The Heartland & Our Neighbors (October 17-19 )

[Suzanne F]

Keep it up, friends! Almost as good as live radio!!!

[KatieLoeb]

WTN: Klink's Domaine "La Garrigue" 2000 (Cotes de Rhone)is  being savoured, along with the Righteous Smoked Brisket, Hungarian paprika sausage and braunshweiger.

Matthew's reading the dustjacket of his newest purchase "The Pleasure of my Company," by Steve Martin.

The music's getting louder, and so is the laughter.

Maggie:

Klink has a great palate! The "La Garrigue" Cotes du Rhone is one of my by-the-glass choices at Striped Bass! I'm quite fond of it.

Tasty, non?

The Wine Clip thing takes all the joy out of tasting/observing the wine evolving in your glass...

I'm glad the thing "works" but the utility still excapes me.

[Lady T]

6:10 p.m.: Thousand pardons, Dave. My bad. That last gorgeous piece of meat outside is a leg of lamb, not pork at all. It just came in on a platter (should've been accompanied by a brass band), and Klink is setting it up to rest before carving.

Aurora's just finished another thing of beauty: the made-from-scratch carrot cake is now iced and standing in splendor on Michelle's best cake pedestal.

Not that we're actually going to wait any sort of decent interval before snitching samples...but the prime rib is the star of the show, after all. Right?

And while everybody's ogling the prime rib and the lamb, I'm gonna be making serious inroads on the scalloped potatoes, and the pepper saute, and the spinach salad with the hot bacon dressing, and the roasted cauliflower, and...

Heh heh heh.

Dinner time. Officially.

Edited to add: Maggie just poured me a glass of 1999 Petit Mouton de Mouton Rothschild. Going to drink Petit Mouton with la superbe mouton out in the kitchen...too perfect.

Edited October 18, 2003 by Lady T (log)

[NeroW]

Man, wine in a can tastes like ass.

I just bought it because it's incognito Road Pop.

Speaking of side cars, I'm SLEEPING in the side car tonight.

Got the sleeping bags all rolled out.

[Aurora]

The cake is done! It is now quietly resting with Guaj's beet salad, and the peppers.

I too thought the wine clip to be bullshit, but quite by accident, I found it to be quite effective as a hair straightener. At the very least, it's a great pony-tail-holder.

[Lady T]

We'll advise Tommy as data become available about The Wine Clip's possible uses as -- umm -- clamps for use in other anatomical locations.

[maggiethecat]

Madame est servie. God.

Sante a tout.

[tammylc]

And there was much meat. And it was good.

[NeroW]

Meat is the Shit.

There's a 27-foot long table in the basement, replete with wine and meat.

We're gonna need a Vomitorium at this rate, Roman-style.

The lamb, fantastic. The prime rib, incredible.

I'm wearing an apron.

And I'm not sure why.

[snowangel]

Life is good. Smoked meat fat just makes it better.

Word, according to Peter (age 7).

[Lady T]

One bunch of us is doing dishes (imagine a line of umpteen red-wine glasses lined up the length of the kitchen counter). More of us are out on the deck in the dark, shooting the breeze and drinking some more red wine. Others are doing the clean-up-the-kids-for-bed brigade. Still more of us are still down in the basement, still talking.

More details tomorrow (from me, anyhow; other folks need to sort out the many pictures they've taken and get 'em posted). Major pressure is being applied to ensure that several of tonight's recipes will in fact be entered to eGullet for posterity.

We will get to dessert and coffee in a bit...but cleanup and a deep breath come first.

[pho]

*cough*pictures!*cough*

[ronnie_suburban]

:sad: :sad:

I miss you guys!

Please tip a few back for me...

=R=

[Aurora]

Don't you worry yourself about that none. Quite a few are being tipped. I'm tippin' one right now.

It has been confirmed. The wine in a can tastes every inch of ass.

[Suzanne F]

Madame était servie at 7:30, and not even an hour and a half later, you're washing up? Jeez, you guys eat fast!

[NeroW]

Dessert: we don't waste time. We like pie.

[Lady T]

Jeez, you guys eat fast!     

I don't think anybody can say we eat fast, Suzanne...we've been schmoozing and snacking and drinking more or less nonstop since we woke up this morning. By that standard, we surpass even Trio! Also, as NeroW said, we don't waste time when it comes to dessert.

The list of wines for the evening was scandalously short on the white side; not enough bottles survived for me even to catch a label. There was one well-received bottle of Chard, and one Sauvignon Blanc which mostly ended up in one of the vegetable dishes.

Reds, however...check this list out:

2000 Toro "G", Spain

2000 Malbec, Altos Las Hormigas, Argentina

1999 Zinfandel, Old Vine/Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma, CA

2001 Chateau La Roque/Pic Saint Loup, Languedoc

2000 Cabernet, Antiguas Reservas, Cousino-Macul, Chile

===

...and, for completeness' sake alone:

2002 Cabernet Shiraz (in can: 250 mL), the "tastes like ass" entry.

And: more Maker's Mark whiskey than I've ever seen on one table in my life.

Red, green, and white wax, for those who track those sorts of things.

More (and more) tomorrow. G'night.

[guajolote]

I'm too drunc

[Aurora]

Madame était servie at 7:30, and not even an hour and a half later, you're washing up? Jeez, you guys eat fast!

We been eatin' all day, mama!

Mark me Mista Maker!

Nero is out on the deck talking about some dude named Ron Jeremy. Apparently he's a great cook who makes these things called Hershy Highways. Strange.

[MatthewB]

We're winding down, down to myself, Michele, & Maggie.

More tomorrow, but . . .

Power to my people!

I wish more of you had been here. I think we did it right.

[maggiethecat]

We did it right. Manana.

Edited October 19, 2003 by maggiethecat (log)

[Dave the Cook]

Sounds like you did do it right. I'm proud and envious.

Thanks for the running commentary, especially Lady T, whose steadfastness in posting updates was exemplary (ah, yes, the kitchen ballet!)

[herbacidal]

Nero is out on the deck talking about some dude named Ron Jeremy.  Apparently he's a great cook who makes these things called Hershy Highways.  Strange.

does he do the highway?

i wasn't aware he was into the backside of things.

[MatthewB]

Round three coming up . . .

Brunch at Alex's at 10:30 AM EST.

Reports to follow.

[Lady T]

8:30 a.m.: All right then...who marched that Marine battalion through my mouth overnight while I was asleep?

Lord. Give me a few minutes and a cup of coffee and I'll stop being an invertebrate. I promise.

9:45 a.m.: Hokay. Walking upright on two feet and speaking in complete relevant sentences. Packed. Recipe for raised apple pancakes in mind. Bring on that brunch.