Susan in FL

Great story! Beaujolais Nouveau is fun, and so is hanging balls on trees.

I don't hate anybody for their taste in wine. I expected such responses about Beaujolais Nouveau, because every year the same posts come along calling it crap. Seems that among some, it has become more of a tradition to complain about Beaujolais Nouveau than its annual release is! It is what it is, and I think it's a fun wine during this brief but sweet couple of months (sometimes a little longer). Like Rebel Rose, I'll continue to enjoy the celebration of the harvest, its history, the tradition, and the simple pleasure of drinking something that tastes good. For those concerned about giving it as a gift, I'd suggest telling the recipient about it, if he or she is one who doesn't know about nouveau wine.

I agree... that's nice! I went to a tasting last Thursday, sampled five, and bought three. I thought the Michel Picard was the best, but it wouldn't be nouveau night without Georges DuBoeuf! That is consistent, except for last year when it was better than it's been in several years. We just bought three bottles of the DuBoeuf 2003 Beaujolais-Villages and it's good, too. I'm on the lookout for his 2003 Moulin-à-Vent and Morgon.

That's pretty cool, Suzi... I guess this is one of those don't-mess-with-success recipes. Tonight we went to a party celebrating the end of the hurricane season, this hurricane season particularly. It ends on the 30th. Naturally, given the celebration, there were thunder storms and rain off and on, and so the party was in and out of doors. The food was typical -- shrimp, meatballs, wings, a zillion dips and desserts. I'm sure we were the only people there who are eGulls or who have ever even heard of eG. But the band was set up in the garage, and even though rainy it was warm outside, and it was free food and drink... and best of all, it was a half mile from our house so we could walk to and from. Well no, best of all was that this hurricane season is over. Cheers!

Thanks, Percy!! It all looks and sounds wonderful. With the variety you served, it must have been appealing to all. The stuffing sounds delicious and I love the idea of muffin portions. I'll do that the next time I make a dressing. And, I want to try seasoning a prime rib as you did. What an inspiration you are! ...YES, I still want you to blog. Please!?!

I'll include the changes we made in this recipe, from Saveur: *** Makes 3 1/2 cups Bill Neal learned how to make this silken, old-fashioned pate from Judith Olney, Richard Olney's sister-in-law and herself a cooking teacher. Later, it became a staple at the Neals' Chapel Hill -area bistro, La Residence. A small tureen of the creamy mousse was delivered to every table, accompanied by crunchy French Bread. 1 cup chopped onion or shallots [We used shallots] 1 1/2 cups butter, softened to room temperature 1 lb. chicken livers 2 tbsp. Dijon mustard 3 tbsp. brandy or cognac [We had neither in the house and used about half that amount red wine] Pinch of nutmeg [We used a couple gratings of fresh] Salt and pepper to taste Chopped parsley French bread or crackers 1. Saute the onions in 1/4 cup of the butter over medium heat until translucent. Add chicken livers to the onions and saute until they are cooked through but not overdone, about 5-8 minutes. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. 2. Put into a food processor the onions, livers, mustard, brandy, and seasonings. Process the mixture until thoroughly pureed. Add the remaining 1 1/4 cups softened butter in fourths, pulsing briefly after each addition. Spoon the mousse into an attractive small tureen or into ramekins and chill until solid (at least an hour) before serving. Sprinkle with chopped parsley if desired and serve with sliced French bread or crackers. *** Yeah, Jake, we will do the oyster and steak thing again. We used thinly sliced round steak and all he did was roll two or three oysters, lined up, in the beef until there was just an overlap, cut it, secured with toothpicks, and repeat. He salt and peppered the outsides, and in ghee/clarified butter, seared one side and then the other in a cast-iron skillet. It was probably not more than 4 to 6 minutes totaled and they turned out about medium. You can see them cooking to the doneness you like. Then we served them on very warm plates. We wanted the oysters to be just hot but not cooked through, and it worked for that. We talked about using other cuts of steak and I would like to try a "better" cut sometime. It's the thinness that was important for ease of rolling these things up. Percy, you would contact Soba to get on the list for for blogging and let him know your need to schedule it in advance for a particular time... He can probably tell you some weeks that are open. Some blogs are planned for certain times, and others come as a surprise to a blogger who is on the "waiting list ".

That's not necessarily a bad thing. I am not a professional cook/chef. I love many bleu cheeses with varying degrees of subtlety. Currently we're enjoying an awesome Stilton that my husband brought home for us from his recent food shopping trip 1,000 miles north of here.

