Daniel

Hey thanks everyone, I really appreciate your kind words.. And Jake, I could see the two of us flipping a quarter for the ham bone, while others watch on in disbelief..

So last nights dinner was a huge success.. I of course am measuring it by the company and the time we had.. It was a lot of fun.. Complete with practical jokes at my expense! With two rum and cokes and a lot of things going on, I was an easy victim.. Oh well, I have just posted his phone number on several adult websites so we will see who wins this one.. I will post the appetizers later.. But we had the brined pork crostini with whipped sweet potato bacon mixture I made for the PorkFest. And in addition, we also had a lump crab crostini.. Next we served Oyster Stew.. This was from Scott Peacocks book.. A wonderful book and a wonderful stew.. It essentially is butter, milk and oysters.. A quick pan fry of the oysters in three table spoons of butter before putting them in the stew is the only work I had to do.. Added a little white pepper... Very good.. It was the best oyster I have had.. It wasnt too buttery, had a strong oyster taste from me putting in 3 doz oysters and there liquor.. We put them in these cute wide mouthed mugs we bought for soups.. Here is a repost of the bite: Served with a truffle roasted garlic corn bread madelines with a bit of rosemary in them.. Excellent.. Next we had for a salad course: Raddichio, watercress and arugula Rabbit Salad...tossed in a shallot, walnut, truffle vinegrette....pear and stilton on the side... Next we had shrimp and grits.. When going to make the shrimp last night.. (I wanted to cook them right before it was time to eat, to give guests a break in between courses) I discovered that I didnt buy all the ingredients for the shrimp I wanted to make.. And also the day before we scrapped the Inn at Little Washington version of Shrimp and Grits after not liking it too much.. So I made a quick New Orleans style BBQ shrimp on the fly.. It was pretty good.. The grits were oustanding.. I added the ever so Southern Marscapone Cheese.. Went extremely well.. Next was quail.. Never had to broil so many quails at once.. They were very good, but next time I would use a baking sheet or maybe something on a wire rack.. It was very good though.. I brined them for 24 hours.. Just resalted, white peppered and hit with a little brandy.. I served an assortment of greens cooked in pork stock.. With bacon and shredded ham hocks.. Boiled the hocks for a couple of hours Shredded and added to some bacon I had cooked up.. Schaller and Weber double smoked thanks to Fat Guy's reco a few months ago this has been a bacon we use a lot.. Then I took the left over water that the ham hock was cooked in and added Kale,Collard Greens,Spinach,Escarole, and Swiss Chard amd cooked white beans into the pot.. Threw in some Apple Cider Vinegar the Ham assortment.. I also topped with some quarter mushrooms I forgot to add to the salad .. Solid.. For dessert we started with two different types of shortbread cookies.. We made regular ones and one with rasberry jelly.. Cute shot.. You can see the ones baking and the others waiting.. Cookies Then we had Bourbon Chocolate Ice Cream. And finally we had the most amazing cheese cake.. Marscapone cheese cake.. This thing was outrageously good.. Basically I took maple syrup reduced for about an hour...then poured in some cream...whisked cream cheese, mascarpone and confectioners sugar blended in maple mixure...cooked in water bath and chilled over night...sprinkled some of the reserved maple mixture on top! Geeze.. It exhausting just remembering everything we ate.. I am very happy I decided to not serve Welsh Rarebit as a cheese course after the quail.. It is really such a joy to be able to entertain so smoothly and with no stress. In total we might have spent out of a 4 hour dinner 15 minutes away from our guests. And it was the best 15 minutes of the whole night!!!

Hello and welcome!! We love to see photos so please check out this tutorial,<Photo Instructions > it will help you post photos.. I never took the time to learn photoshop and am not the most "technical" person in the room or any room for that matter..But posting pictures here has been rather smooth for me..

Bubalah where's the kasha?

At this point I have the camera in my right hand, I have the rubber wrapped arm, with the one end in my teeth..... What was I just saying...

Dinner was excellent.. Will post the whole dinner later... It was a great meal.. Here is as little oyster stew love:

Nice.. Cant wait to give it a read.. Hopefully it will get me inspired to do another road trip.. I have been sick for the last 13 weeks!! This is the longest I stayed in one place for as long as I can remember..

