Posts Tagged ‘dinner’

The Dinner Party

By Amy
Home, Lifestyle
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Some things we come to naturally. Some movements, our bodies feel inclined to make. When we are engaged in those activities, time passes quickly and with ease, and we just feel at home. We feel like ourselves, or in some moments, almost amplified versions of ourselves when we are doing not only something we love, but something that just feels right.

For me, no activity is more natural than creating a scene in which a social event will occur. I love nothing more than starting with an empty room and the intended feeling of the final product. Like “soulful” or “intimate”. Or “liberating”- that’s a good one to build a party around. It’s very much like songwriting: taking an emotion and figuring out how to manifest that for a group. With food events I do it by working lighting, music, linens, food, flowers, even making custom art, whatever the space calls for. Then filling that up with people who are open and engaging. I threw my first dinner party at age 13 and have been doing it ever since.

this was a midsummer night's dream party with a custom roofless tent!

When you are setting the scene for an event, you have the power to create a feeling in the space that will extend to your guests: it is a gift that they are trusting you. It is also a great gift to give: to lend your guests not only your personal space and time, carefully prepared food and hand-picked booze, but also your goodwill and generosity. Inviting someone to dinner (at least to me) and really following through with creating a nice event, is the ultimate act of friendship. And if a little art and style comes into it, all the more fun.

I am throwing a dinner party for some friends soon, and thought it would be nice fodder for a new how-to series on Dinner Parties. Since I most often am asked how to throw together a stylish event without spending years creating it, I thought I’d keep a running dialogue as it all comes together. Heck, maybe I’ll learn something too. Or maybe you’ll just want to come over. Which is fine too.

I’m going to tip my hat to Pinot and Prose here, my NYC foodie friend with whom I hope to soon be throwing dinner parties constantly.

XO

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The Sushi Bowl, AKA Chirashi

By Amy
Food and Wine
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There’s been a lot of spicy tuna in our lives lately, courtesy of several fantastic fish markets nearby and the concept of the Sushi Bowl.

I used to make maki on special occasions, to make my friends and family happy, but it was always exhausting since preparing all those perfectly sliced ingredients takes time. Then the rolling, and cutting and presenting and including enough variety that no one gets bored.

But behold, the Sushi Bowl. You can put these babies together in about 30 minutes (including making the sushi rice) and it is endlessly delicious. A fantastic last minute meal, stopping off on the way home for fresh fish.

Assemble: Sushi Rice cooked and tossed with seasoned rice vinegar (the sweet kind) and cooled to warm

Sashimi slices of your favorite fish OR mixes such as spicy tuna, kani salad, or poke

Sliced avocado, daikon sprouts, pickled ginger, wakame (seaweed salad), store bought at Japanese markets (or Berkeley Bowl if you’re lucky enough to live nearby), wasabi, toasted nori strips.

We threw these together the other night and added a little baby romaine with miso dressing salad. Next time I’d do a less bitter green but it was delish.

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The Dinner Plan

By Amy
Food and Wine, Lifestyle
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Dinner at our house is now being broken up into parts. My partner
takes Monday and Friday, the nights I work late (making dinner for
someone else, no less!), and I take Tuesday-Thursday. I am responsible
for execution these nights, and it's an every woman for herself
approach with the shopping.                       

Food-wine-cover-sm

Having slacked on trying anything new, I am embracing my former
dedication to Food and Wine Magazine and cooking exclusively from
whatever issue I pick out of the pile on Sunday while making my
shopping list.

Note here that my recent time management efforts
are taking hold slowly. I now have a shopping day. I recognize that
there is no other day that works well for me than Sunday. And if I
screw it up, the whole system revolts. I am on the straight and narrow.

So
back to food: last week was a Turkish delight as the menu for Tuesday
was from Istanbul. Lamb sausages over lentils, roasted peppers, and
chunks of fresh pear. Deee-light! The salad? Nothing less than
watermelon and goat cheese with olive oil, orange zest and a toss of
kosher salt. And for dessert a semolina couscous cooked with sugary
milk, rather than water, and fortified with a dash of almond extract,
diced apricots and shaved almonds. But wait, there's more. You top this
concoction off with creme fraiche. And creme fraiche reminds me of my
great friend Laura over at Pinot and Prose. And being reminded of Laura is always a good time.

This
week, we are rocking it simple. Sunday night was pan seared scallops
marinated with bacon, thyme and olive oil (can one ever really go wrong
with bacon?), and the whole shebang was plated over baby arugula.
Tonight was the reliable Sushi Bowl.
Little Buddha proceeded to eat the entire container of Chuka Wakame
(seaweed salad) and disregarded her Unagi completely. I encouraged her,
since kelp has miraculous amounts of protein, omega 3's and fiber.
Tomorrow we are going to embrace the metropolis of cheeses in the
refrigerator, break out the summer tomatoes and have ourselves a good
old fashioned grilled cheese.

I can recommend Food and Wine
highly, by the way. Whenever I need inspiration for a menu I either
pore over my back issues or check the current menus of Chez Panisse or
Restaurant Lulu, and that always does the trick.

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