Text 19591, 81 rader
Skriven 2012-01-05 20:00:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: trip: Xmas 30
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It was a rather late Christmas breakfast, 11 or so; we had some
locally-made sausage, smoked and regular - I had one of each;
the smoked were pretty good, like kielbasa; the regular, aside
from being very lean and a bit crumbly, were not notable. Side
of sunny side eggs (I made mine over easy). And Purity rolls,
which are very light yeast rolls, rather sweet, made by the
Rosencrans bakery. They are called this not because they are
angel soft or anything but rather because they used to be made
by the Purity bakery.

No lunch, but in the later afternoon, Rob came by, and we had
an ounce ($59, split 4 ways) of Caviar Russe hackleback caviar,
washed down with Domaine Chandon brut. Both are okay, neither is
worth the price. The caviar, from an American species of
sturgeon, is rather soft and with small squishy eggs; the flavor
is pretty good but not quite, you know, right; it's also on the
salty side. The lemony and appley Champagne substitute doesn't
have much staying power, though it's palatable enough. Rob
decided to feed the last tiny bit of the caviar to Lola (my least
favorite cat).

Rob wanted to make the scallopped oysters, so I ceded that task
to him. Mistake. His rather simple formula: oysters, crackers,
cream, and pepper. Annie, knowing I like scallopped oysters,
loaded up my plate, twice, much to the detriment of my pill
supply. The dish could have used a bit (read: an ounce) of
garlic and some salt, but even that wouldn't have been enough.
People ended up picking out oysters from the creamy bland dressing.
Again: one small fix in the kitchen would have provided big benefit.
On delicate inquiry, it turns out that neither Annie nor Rob tastes
while cooking. Word to the wise. We had a quart of oysters for
4 people, so there was enough anyhow without the white stuff.

Following this, another rib roast, this time with Annie's famous
Yorkshire pudding, which for some reason rose extra tall to the
occasion. I roasted Brussels sprouts in butter and sherry for
the veg: I so much prefer pan-fried I can't tell you, but this
is what people wanted.

Graffigna Centenario reserva Malbec 09 (Mendoza) was a robust
rich wine, with black cherry and berry notes; a little too
sweet and sour for my taste, but I think that's intentional.

I think there was some kind of pie for dessert, but I didn't
eat it.

==
26th

Billy's son and d-i-l drove over - 10 hours, partially in
sleet and snow - from Illinois. They're fun: Andrew is going
for a business degree after a stint in Iraq; Mary works in
foodservice procurement or distribution or something, I'm
not sure. They're pretty garrulous, and we all had a bunch of
laughs together.

Annie had made veal and eggplant parm in advance - as you know,
such dishes are much better after the flavors meld. This was
very good - she used a ton of olive oil, and her tomato sauce
is just like what I used to make. A fair amount of mozzarella,
which I sort of ate around, and a good sprinkle of Parm made
it richer-tasting and smelly but not unpleasantly so.

Bolla Pinot Grigio 08 was pretty watery and mediocre. Perhaps
past its prime, I don't know. I didn't drink but a sip.

Mary, having a palate, was kind of unimpressed with the Spasso
Pinot Grigio 10 that replaced the Bolla - she found it sour and
off-tasting; to me it seemed to be contaminated with labruscaness
but not horrid. I took her wine and mixed it 1:2 with orange juice;
a teaspoon of sugar, an ounce of Salignac Cognac, and a dusting of
cinnamon, eh walla: white sangria, which she liked. It was good
enough I made one for me as well.

Dragon's Hollow Merlot 08 (HeLan) - now this was pretty weird.
Very black peppery and very green at the same time, with other
spicy flavors I couldn't place. I didn't really care for it.

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