June 21, 2022 Lunch - Salami Salad. Dinner - Midsummer celebration

June 21, 2022  Lunch - Salami Salad. Dinner - Midsummer celebration

 Woke up this morning with visions of Midsummer.  I knew I had everything for it except bread and Danish beer.   I had fresh Gravad lax, herring in wine sauce, lax sauce, sour cream, and three or four types of cheese.

Suzette wanted to taste the Gravad lax to make sure it was okay, so I toasted two thin slices of bagel and smeared them with cream cheese and garnished them slices of Gravad lax.  Suzette thought the salmon tasted good and decided to make the Spiaggia Salad for dinner.

I immediately called Dale and Jennifer  to invite them since Dale is Scandinavian.  I asked them to bring a dessert and bread.  

At 10:00 I drove to Total Wine and picked up a 12 pack of Carlsberg beer and a bottle of Blaye de Cores de Bordeaux red 

Then I went home and listened to the 4th January 6th hearing regarding the attempt to change votes at the state level such as by finding votes in Georgia and substituting alternative electors in seven states that Biden won.

Suzette went to Susan Palmer’s for a Girls named Sue party at 11:00.  I made a salami salad with a diced tomato, mushroom slices, Persian cucumber slices, sliced green onion and salami and dressed the salad with the all purpose Caesar salad dressing.  I also made Jarlsberg melted cheese sandwiches and filled the pickle jar with spears of Persian cucumber.

Again the testimony was chilling and exposed how the Republicans have normalized lies and violence to try to win elections.

At 1:45 I sold shares of Apple, Nvidia, and Square at the end of a day of rising prices.  My strategy is to wait for the market to tank and then buy back, if it does that as it has done about ten times in the last three months.

Suzette came home at 2:00 but went out again to buy mandarin oranges, red onions, lettuce, and French baguettes for the salad she wanted to make for our Midsummer dinner.

The salad is a replica of one we ate at Spiaggia in Chicago many years ago.  It combines lettuce with slices of orange, red onion, and grapefruit, chunks of cured salmon and is dressed with an orange flavored mayonnaise dressing and drops of basil infused olive oil. It is a salad served at the Greenhouse Bistro and one Suzette’s favorite ways to eat Gravad lax.

I then drafted a motion to extend the deadline for filing my reply brief in the court of Appeals that I had sent out requests for concurrence on this morning and talked to two clients until 5:00 when Suzette returned.

Suzette then went to the garden and picked a handful of basil and pureed it with olive oil to to create basil infused olive oil for the Spiaggia salad.

I sliced slices of three oranges and 1/2 of a red onion for the salad.

Then I filled a small plate with slices of Gravad lax and red onion.

I filled a small bowl with IKEA Swedish salmon sauce.

I filled a larger bowl with pickled herring in wine sauce and a small bowl with sour cream.

I then sliced French baguette. Suzette fetched several Carlsberg beers from the garage and put them into the fridge.

We fetched the cheese board and Suzette filled it with a log of goat cheese, a round of brie, a wedge of Gouda and Manchego and put it on the table.

Suzette set the table in the TV room for the food and the table on the patio for eating.

Dale and Jennifer arrived at 6:30 with a French baguette, a large round loaf of Russian rye, Danish pastries for dessert, and a heavenly Danish shrimp salad made with creme fraiche (skagenrora)

Here is the recipe: https://www.mycookingplace.com/recipes/danish-swedish-shrimp-salad-skagenrora

I had mentioned Danish shrimp salad to Jennifer in passing in the morning when we discussed the menu as an example of Danish dishes that I had eaten in the summer in Denmark and miraculously she had created the authentic shrimp salad.  It was my favorite dish of the meal.

Suzette composed the Spiaggia salads and put one by each seat on the patio table.

I poured beers for Dale, Suzette, and me and white wine for Jennifer and we filled our Royal Copenhagen plates with bread, Gravad lax, herring and shrimp salad.

I made open face sandwiches of shrimp on toasted rye, and herring on a slice of baguette smeared with sour cream and Gravad lax on a slice of  baguette smeared with salmon sauce.

I fetched shot glasses and filled them with Aalborg Akvavit. We refilled the shot glasses and beer glasses and wine glass several more times and took seconds and learned about how Jennifer, who was adopted at three months of age, discovered her amazing family history and birth parents and relatives among several other topics until 9:30, when Suzette made us parfaits of vanilla ice cream, maraschino cherries, and a slice of Danish pastry.  

Dale and Jennifer then packed up the remaining shrimp salad and the baguette and their serving dishes and we said goodnight at 10:00.

We all had a good Midsomer buzz by then.

We cleared the table and put up the remaining items and fell into a deep slumber until 2:30 when I awakened in need of a glass of water and finished this blog.

Suzette said she enjoyed the evening, which made me happy.

Perhaps we will do it again next year.

Bon Appetit