Gourmet Lady Blog

Those closest to me know that I, the Gourmet Lady, actually don't cook that frequently.  I like to entertain, and gather groups of people together, and enjoy the dining experience -- but I am not prone to a lot of fuss.  After opening the store, I began to cook even less. 

At the time of opening the store, I moved households.  When I opened The Wine Place, I also moved households.  I had a wonderful helper who packed and unpacked for me at home while I played store.  Thus earlier this year when I took to cleaning my cupboards, I found things I didn't even know were there. 

While I've had various dinner guests in my home, they have tended to be the quiet dinner for two.  This past summer, I actually had 6 people for dinner.  This was the most people I've had in the house ever so I chose very carefully the guest list.  To begin the festivities, I asked the three gentlemen to trade the tables from the kitchen and office.  I'd been using my large kitchen table as a desk (you can tell where my priorities had shifted, sadly).  It is always amusing to watch men at work, and more importantly, observe who will take the alpha-male role and boss the others around.  This made for good sport and got the dinner off to a wonderful start.

At this dinner in May, one of the guests declared that during the summer, there would be a gathering at the beach every Monday night.  He specified this would begin "two weeks hence," something we quote him on frequently.  And so for the entire summer, every Monday night was spent on the beach.  The size of the group varied from four to twelve, and the menu was all over the map, but the rule became - whatever you bring will be cooked on the fire.  This makes sense for packages of sausages, shrimp marinated in lemoncello, chicken, spam & pineapple on skewers, but have you ever heard of grilled brownies?  I brought brownies that were already fully cooked, but somehow they made it onto the grill.  Talk about gooey and wonderful.  I also brought individually made s'mores that were wrapped in foil -- can we just skip the whole coathanger idea, please. 

It was a sad end to the summer, but the group has continued to gather, generally at the home of Mr. Two Weeks Hence, who is perfecting a pizza dough recipe week-by-week.  Our job is to bring pizza toppings.  Though my albacore tuna and capers were a bit gawked at initially, when combined with the right stinky cheese, they make a great pizza. 

Pizza night is lovely, but I kind of miss my beach chair, and the smell of campfire smoke on my clothes.  One evening I had to admit that sitting by the fireplace (switched on with a remote control), I was just a little bit too warm - something I never said at the beach.