Text 19224, 149 rader
Skriven 2009-01-06 12:51:12 av Michael Loo (1:18/200.0)
Ärende: 12th nt celebration42
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Twelfth Night party

I got there early to help - cut up vegetables and stuff, decant
the wine, and so on. I'd asked Nicholas if he had lunch plans,
and he said no, so I didn't eat beforehand. When he picked me
up from the train station and I suggested lunch, he admitted
that he'd already eaten. Oh, well. I prepped for a couple hours
(decanting wine takes a long time) and then said that I could
use a snack. Nicholas averred that he was about to faint from
hunger as well and asked if popcorn shrimp would be okay. Fine,
said I, so he pulled out a box of Sea Pak brand readymade from
the freezer. It turns out to be an okay brand, pretty much what
you'd get at a restaurant. With this he offered Vlasic no sugar
added bread and butter spears (pretty decent, though there's
this Splenda bite aftertaste - it's amazing to me that there
is anyone on this planet who can't tell) and what I called Fatal
Remoulade - mayo, Trader Joe's chili sauce, and an arbitrary
quantity of Dave's Insanity. I got the expected terrible
aftereffect, owing in part, as I discovered later, to the fact
that the Sea Pak brand uses milk in its shrimp breading.

Nicholas made hummus, which is notable mostly for the amount of
raw garlic, and his famous eggnog, see below.

A baked ham went in for 3 1/2 hr at 275F - it was supposed to
bake for 2 1/2 hr, but Nicholas forgot it, as his oven timer
has ceased to function. At 6:15 I lay down in the music room
for a short nap but soon heard a bleating from upstairs: take
the ham out of the oven! So I did so The only sufferings were:
the fat, scanty to begin with, had essentially disappeared; the
meat was just a tad dry and just a tad crumbly; and the juice
had condensed into a half-caramelized jelly.

Nicholas's famous cherry-pineapple relish is a way to take
good fresh fruit and make it taste like canned. I don't eat
this kind of stuff; he is partial to it, though, and his
serving of ham had as much relish as ham (despite the diabetes
and the Splenda fixation).

Aloo saag from the Jane Grigson recipe was way too bland, so
I jazzed it up a little, adding fenugreek leaves and some of
the ham jelly.

Nicholas made a mild Kerala-style chicken curry with coconut
and the usual condiments. I thought it too creamy and bland,
but he averred that for just this once he was altering his
fiery tastes for the benefit of the guests and the wine.

Turmeric rice - just after starting to put food on the table
and call in the guests, Nicholas realized that he'd forgotten
all about the rice! So we measured out 4 cups of it and 8 cups
of chicken broth and made rice; as soon as he was out of the
kitchen I stirred in a teaspoon of turmeric. I'd have added
some kala jeera and cumin (but couldn't find them) and a few
cloves and/or cardamom pods (but that would have been just too
obvious)

Desserts were provided by various female guests: Beth the food
historian made a fruit roulade, which I didn't taste; Francoise,
a very accomplished pastry person, made an apple tart that looked
like something that came out of a starred restaurant (I didn't
try this, either); and Veronica, who lives in the Correze 10 or
20 miles from Ian and Jacquie, made a fruit salad - I just drained
off some liquid and mixed it with rum, and that was my dessert.

The wines were weird.

Duchi di Castelluccio Montepulciano d'Abruzzo 79 - I was to open
six of these, but one was badly corked, so I ended up opening
seven, which I numbered and put on the table in preference order
(the procedure: decant; wash bottle; taste and rank; pour back
into bottle). The base: good tannin still, color varied from
lightening ruby to brownish, aromas varied from Camembert and
fruit to somewhat oxidized but with prunes and raisins. On the
palate, fairly acid but in balance, quite dry.

#1 was youthful and vigorous on opening but began to oxidize
fairly rapidly.

#2 was nice and smooth and stayed that way, perhaps even improving
a little on breathing. By dinnertime I thought it surpassed #1.

#3 was peppery and tannic at first; it had the characteristics
still of a young wine (it also had one of the two intact corks
- the others went from dubious to exploded). Francoise, who has
a reputation as a great epicure, hated it - too harsh, she said;
others liked it.

#4 and 5 had varying degrees of oxidation but were still quite
drinkable. One of these had a fairly intact cork, but the other's
cork was quite crumbled and made a mess coming out. Still, they
were similar in every way.

#6 was almost completely maderized, in a good sense. I pointed
out that it had characteristics of a good Sherry and described
the aging as having produced a "controlled oxidation." I don't
think this could be regulated, but if it could, a great new
style of wine might be born. By the end of the bottle, though,
a sort of weird yeastiness had crept in. This had I seem to
recall the other of the two intact corks.

#7 suffered from eau de swamp and was pronounced undrinkable
by all except our epicure, who, surprisingly, didn't know the
difference when her glass of #6 was switched with it: she
continued to disparage what she thought was #7 and praise #6
despite the fact she was now drinking #7. She was so persistent
that I took a sniff from her glass. Palate dead!

#1-3 and 6 sold out fairly rapidly, with a solid trade in
the others, except for #7, which few could tolerate.

Pagliarese Chianti Classico 78 - a great disappointment.
Light brownish color, not a whole lot of sediment. Aroma
of prunes. Very acid, little tannin. Quite vinegary and
would do well in a salad dressing but not much else.

I spent much of the evening working, and when I wasn't working
talking to Irina Muresanu's husband, who didn't know anyone
else there. Afterward, by way of reward, Irina gave me an even
bigger hug than usual and a warm kiss, which was nice but made
me reflect on how the identity of the kisser makes the kiss, and
how Irina, though extremely talented, extremely agreeable, and
extremely glamorous, does absolutely nothing for me.

The party broke up before midnight, which is good.

Harriet's eggnog
cat: holiday, booze
yield: 1 lg batch

12 eggs, separated
1 c sugar (to 1 1/2 c)
2 bottles cheap brandy
1/4 c Myers dark rum
2 qt heavy cream
nutmeg

Beat egg whites stiff with half the sugar. Put into punchbowl.

Beat egg yolks until light with half the sugar. Fold into whites.

Stir in the remaining liquids. Serve in 6 oz punch cups with a
dusting of nutmeg.

Source: what I remember Nicholas doing, after his mother's
recipe, only he used that granulated cup-for-cup Splenda stuff

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