grille

Such a lovely day.

Woke up in the most leisurely of fashions. Meandered about the house after a while, with coffee and books and laptops and cats. (Well, really, just a single cat.) Finally wandered out to the vegetable market on 24th. Came home. Started cooking.

We started with the cinnamon buns from the Cook's Illustrated recipe i mentioned last week. MMMmmmm. While they were in the oven, i made the peanut sauce. Dropped the tofu in. Chopped up some garlic, and shelled the shrimp, and set them marinating with the garlic, some white wine, and some olive oil. Started the ginger, limes, lemon, mint & sugar macerating for the punch. Moved on to the veggie prep. Snapped some asparagus. Quartered some zucchini squash. Quartered a stack of red and yellow bell peppers. Sliced, trimmed, and parboiled some artichokes. Picked and chopped some parsley. Sliced some bread. Russell started some coals, and was incredibly helpful in the kitchen. (And on the cinnamon bun front!)

Took everything out to the back, and sat with a drink and a book until our lovely guests arrived. (Forrest, followed by Neal, and then the lovely Carrie.)

Picked up the living room, gave the barbecue an overhaul. (We haven't used it since Thanksgiving!)

Everything was incredibly tasty - we started with some grilled bread, rubbed with raw garlic cloves. Moved on to to the veggies - starting with the peppers, and ending with the artichokes (smothered in olive oil, salt, and lemon juice). We had the tofu with a little extra peanut sauce, and the shrimp in a sauce that cooked in pyrex on the grill - garlic, parsley, white wine, lemon, and butter.

The guests helped move the gear back inside, we made some tea, and reheated some cinnamon buns with strawberries for dessert. Then they were off to home and Spiderman, and we are spending some time reassuring the cat that we still like her.

Lovely, all told. Good friends, good food, a good book, a good cat, and a great husband.

Posted by meriko at May 12, 2002 10:26 PM