The Real Revival (Updated with Beth's comments- see yellow below)

Good morning! I have a lot of catching up to do, as some of you (Beth) know, so instead of excusing procrastination (what could I say?), I'll get right into it, beginning with two special dinners Heather and I hosted recently:

Redemption Dinner (a response to Rabbit a la Columbus)
As some of you know, the trip Heather and I took to Beth's a few months ago resulted in the most disastrous dinner we have ever put together. What was worse? The rubbery rabbit leg that looked like the prop in Repulsion, or the tart made with frozen strawberries that evoked road trip PB&Js tainted by melted gas station ice? At least Beth had nothing to do with the calamity, unless she was guilty of serving us too much wine while we were "cooking."

To redeem ourselves, we had Beth and others over for graduation weekend about a month ago, and stuck with familiar cuts of meat and fresh fruit. See captions below for the details...


The mise-en-place for the sacue Beth made for our "pulled pork" (pork roast slow-cooked in a crock pot): red onion, orange zest, dried cherries, scallions, brown sugar.


The above picture is horrible, but it is the only shot we have of the dinner. Beth, Karen, Jared, Katerina.
The sauce went really well with the pork, which had the texture of barbecue and a deep, sour cherry flavor. The potatoes were dressed with a green garlic aoli (delicious, and really seasonal, as green garlic seems to have had its run as of the June 12 markets) and the salad was dressed with yogurt and sorrel (something new to all of us; read about it here). Thanks to Beth for the reminder!

Strawberry shortcake! Delicious!!

Dinner #2: Going away for Erin Maloff

Above: Karen, Kat, Jill, Erin, Heather.
As you can see, this was an elaborate meal which focused on local produce (more on that in later posts). Heather made a bechamel sauce lasagna with local kale and spicy Italian sausage from Peaceful Pastures. The stuff in the small green bowl is roasted garlic for spreading: chop off the top of a garlic bulb, cover with olive oil, wrap in foil, and bake in the oven at 400 for about 45 minutes. The result is a soft, subtle garlic paste that can be scooped out of each clove with a butter knife.

Good times! The wine, provided by Erin, went well with her announcement of a Napa Valley wedding next May!

From all of us, congratulations to Erin and Jaron! Hopefully we'll see you soon in Seattle.