Click here for the follow-up to my stay in that area. I hope this isn't too late.

Welcome to the area, Tonyy13. You have it really good in Orlando compared to Daytona. Don't write Disney off, and you'll do OK. The restaurants inside the parks aren't great, but there are some fine restaurants at the Disney resorts.As you mentioned, Primo is excellent; and in the same hotel, in the lobby, the sushi and the drinks are very good. I like Antonio's in Maitland. I still have a lot of exploring to do in the area. It is an hour, plus, away for me, but I now hope to check out Machon and Blue Bistro.

Dinner photos turned out terrible tonight, but the food was great. The starter was the Chicken Liver Mousse we made yesterday. We made four ramekins of it, and if I had any doubts before, they are gone now. I love goose liver and duck liver, but have never been fond of chicken liver. This is a different story, but then again, how can 1 1/2 cups of butter mixed with anything be bad... It's creamy and silky smooth and tastes so good. I tore the recipe out of a Saveur magazine and I don't know what month's issue it was, so if anyone wants the recipe, let me know and I'll post it. With the pate' we had Beringer's Nouveau. We were going to have Carpetbag Steaks but instead had Russ's creation of thin slices of steak wrapped around raw oysters, seared. With that was homemade fries -- they were deep fried in this oil we keep using over and over (straining in between uses); a salad of mixed baby greens, grated cucumber and radish, cherry tomatoes, and fried rounds of goat cheese. With that we drank 2002 California Black Madrone Vineyards Syrah (yum).

New and exciting? No, I've tried several things but I never tire of butter-butter-butter, real butter, good butter. And salt.

Spaghetttti, that is a beautiful photo of your turkey, and shows how perfectly cooked and delicious it must have been. Wow! I have been encouraging (begging) Percy to get on the blog list. Percy, I'm on the lookout for your Thanksgiving dinner post.

For Thanksgiving we had: A long walk on the beach, which I mention as food related because is was the first time since Hurricane Jeanne that we have been able to drive onto the beach and park, and at dinner that was added to the many things we gave thanks for. Olives Crackers, and anchovy & garlic dip (cream cheese, anchovies, garlic, Worchestershire sauce, and cream) Tastings of Chicken Liver Mousse (recipe from Saveur), and cannellini bean puree, made ahead for the weekend Russ had beer and I had a Passion Daiquiri (Rum, passion-fruit juice, lime juice, and sugar) as pre-dinner drinks. Oysters on a nest of steamed savoy cabbage and cream sauce in the shells, baked, and then topped with a dollop of caviar Sparkling wine Pan-roasted squab Mashed potatoes with minced carrots and leeks Sausage and oyster dressing Roasted shallots and parsnips Brussels sprouts with pancetta and balsamic vinegar Michel Picard Beaujolais Nouveau Pumpkin pie with sweetened and whipped Lewes Dairy cream. The cream was another food Russ brought home from Delaware and it is just the best... not ultra pasteurized. Some other random shots from yesterday's pictures... (I wanted to try a Jason-style photo. )

OYSTERS! Since our raw oysters on Sunday when Russ got home from his up-north food shopping, which I think I posted upthread somewhere, we've had: Steamed oysters, with melted butter -- that was the first course to a roasted chicken dinner; then last night we had fried oysters before a venison and pasta dinner; and tonight we had an oyster main course. It was a low country -style dish of wild mushroom grits surrounded by an oyster and corn stew, with collard greens on the side. Tomorrow oysters are going to show up twice on our menu, a first course and in a stuffing/dressing. Happy Thanksgiving Day to All!

Wouldn't that be great?! Maybe someday instead of just regional eG get-togethers, there will be a gathering of people from all over, maybe an eG pot luck convention! But Percy I must say I would like you to cook breakfast. With Russ's return from Delaware, we have fresh SCRAPPLE on hand (three brands)! I haven't take a picture yet, but the morning after he got home, I had a scrapple sandwich, which may be my all time favorite breakfast or brunch food. Soft white bread, buttered, and the scrapple cooked crispy on the outside and creamy inside... yum.

