. White beans would have been even better than potatoes in this. it was good if a bit salty.
