Another day, another dinner party. Tis the season to
celebrate. Cynthia had invited us to join
her and Ricardo’s for their official Christmas dinner party at 6:00 p.m. During the day I went to Lowe’s and bought a
1 lb. bag of Birdseye green peas ($1.00).
When Suzette got home around 5:00 I fetched the ingredients for
simple tapa we discovered at a small seaside restaurant in Pasia, Spain two
years ago. Besides the peas one uses mostly
prepared and canned ingredients (a can of artichoke hearts in water from Trader
Joe’s, a can of Goya pimientos from Ta Lin and a small amount of saffron and
some smoked ham. We bought a small 1.5
gram plastic container of saffron in Spain two years ago. Suzette diced two Hormel smoked pork chops from
pro’s Ranch Market ($4.29/lb.) and sautéed them in a large skillet with a bit
of Sleman’s Chilean olive oil (a gift from Michel and Johnson) and then she
chopped up the pimiento and I chopped up the artichoke hearts and we added them
with the last ½ gram of saffron to the skillet.
Suzette then added about 1/8 cup of water to allow the whole mixture to
steam and blend its flavors by cooking the ingredients covered for about ten
minutes.
I fetched a covered serving dish and a bottle of La Granja from
the Cariñena DO region in Aragon near Zaragoza, a 100% red Spanish tempranillo ($3.99
at Trader Joe’s) and we were off to the party by about 6:00 p.m.
As soon as we arrived the house started filling up with folks and dishes. Cynthia made a tuna and kale salad, a vegetable plate, a horseradish flavored cream cheese, roasted sweet potato sticks, a cheese and salami platter and bowl of white beans garnished with diced tomatoes, a wonderful baked artichoke dip and had sliced a Bosque Bakery baguette. Others brought salad and smoked salmon, chips and salsa, zuchinni quiches, fresh salmon and salad sushi, pecan and pumpkin pies from Costco and lots of other delicious things. Janet, who is married to Kurt, the wine expert brought a bottle of Vouvray from Augustins, which was a special treat. Ricardo made his Seelack cocktails with bourbon, orange liqueur, Peychaud’s bitters and champagne. They were a little bitter, so some folks, like me, added more champagne.
We got to talk to Catherine and Devin for a while about how
we couples met and got married and then I ended up at the kitchen table and
talked to Terry and Bob and found the half bottle of Vouvray that Janet had
brought, which made the evening extra special. I mentioned to Janet that we should get
together with Kurt for dinner. Bob and his wife bought the Santa Fe Tile
building at the northwest corner of 8th and Mountain Rd. from Stefan
and Eileen Watson, so it turned out to be a small world kind of evening.
After three plates of food at around 9:30 we went home full,
happy and sleepy.
Bon Appétit
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