when you make the choice to invite people in your home who love food as much as you do, you better be ready to present some fantastic options. amber and james are two of my friends who eat a little differently than i do but share the same exact passion for the bottom line of culinary desire: food. to prepare for their arrival, i spent the week thinking about some of the things i wanted to share with them and found myself spending two hours in whole foods trying to scoop up everything i would need to execute my plan. when people come to my house, i want them to feel almost like they are dining at a fine establishment. i want to provide them with not only good tasting food but an experience they will enjoy. it's important, to me anyway, to excite all the senses before a meal.
saturday morning everyone in the house arose to breakfast which was: peet's coffee, design your own omelette's featuring sauteed red belle peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes & pineland farms sharp cheddar, uncured local bacon, gourmet new potatoes and a fruit salad. needless to say, it was quite a start to the day.
for lunch we ate out at the good life market in raymond which features an amazing assortment of wine, sandwiches, fresh local produce and cheeses.
saturday night we enjoyed t-bone steaks accompanied by roasted asparagus and an organic farm fresh salad. the t-bones were grilled by my husband josh and seasoned only with salt & pepper, a piece of meat of that caliber should never be over done. the asparagus was from my favorite place, windy hill farm and they were beautiful longer than usual stalks, which tasted lovely also with minimal seasoning and a finishing touch of lemon. the salad included straight from my garden lettuce and radishes, along with some other tasty local ingredients. i made up nana's dressing so that i could share a little something i really happen to love. it is a simple combination of red wine vinegar, olive oil, oregano, salt, pepper, lots of garlic and anchovy paste. the difficult part is getting all the ratios correct, which has taken me many years. we sat outside next to the garden on a table i put together to offer as much comfort when dining outdoors as possible. we lavished over a bottle of red wine which amber bottled herself in south africa and a bottle of 2007 opus one. you couldn't ask for a better dessert.
sunday morning, after picking up my son miles from our in-laws we came home to amber in the kitchen preparing steak & asparagus frittatas along with berry bread pudding. always nice not to have to cook, she even whipped up an egg white one for me, because i can not stomach egg yolks.
sunday night after a day around portland and a terrible experience at flatbread pizza i decided to offer up an array of small plates for dinner minus a protein. we had stuffed mushrooms with goat cheese, bread crumbs, fresh parsley, salt, pepper & garlic along with my nana's authentic couldn't be more italian stuffed artichokes. there was also a fresh summer caprese salad with a fig balsamic glaze. amber brought to the table some mexican corn with cilantro and lime as well as peppers roughly sauteed and designed to knock your socks off. we sat around enjoying cakebread and greco di tufo while discussing an array of things that may or may not have been interesting. for dessert we had bourbon pecan pie from two fat cat's bakery in portland which was one of the best pies i have ever tasted. they also made our wedding cake and are well worth going back to.
i can't say that it was all the healthiest options but it certainly was a delightful array of foods. for the most part everything we enjoyed was locally grown or slaughtered and i was happy to share with my friends some of my most favorite places. with summer more here than ever, days and nights like this will happen more often. there is no better feeling than sitting outside, in the sun, having a well cooked meal with great friends and great wine. till next time. cheerio.
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