Dinner Party Recap

It’s been two weeks since I had last written…a dinner party recap of a long week of home cooking, family reunions and friends. Some about food, drinks, and as always leftovers and then everything in between! So intense that I couldn’t even tweet or post. Nevertheless there are many pictures to share coming soon.

Sebastian came from NY for a few days, we cooked, talked and ate comfort food.

My mushrooms are growing I think they are ready to eat. I am planing to make a pasta with them thanks to my blogger friend Lisa. Bryan brought me spices from Vietnam and Cambodia which I loved and I finally bought the dragon fruit after looking for it for months in the grocery store. I had been going almost 3 times a day without exaggerating just to get every detail of every ingredient planned for all the preparations.

On Saturday we had friends over the house, to be more precise we cooked for fifty people with the glorious help of my friend Bessy and Vera the best photographer ever. The menu always ambitious long enough to not be able to finish all. I placed the holy menu on the kitchen wall to check and mark down the dishes that were ready. Friends arrived at 8:30 pm and I was still in the kitchen, running, hiding, to rush for a shower and get dressed in minutes.

The kitchen was a paradise hell filled with the most amazing spices and herbs. At 10 pm it was a totally chaos, overwhelming even with fabulous helpers we couldn’t do it as organized as I wanted it to be. Ingrid was making tons of chicken skewers to serve over a plantain leaf with coconut peanut sauce and my other helper Gloria made hundreds of hand made tortillas while Teresa filled the sink with used plates and empty glasses. I was running from the kitchen to the food table giving the last touches to each plate and trying to make the missing sauces.

Thirty-something plates with a theme of “bite and small bites” substantial, fresh, colorful, vibrant, cultural, sensible and without pretentiousness. Thai flavors with Latin visits, some touches from Spain, Mexico, Italy and Japan. Kind of like a United Nations hug all together at the table starting with mini taquitos, Chinese lettuce filled with spicy meat, rice paper rolls with fresh vegetables, crab cakes, fig with feta bruschetta, mini salmon packets, little boxes of cod fish, corn cakes with a sweet chicken stew and  we cant forget the mini tortillas de patatas…First time I cooked the forbidden rice a beautiful completely black rice from China placed next to the jasmine rice cooked with coconut milk, lemon grass and ginger, sublime and noble dish sprinkle with toasted coconut curls.

I realized that in the same way I am at home with objects and clothes I am with food: always mixing and matching colors, textures and flavors. Balance is the key a little of this a little of that, the crunch, the soft, the sweet, the salted, as simple as using the five tastes. My partner he is kosher and I am organic, so there were many details to follow during these days.

I’m always extremely exaggerated when cooking for guests. I think I have to make infinity of dishes so every one finds what they like and be pleased to eat as much as they want. I try to spoil everyone, that is always my main concern. We left Nicolas at a pet resort during the big dinner and he came back hoarse with a sore throat from all the crying and during a night away from home. The resort has a food menu to choose from like beef with yam and oatmeal, to fresh fish with organic herbs and eggs drizzled with cod oil. They even treat them with ice creams but that didn’t help him at all. He hates it all anyway.

My retro Mad Men bar. Whiskey sales have boomed because of the TV show. Even at the party most of the people drank Scotch on the rocks rather than wine.

My breakfast the day after the party, that was when I was actually enjoyed the pleasure of eating leftovers in the quiet of my home.

Now I finish my day thinking how sorry I am with the lost of the most precious and valuable Apple, Steve he will be with us. Thanks to you I am able to do what I do and have the world open to my eyes from wherever I am. Bravo!!! And thank you.