more wining and dining

 so we continue our summer with more dining out and some cooking at home- I had lots of leftovers to make into something so I tried a soba noodle dish mostly made up by me- after reading a bunch of recipes and not finding exactly what I wanted.... it was a tad too salty for my taste maybe less soy inthe sauce next time... 

the two of us made a return trip to Galit- which I liked much better than Phil but the food was great- just not to his taste....

and the fingerprints looked much better this time so we expressed mailed them off !!!

coming up this week - plans with Lee & Nick - plans with Mike & Leslie and plans for a girls lunch with Beth.... so between the regular stuff and social plans we won't get too bored.....Phil continues a pace with his spanish... while I still haven't gotten my Spain photo book finished LOL - ah life of the retired american LOL

A Magazine Worthy Dinner!

Prawns and Paella and Pig! Oh My! (chant it to the tune of "Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!")

For quite some time we have had the date of July 20th on our calendars because it was a date set - between a number of folks who all have busy schedules- to have dinner at Mon & Beth's home.  Chris & Nina warned us that Mon is a fabulous cook and has an amazing kitchen but I don't think we really understood what they were trying to convey until we got there.

Within minutes of our arrival Phil and I were bargaining with each other about which tools (toys) we wanted that Mon's kitchen was sporting... I wanted a mechanical table deli style slicer and Phil wanted the holder for the full leg of bellota ham from which Mon was slicing treats....

the appetizers - olives, pate, thinly thinly thinly sliced hard salami (like I love), acorn fed bellota, white anchovies, blood sausage,  Philippine style egg rolls, along with a number of things I fail to remember - were all fabulous.  AND that should have prepared us for the incredible main courses of stuffed deboned suckling pig, seafood rich paella, and giant prawns in Asian sauce but we were bowled over anyway!!!! LOL

the cheese course had four well selected cheeses and a lovely fruit tart with a cookie crust rounded out the food end of the meal-

the wines- started with several wonderful champagnes and went through at least three Bordeaux wines from the 80s (82 Calon Segur, 86 Margaux, and 89 Pichon Lalande) and ended with a 77 port (a Dow?)

so I know by now you are all thinking "where are the pictures?" - so- I have a couple and you will get the gist of the meal - which really did qualify for the term FEAST....

some photos of the bellota (we all tried our hand at slicing but it was much more difficult and than the pros (including Mon) make it look!

the house made egg rolls!

then some photos of the mains

a guest, John,  takes over the carving not knowing the cochinillo is deboned-

the wines- not all but just what I had the presence of mind to photograph...LOL

after the animals (oh I meant to say guests- LOL) got to it-

so now I see why Mon had no trouble cooking for a chef with one Michelin star (Chris Nugent of goosefoot) LOL- he could open his own place!  Bravo Mon & Beth for a fabulous meal! Definitely in the Michelin lingo "worth a journey"!!!!

what are we doing for lunch tomorrow?

this is a common question asked at any Friedman dinner- LOL

so as we were dining in Miami last weekend with brothers Steve & Larry and sister Suzanne the topic of course turned to the next meal, the next wine, the next stone crabs, the next afternoon drink locations etc etc etc....

and we did have some good ones along the way-

Saturday night at db Bistro Moderne
Sunday lunch at Garcia's for stone crabs
Sunday afternoon at Monty's
Sunday dinner at Michael's Genuine Food and Drink (MGFD)
Monday lunch at la Camaronera
Monday afternoon at Jaguar in the Grove
Monday dinner at Pascal's on Ponce

all accompanied by the 13 bottles we hauled down (via our winter home) to Miami for the dinners we planned...some excellent wines and only one bad bottle- and one that was heading over the hill but not quite there yet....

we started each night with Champagne at Larry's

the seafood plateau from db's (stone crabs came on their own platter)

salmon millefeuille-

lobster salad-

the pasta before the white truffles were shaved on top-

suckling pig-

the foie gras stuffed burger (the house specialty)

on to Sunday lunch- we were joined by my cousin Michele-

the one wine bottle was all I managed to capture of the Michael's Genuine dinner-

lunch on Monday - Phil's favorite-

the neon outside is waaay cute with a little wagging shrimp tail-

then we found a place to kick back outside in the shade where for a corkage fee we could bring champagne to while away the afternoon-

on to Pascal's on Ponce for a fabulous meal- we all chose the tasting menu and had rave reviews for the food...

we had three 1990 burgs two of which showed very well and one was just plain dead- not bad - just no there there---

so now we are back at our place (on Christmas Eve) and we had dinner here- stone crabs brought from Miami (because we would arrive in Sarasota too late for our fish places to be open on the holiday) and shrimp risotto - we skipped the salad and went right to dessert of pumpkin cake and whipped cream--- a few bottles to accompany the meal and now all are bedded down awaiting Santa and Christmas Day - LOL

of course I just made that up since all the Friedmans are Jewish- they are not waiting for Santa--- and tomorrow we will have quiche for breakfast and pizzettes for lunch and go out for dinner... and of course the plans have been discussed at length!