Ron's Big Dinner

Milestone birthdays are a bit strange. What makes it a milestone? Every year is the only year we'll be that particular age, so why is one year any different from the others? I think it's a legitimate question and yet, I acknowledge that we still mark certain ages as more noteworthy than others.

Wicked tall wine glasses are gifts

We were supposed to be travelling in South East Asia this year, as we've got a whole host of "important" dates...we like to call it our "big year", but then we relocated to New Brunswick and there's the whole COVID-19 thing happening, so here we are in Moncton, watching our hair grow and the grass get greener and generally contemplating our navel lint. It seems that our big year is going to be a big bust, but I refuse to surrender...yet.

Masks from friends

Because I have so much time on my hands, and one of the way's I show love is to cook, I started imagining Ron's perfect dinner, not his death row meal, but a meal that would incorporate as much of his favourite foods as possible and how to make it all special. The result? Ron's Almost Perfect 8 Course Dinner.

What was the craziest part? I decided I'd actually execute it. I don't think a general has ever gone into a battle more prepared than I, to tackle this challenge. And I actually pulled it off. Was everything perfect? Heaven's no, but it was all really good, the plating was attractive and the hot food was hot and the cold food not. (Yes, I'm giving myself a bit of a pat on the back.) I think he enjoyed it, as did our friends and we certainly enjoyed having a bit of company, now that some of the restrictions have been lifted.

Without further ado, the meal (missing is the cheese plate as we just forgot to take the picture):

Roasted pepper and smoked gouda

Smoked salmon with capers

Pan seared scallops with crispy onion and
lemon chicken broth

Red pepper bisque

Spring salad with  caramelized onion dressing

Mango sorbet

Roast lamb with mash and roast veg

Lemon tart, chocolate pate and
raspberry mousse

Most of it came off really well, and the few problems were dealt with and no one was the wiser. Did I mention we did wine pairings? Oh, hell yes. (I lost my mind, somewhere in the planning, but except for one wine, (a rose with the salad I switched from a citrus dressing to onion and apple cider vinegar...oops) it was paired fairly nicely. I might try it again, but no time soon. The planning took well over a month, but that's why "self-isolation" worked, in this case. So, happy birthday, dearest. Glad you enjoyed the culinary adventure.

Necessity is the Mother of Invention

You could also call this blog post "Desperation is the Mother of How-Hard-Can-It-Be?"

I think it started when we had the Bed and Breakfast, or maybe even earlier, in Home Ec  class; the idea that you can make stuff from scratch. I had time on my hands, as it was hard to find work in the Comox Valley and who doesn't love home made baked goods? I thought it would give my little B&B an edge. Of course, making cookies was old hat by then, but then I tackled bread. Yup, for many of you this is a no brainer, but for the city dwelling "if it doesn't exist in the supermarket it doesn't exist" variety of people (like myself) this was a huge leap.

Homemade chicken pot pie

 

When we relocated to Prince Edward Island, it turned into a small specialty cake business, that was both rewarding and terrifying in equal measure. Being responsible for someone's wedding or major anniversary cake is a pretty big deal. I even tried my hand at pasta and was getting pretty good at making candy.

From the "hell yeah, I made that" files

Then we found ourselves in Ecuador; land of rice, potatoes and unaged beef. Not to say that the food isn't good here, but many of my "go to" things aren't available, or if they are, they're ridiculously expensive. Case in point peanut butter. When we first arrived it was $5.89 for 500mL. Currently it is over $10 for the same bottle due to increases in import taxes. So, what to do? We found that the mercados carried pasta de mani (peanut paste - just ground up , lightly roasted peanuts) and I started tweaking it with a bit of extra oil and some salt. This was a much less expensive option as I could buy the paste for $2 a pound. Fast forward to our last grocery outing. As I'm perusing the aisles of SuperMaxi I espy a 1lb. bag of raw (shelled) peanuts for $1.27. What if I roasted them myself, removed the skins and ground them up? This is where the "how hard can it be?" came in. Into the cart went the bag and proceeded to sit in the cupboard for several days. Then I noticed the peanut butter was getting low.

Stashed in an old Schullo peanut butter jar
(That's the $10 per bottle brand!)

So, I did it. I roasted them, and removed the skins as best I could. (Apparently a salad spinner works marvelously, but we don't have one.) Then into the food processor they went with a bit of oil. Grainy and dry. More oil, more blending and VOILA, peanut butter. Here's the learning curve part. The oil doesn't really release from the peanuts until they're creamed, so I have slightly runnier than normal peanut butter, but it has a gorgeous roasted flavour that is lacking in the pasta de mani. Was all the work worth it? We shall see.

Home roasted, hand mixed peanut butter

So I've now made, due to lack of (or price of) frozen processed crap here: pizza dough, focaccia, peanut butter, tomato sauce, ginger ale, hot chocolate, add to that Ron's pancakes and waffles from scratch and the regular gamut  of things I make from scratch and we're almost back to the good old days of "if you don't make it, you don't have it". Heck, I never buy salad dressing anymore, I just whip up a small batch as needed.  Who knows what's next, maybe mayo, perhaps fresh mozzarella, and I also have a recipe for Dijon mustard just waiting for when my stash runs out.

Pizza...again, homemade

 

Now, if we could only set up a garden and grow our own fruit and vegetables, we'd be ready for the apocalypse, assuming there was still electricity. (Ha ha.)