Last night we had a sampling of the many goodies Russ brought home from the Delmarvalous peninsula. The first meal of oysters was raw, dipped in sauce of shallots, white wine, white wine vinegar, and black pepper. That followed snacking on some of the treats from Beautiful Foods, which is in Rehoboth Beach: Prosciutto which might be the best we've ever eaten; sun-dried tomatoes, which Russ said are the best he's ever eaten; a goat cheese which is not only the best goat cheese I've ever eaten, but also the best cheese (I did not know goat cheese could taste like this and be this creamy); the best aged gouda we've tasted; delicious little tiny olives -- the label reads "Mas Portell Arbequina" -- new to me; and excellent Roquefort with Asian pears. The pears were not from Beautiful Foods. We also had vodka and tonics using Blue Hen Vodka made by Dogfish Head, and one of the wines he bought, 2003 Three Theives California Zinfandel which came in a liter jug! I'm not sure what form tonight's oysters will take. Russ has to take it easy. He came home also with a flare-up of his gout, and as anybody who suffers from gout knows, shellfish is one of the leading offenders.

Don't be sorry, Percy! It's all beautiful and looks so tasty, and your how-to was appreciated. There was something I forgot to say in the post about my dinner last night, and your nothing-good-on-TV comment reminded me. Since that was true and Russ wasn't home, I enjoyed music with dinner... Genius Loves Company, by Ray Charles and friends... an awesome CD.

...Breakfast is a great way to consume it, at least it is from the looks of your breakfasts! For breakfast on the porch this morning I had leftover steak and eggs in a different form than usual... after yesterday morning I had my fill of runny yolks, so I had a Little Ms. Foodie -style egg on a cold plate.

Continuing to enjoy Home Alone time, Friday night I had steak, roasted broccoli, and Merlot. I probably would have eaten more if I had not eaten lunch at work. Lunch was noteworthy good news! Unbelieveably I found a Thai restaurant in South Daytona!! And I had Larb!!! Last night after a gorgeous afternoon watching the Delta Rocket launch, beachcombing at the ocean, and exploring in some other local parks, I wanted dinner to be in keeping with the nature of the day. I went to a small fish market that I like when I'm buying only fish and no other seafood and asked what fish was most most recently swimming. It was the grouper, and then I went to the produce market and bought what vegetables looked best, along with salad makings. I made this up as I went along. The grouper was pan roasted, with garlic, ginger, mustard seeds, fresh thyme, and S&P rubbed in; served over a vegetable medley/salsa; garnished with plantain chips; and since there was a goodly amount of corn in the dish, Chardonnay to drink. The crust of the fish didn't adhere as well as I hoped, but it was so tasty. Russ gets home tonight, after his trip to Delmarva which was primarily to buy a bushel of oysters and other food and drink delights which we miss from up there. So, with any luck at all, oysters will be making their way to this thread in the coming days.

Viewer discretion is advised. The following depicts graphic egg yolk content and may be offensive to those who must limit their consumption of cholesterol.

I am Home Alone for a while, and tonight for dinner after going to a Beaujolais Nouveau tasting, feasted on Stone Crab Claws and champagne. They were the best I've had at home. They were as good as if not better than what I had in Miami at Joe's. I discovered the key for me is having them icy cold, and I got the mustard sauce just right this time, too. Yum!

LOL! And BTW, nice to be back to the Dinner thread after doing a blog, isn't it? And, it's good to have you back. Let me add to the sentiments here... congrats! And with roasted cauliflower and anything puttanesca-like, you can't go wrong. I'm looking forward to the reports on your new trend. Welcome to the Dinner thread, 2roost! Our dinner tonight was parmesan and panko crusted boneless skinless chicken breasts (must have been a subliminal thing about Soba!), sage-butter sauce, pasta, steamed cauliflower (a little teeny tiny baby head, halved, I found at the produce market, or else it would have been roasted), wilted spinach and sorrel, and Pinot Noir.

That is some good beer....love porter and especially this smoked one. Too bad the beer and Russ' chili are hard to find here ahem...not hard to find here! sorry! couldn't resist! Russ's chili is hard to find there.

How kind of you to point that out. That is not something we easily forget, but perhaps some do. StudentChefEclipse and others doing such year-round good deeds, that is wonderful, and heart warming reading about it.

At holiday times in past jobs, we participated with coworkers in delivering dinners to some of those less fortunate, people who were financially needy. Russ and I now both work for a Hospice organization, and employees and volunteers prepare dinners and deliver them to those who could probably afford going out to dinner or cooking, but have a member of their family on Hospice care and nearing death. They usually don't have the desire or energy to cook a big dinner and don't want to leave their loved one to go out. They really appreciate and enjoy a dinner made for them and delivered. It's a different sort of giving, and it is quite rewarding.