Friday night Michael and I had his two freshman students from New England Conservatory over for a listening session and dinner. While the three of them listened and discussed styles of playing, I worked on dinner in the kitchen. On the menu was mesculan greens with Ina's fantastic mustard vinaigrette, Giada's rigatoni with vegetable bolognese (I omit the porcini mushrooms as I prefer the overall flavor of the dish without them) and finally, a lemon curd tart. Everything turned out amazingly well except for the tart. I am not sure where I went wrong, but the darn thing did not set and there was too much zest. I will say that the pastry crust turned out perfect. Michael improvised and we enjoyed our stash of Girl Scout cookies with Earl Grey tea all around.
I had a friend over last night and made a really tasty carrot-mushroom-barley stew with celery, onions, s&p, rosemary, and ginger. I know that the rule is not to make something for the first time when you're having company over, but I did it anyway. When Michael and I cook at home, we don't repeat recipes often unless it really knocks our socks off. There are so many great things to eat, why limit ourselves? Anyway, it was a bit of catastrophe in the making, but it turned out really well. We had our stew, a great bottle of wine, bread from High Rise, lemon bars, and watched "Up." What a great movie! I had a great time and welcome more and more and more.
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