Oh what a gluttonous weekend...

Quite a gluttonous weekend. Not that I’m complaining.

We hosted friends for dinner on Friday. Great Nate is in the process of beating cancer into submission. As he’d been receiving treatment in New York for six months, it had been some time since we’d seen him. While he was not permitted a glass of his beloved bourbon (but that time will come), I was happy to serve him a largely local organic dinner.

Our backyard is splashed with color from Black-Eyed Susans, lilies, Columbine, and the odd rose and daisy. We sat there for our antipasti of roasted beets, sautéed zucchini, goat cheese with olive oil, and prosciutto (both from trusty Trader Joe’s).

We moved inside for gazpacho, which was very cold, crunchy and refreshing. I made it with tomatoes from the local farmers market (not organic, but big and flavorful) and cucumbers and onion from our weekly CSA delivery. I used just the “meat” portion of the fruit; to the juice that was a byproduct of my butchering I added some sugar, salt, lemon and gelatin to this and made tomato jelly. I poured it into little cups, and when it was set I placed the wobbly gel in the base of each chilled soup bowl, and ladled the gazpacho around it. All but Laura's then got a sprinkle of cilantro from our garden. Laura won't eat it because it smells like soap.

Dinner was roasted organic chicken (delivered via our CSA) and CSA green beans, which I parboiled, then sautéed in EVO with some lemon rind and juice. By then we were fairly full and had small portions. It was a big bird, but the four of us managed only one breast side. Of course I gnawed the wings and “oysters” when I was cleaning up, my favorite parts. Lots of leftover meat for sandwiches and soups.

Saturday, Keri and David hosted us and friends Jeff and Rebecca in their beautiful, historic North Side home. The house is turreted, and the living room has a curved wall and windows. Lots of wainscoting reminds you of the details that went into building back in the day.

Keri made a salad of sliced watermelon on which she shaved cheese and added chopped olives, a refreshing and delicious combination. Dinner was pasta with lemon and fresh herbs, and a big-ass bowl of barbecued shrimp (some of which made their way into leftover gazpacho for lunch the next day). Again, first rate— as was the syllabub served dramatically in black cocktail glasses for dessert, with crunchy amaretti cookie crumbs providing contrast and support.

It doesn’t end. Rod and Donna, two gourmands if I ever met any, hosted us and a dozen or so others for a late afternoon dinner on Sunday, created by another friend who just happens to be a truly great professional chef, Derek Stevens of Eleven. We were greeted with Wellfleet oysters and Negronis. The main courses were ambitious. He’d smoked pork butt and ribs in his garden a few days previously and turned them into unctuous pulled pork and barbecued ribs. The pork went into corn tortillas, the ribs were gnawed to the bone. They were the best ribs I’ve ever eaten.

There were large prawns, served scampi style, too, and steamed clams with ground pork, which was Portuguese in origin, I think. The kicker were little hamburger "sliders," each topped off with a little sautéed foie gras.

It was an honor to assist Derek a little, grilling the burger buns and heating the tortillas and so on.

But it was way, way better to eat his food, in the garden, during the tail end of a perfectly blue summer day.


Don’t get old. You forget things—like bringing your digital camera.