They're laughing and drinking and having a party

One thing I don't miss about Gourmet magazine: the party pictures in which gorgeous people were always smiling, lifting Lalique champagne flutes in lush green gardens where the tables were artfully set to look beautifully artless. Idealized parties make me feel a little sheepish about my actual parties which tend to look more like the photo above.

The guests were our neighbors JoAn and Bill, and my parents-in-law, David and Mary, who are visiting from Boston. The two couples are going to swap houses in the fall and we thought a get-together was indicated. Topics of conversation: New England weather, Elizabeth Taylor's eyes, my adolescent adoration of Lady Di, Bill's childhood pet bantam rooster, neighbors not there to defend themselves. I cooked an all-Stir menu:

Brioche pizza with fried pistachios, fresh ricotta and honey. To me, probably the most tempting dish in the entire book. You make a soft, buttery dough, let it rise, roll out to pizza dimensions, top with garlic-infused olive oil, fresh ricotta, and fried pistachios. Bake. When it comes out of the oven, sprinkle with sea salt and drizzle with honey. The crust was soft, supple and rich and it stopped me short. Not like pizza crust, which is chewy and lean; more like puff pastry. People loved this. I almost loved it but didn't quite. 

Steaks with cheese sauce.

 

You sear thick sirloins, add butter and thyme for calories and flavor. Saute wild mushrooms and roast onions to serve on the side. Then make a decadent sauce with aged gouda and cream, which is very, very delicious poured over the meat, as fat on fat tends to be.

Roasted fennel and green beans. Fine. Plain. Forgettable.

Wild rice salad. Wild rice, chopped vegetables, pine nuts, feta. Delicious. Forgettable.

Peaches and cream. You poach peaches in white wine and sugar, then serve with mascarpone whipped with powdered sugar. Mascarpone whipped with powdered sugar: unforgettable. This was a spectacularly beautiful dish -- when poached, the peaches turned a radiant pink-gold.  To go alongside, I served butter cookies.

Perfect cookies, if not innovative.

 

I was telling my husband afterwards that while I was proud of this meal, a lot of it -- steak and cheese sauce, in particular -- isn't my kind of food. I wasn't complaining. Like trying on a dress, it's how you figure out who you are.

The National Appetizer Crisis: A Retraction

Alright, there is no "national appetizer crisis." I've been trying to concoct some b.s. theory just to save face. Can't. 

That said, I do think there's a black hole in our cuisine where the shrimp molds, cheese balls, and canapes used to reside. I have two mental images of a cocktail party circa 2008:

1. The fancy catered affair at which crab cakes and hamachi are passed on silver trays by attractive servers in black pants.

 

2. The homey party where you'll find a bowl of guacamole on the coffee table along with other mismatched and dippy ethnic dishes, like hummus and tapenade.

What happened to the middle ground? What happened to the tidy, pretty, make-ahead hors d'oeuvres that the 1960s hostess carried into the sunken living room to be consumed with a pitcher of martinis? 

That was what I was after: tidy, pretty, make-ahead.

I wasn't thrilled with what I served at Justine's surprise birthday, but for the record, here's the menu:

 

-Smoked salmon rolls. Mark Bittman's recipe from the New York Times. Couldn't get the fish to roll neatly around the lemony ricotta so made a few messy little roll-ups and quit. Threw newspaper into the fireplace.

-Ajwain cashews from My Bombay Kitchen. Good. 

-Spiced pecans. Good.

-Date nut bread from Martha Stewart. Originally intended to top with cream cheese and chutney, but after sampling decided it was better plain. Good enough.

-Benne wafers. More dessert than cracker. Good.

-Fig tapenade. Served on baguette rounds. Not bad.

-Cheese straws. Long, skinny, breakable. Good.

-Chicken liver pate on toast cut into flower shapes. Martha Stewart's recipe. Better to look at than eat.

-Sausage rolls. Miniature sausages wrapped in a buttery yeast dough and baked, a.k.a. pigs-in-blankets. Recipe courtesy of my brother-in-law's mother. Served with bowl of catsup. Got more compliments on these than anything except the meat (see below). 

-Tuna mousse. Made by my mother in a copper fish mold with a pimento-stuffed olive to resemble bloodshot eye. Served with crackers. Silly name, but delicious.

-Avocado toasts. Mashed avocado and lemon on garlic toast. Similar to guacamole but neater and tastier.

-Aged beef tenderloin

Pictured here is roughly 5% of the meat that the very celebrated butcher shop convinced us we needed. Swindlers. So expensive. How expensive? I'm ashamed to say, but my mother paid and it was worth every penny. (I hope she thought so too.) Velvety and rich, this was the tenderest beef I have ever eaten. Served with rolls and 

-Macaroni and cheese which seemed easier than potatoes au gratin and pleased the children.

Dessert was a bakery cake. 

Just typing this out I am completely exhausted. 

Surprise (Not) Party

Was it a surprise? She says yes, but I have my doubts. If she'd really believed we were going to the French Laundry would she have worn the jeans? 

Matters not. Justine had a big birthday, we threw a big party, people ate, people drank, people listened to Yaz and Donny & Marie and Emmylou Harris on our fabulous sentimental mix CD. Kids ran around with grimy handfuls of baguette and my mother (pictured above in striking ropy necklace) worked the crowd, one of her brilliant gifts and one that I sadly did not inherit. 

I hereby declare the event a smashing success!!!

I've been wanting to post about the menu-planning machinations for several long, lonely weeks, but for obvious reasons could not. There is more to this story --  the most expensive meat purchase of my life, uncharacteristic anxiety & copious tears, our national appetizer crisis, Martha-Stewart-to-the-rescue! etc. -- coming soon.