Thanks Megan for your usual support... Suzy, this is going to be one course in a multi course dinner where the majority of dishes need to be cooked right before serving.. So I just felt it would be easier to handle and plate six dishes and deboning ahead of time..

Thats a great story rachel..

Prasantrin, No need to worry, both my kitties are accounted for..

What a wonderful blog chardgirl.. I really enjoyed it.. What became of the fried crackers?

Hey Jacqui, Welcome! That sounds really great and those flavor combinations arent in my brain.. Does this dish have a name or a place I can see a similar recipe..

After deshelling a bunch of the shrimp for the shrimp and grits, we made another little something.. Shrimp in a shallot oil with a whiskey and cream sauce.. It was really good.. Bite:

I am cooking dinner for family tomorrow night..6 people for dinner in total.. We are preparing everything today for tomorrow.. Coming home from work and having very little time to prepare for guests is certainly an added stress.. But also a new scenario and I will take a visit however I can get it.. The menu is: Hors d’Oeuvre ~ Crab and Pork Crostini Dinner ~ Oyster Stew Salad of Rabbit Loin Shrimp with Cheese Grits Broiled Quail in Brandy Sauce with an assembly of southern greens and white bean gratin(Ham Hock is getting thrown in somewhere) Some chocolate things.. Have a bunch of pictures but this is what I will start with.. The Rabbit Loin: This is my first time trying to debone a rabbit.. Lucky for me, I had 4 rabbits to do.. It was awesome.. Next time I am asking for the fur. My first attempt.. I was very happy with the results.. Left it in a marinade and will cook it and use it for a salad tomorrow night.. Here are the left over pieces I will cook later.. One of the advantages buying whole animals is having left over parts.. Being able to grab a left over rabbit leg or thigh is a treat.. I deboned a rabbit leg and cooked in shallot oil and served on a parsley salad with a mustard vinagraette.. It was great.. Will post the others dishes and desserts soon..

That looks great Jason.. I am in the middle of making the Inn at Little Washingtons version of shrimp and grits for tomorrow night... So far I have roasted a pan of shallots and cored 24 roma tomatoes and filled with a leaf of basil.. I am wondering where the hell this is going..

So pretty Susan.. Any left over flying fish egg plans?

Didnt make these but, where else am I going to post this tamale guy I came across yesterday.. Had them steaming in this little cart.. Lots of water.. Anyway.. They were wrapped in bananna leaves.. They were extremely wet and texturally speaking, excellent.. Some green hot sauce.. I really think I like the bananna leaf over the corn husk..

Went there for brunch today.. Raw Baby Artichoke Salad.. Lemon vinagraette... Pizza- Wood Oven temp... Colder then normal.. Early day.. Homemade Tagliatelle w/shrimp..

Wow.. That fridge means business.. Prepared and ready for battle..

The sandwich is a good way to eat the tripe.. Its not just you and the tripe.. The bread provides a crunchy vehicle.. Also giving another surface to add flavors.. Thats why I think that pesto,hot sauce sandwich works with the tripe... Another way I had tripe that I really really enjoyed it was in a gratin.. It was out of The Whole Beast Cookbook, where there was a thick flour milk reux that really held to the tripe.. Topped with crunchy buttery broiled panko.. Stewed tripe might be a little too one d and soggy.. Certainly good in a soup adding flavor and texture.. I added beans and even crunchy bread to the soup to give it some support..

Wow.. What a good person you must be, to have inspired such an amazing thing.. Can you go into further detail about the different layers.. Or can I purchase some literature on this item, this thing needs its own thread.. Why isnt your friend on egullet..

Wow.. Really great everyone.. Such pretty meals..

Yetty, Wow that looks so good.. They look dreamy.. Two eggs, farmers cheese, and pesto.. Very good..

Had a terrific meal there the other night when Frank Stitt was there.. We kind of got pretty wrecked, so the pictures and the account are not all that great.. Here is a copy of the menu During the cocktail hour spiced pecans, oysters, and cheese puffs were served.. Here is the man Frank Stitt working with the poached eggs fir the salads. Guinne Hen Pate: Awesome! Stuffed Rabbit : Awesome! Gorgeous baked merrengue: Awesome! What a great night and was so excited to meet the man who inspired me to start cooking..

How did the tripe turn out.