We awoke at 4:30 and I made a bagel smeared with cream cheese and layered with slices of onion and Lax that I bagged and took to eat on our flight to Dallas at 6:30. Suzette made scrambled eggs that she ate on a leaf of romaine lettuce garnished with a slice of Lax.
Billy picked us up when we arrived at Love Field and we went on a shopping trip, first to Eatsy’s for a whole wheat baguette and then to Jimmie’s Italian market for Italian sausage.
Then we went to Central Market where we first got coffee and then bought oranges, lemons, basil, Italian broad leaf parsley, little neck clams, 4 lobster tails, tilapia, Ocean perch, squid ringlets, a concentrated fish stock, a bottle of French Chardonnay, a bag of French baking chocolate nibs, and cream. The bill was over $80.00.
We took the food to Billy and Elaine’s house. I removed the 2015 Mary Edwards’s Sauvignon Blanc from my grip and chilled it for dinner. We saw a sign for an estate sale a few blocks from Billy’s house. Suzette and I drove to the sale. Suzette found two slips she needed for a dress her mother gave her for $4.00.
When we returned to Billy’s he drove us to the Arts District where we found a parking spot on the side of DMA. We walked through DMA, stopping to see the Islamic art exhibition, to the Nasher
Museum, which had organized the “First Sculpture” Exhibit. This mind blowing Exhibit was a
collection of hand crafted objects dating back 2 ½ million years. Many of the objects were hand
axes. My favorite objects were 800,000 to 500,000 spheres of quartzite, that appeared to only be of ceremonial use. I had expected to see anthropomorphic objects but immediately realized I was seeing much more ancient utilitarian and religious objects that expressed the beginnings of human exploration of sculpture. Pretty amazing.
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| A pretty sharp edge for 500,000 year old stone |
After visiting the Nasher we returned to Billy’s and took naps until 5:00.
Billy started preparation of the Bouillabaisse at 6:00 by sautéing in olive oil a large onion, four or five large cloves of garlic crushed, and the largest fennel. Then he added 1 cup of white wine (A cheap Chardonnay) and turned up the heat and reduced the liquid by ½. Then he added six cups of fish stock (Billy used a commercial fish Fume to make the stock). He then and the added 14 oz. of chopped canned Roma tomatoes, a bouquet garnish of parsley, 1 large bay leaf, several strips of lemon peel, and a small handful of fresh thyme, and two pinches of dried Spanish saffron. Plus salt and pepper to taste. He brought the ingredients to a boil and then simmered covered for 45 to 60 minutes, but at 6:30 Elaine received a call that her father, Sandy had passed away; at which moment the character of the the evening, weekend and trip instantly switched from celebrating Billy’s 70th birthday to mourning Sandy’s death.
Elaine left to meet Jerry and attend to funeral details, but Billy decided to continue with the preparation of dinner.
After 45 minutes Billy added all the seafood into what had become more a stew than a soup and cooked the soup for another five minutes covered.
We opened the 2015 Merry Edwards Sauvignon Blanc and I poured glasses of it. Billy buttered and heated thick slices of Eatsi whole wheat baguette (Billy mentioned that in the future he will use white flour baguette) and we served ourselves bowls heaping full of the wonderfully aromatic seafood, fennel, and tomatoes. What a delicious dinner, as we sopped up the last drops of soup with our bread and washed that down with the impeccable Merry Edwards.
I wonder if the Merry Edwards is a blend of several Sauvignon Blanc grape juices with different characteristics that when combined created an integrated full flavored wine that had a different and interesting flavor profile front front to back of tongue. It reminds me of the story Rick Davis told me about how he created Londer Vineyard’s Parabol, which garnered number 13 of the Pinot noirs of the year it was introduced. Rick said that they had a Pinot that had an assertive floral flavor on the front end and no after taste and a Pinot that had a very strong finish that lingered long on the palate but little or no front end flavor. The result was a fully blended wine with a continuous flavor profile from front to back of the palate. Actually, the Merry Edwards Sauvignon Blanc was more distinctly a blend of two different grape stocks with a distinctly fruity front and a distinctly mellow buttery back end.
We took a break from the documentary to cook dessert, which turned out to be a magic show of food preparation that you should learn to amaze your friends. It is as easy as any dessert I have ever made. You simply place 12 oz. of chocolate (Billy bought a French baking chocolate in chip form) and 12 oz. of heavy cream in a microwaveable bowl and heat the ingredients for 1 minute on high in the microwave and then let it sit for four to five minutes. Then whisk the ingredients to mix thoroughly. In our case the chocolate did not completely melt , so Billy moved the mixture to a sauce pan and heated it slowly as he stirred it with a wooden spoon until the chocolate melted and the ganache became smooth with a sheen on top.
We scooped vanilla ice cream into bowls and ladled chocolate ganache over the ice cream and sipped German Pear brandy with dessert for a memorable finish to a memorable dinner.
Bon Appetit
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