What's cooking?

[Jenise]

Looks great, Robin. Very similar to what we're having tonight, though ours will include a shared half roast duck. (We still love our meat, but the portions are a lot smaller than they used to be!)

So how did it all work out, Jenise?

[Jenise]

Mike, great! Turned out that no on else brought any food except one of the chefs, so it's a good thing I made several dishes, they were all needed. The peach gazpacho was my favorite thing of the night. I noted all the quantities, btw, and will post them to the video to help others with something of a recipe. The Cassoulet chef? Boy is he good on his wines. I could not have been more impressed. And the name of his restaurant is more than just something cool and Frenchy, Southern France is really his wheelhouse. He even named one of his sons Rhone. Anyway, he's going to host us next at his restaurant on a night they're otherwise closed. OMG, can't wait.

Jenise, some might say how lucky you are to have had this opportunity, and to have fared so well in pulling it off. I OTH will say I am continually impressed with your skills, and (yes even) your audacity it tackling such a challenge and besting it. with envy.

[Jenise]

Jenise, some might say how lucky you are to have had this opportunity, and to have fared so well in pulling it off. I OTH will say I am continually impressed with your skills, and (yes even) your audacity it tackling such a challenge and besting it. with envy.

Bob, thanks so much for the compliments. I have never been more nervous, but Gabriel put me at ease immediately by walking in and instantly going, "Oh my god, what a kitchen. Have you ever taught cooking classes here?" He was poking and sampling everything I made and talking to me like an equal. He was also the first to jump up and clear/wash dishes, as well as help plate. Dinner guests don't get any cooler than that.

We're really making a very cool little wine group. It's now two exec chefs, two wine retailers, one wine distributor, one organic farmer, me and another guy who's in environmental testing. Spouses attend more often than not, too.

We're really making a very cool little wine group. It's now two exec chefs, two wine retailers, one wine distributor, one organic farmer, me and another guy who's in environmental testing. Spouses attend more often than not, too.

Damn, I'm NEVER bringing a dish to a gathering like that!!!!

He even named one of his sons Rhone.

Wow! That's about as strong a statement as he could make.

[Jenise]

Wow! That's about as strong a statement as he could make.

Yeah, I'm sold!

I need to find the Seattle Anthony Bourdain episode that my new friend was in. He had a butcher shop in Seattle called The Swinery--I presume that's what brought Anthony in, but I don't remember it.

Congratulations, Jenise. A tough spot and you played it like a champ.

[Jenise]

Thanks, Jeff.

So, dinner tonight: spicy chicken wings, cayenne-grilled corn, fresh tomato and endive salad.

Cool name, Rhone! Love it.

Yesterday's dinner for Friends
First course: Guinea-fowl galantine with some salad and cumberland sauce

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Main dish: Variations of Lamb with rosemary potatoes and aubergine cake on Lambs gravy

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Desert: Almond-Orange-Cookies with figs on a yogurt sauce

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Galantine, again? (...imagining a whiny teenager in Heinz' house...)

Tonight is sea scallops with a lemon, shallot, garlic, butter sauce, over thin spaghetti. Purple Cherokee tomato slices with fresh basil

It's been a couple days, but I did salmon and roasted for dinner that were both fabulous!

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[Robin Garr]

It's been a couple days, but I did salmon and roasted for dinner that were both fabulous!

Excellent pictures, too, Jo Ann! Very good composition and detail. Just out of curiosity, is that a very good cellphone camera or something more techie? (I take most of mine with my iPhone 4S, but every now and then I unholster the Nikon DSLR ...)

Tonight I slaughtered a bunch of eggplant from the garden and am making a big bowl of baba ganoush. I took a picture of the last batch, so I won't do that again ... )

It's been a couple days, but I did salmon and roasted for dinner that were both fabulous!

Excellent pictures, too, Jo Ann! Very good composition and detail. Just out of curiosity, is that a very good cellphone camera or something more techie? (I take most of mine with my iPhone 4S, but every now and then I unholster the Nikon DSLR ...)

Tonight I slaughtered a bunch of eggplant from the garden and am making a big bowl of baba ganoush. I took a picture of the last batch, so I won't do that again ... )

Panasonic Lumix G3. I'm still learning my way around it. You've kept me salivating with your food pictures too. Don't you just love "food porn"?

Panasonic Lumix G3. I'm still learning my way around it. You've kept me salivating with your food pictures too. Don't you just love "food porn"?

Yeah, that picture you have of the salmon is particularly pornesque. Can't really say why, but I know it when I see it.

[Jenise]

Agree with Mike!

But tomatoes always make me salivate too. Jo Ann, what did you think of the chocolate cherry tomatoes you grew? I see them on top there. My plant was quite prolific but I didn't think the tomatoes themselves had a very developed flavor.

But tomatoes always make me salivate too. Jo Ann, what did you think of the chocolate cherry tomatoes you grew? I see them on top there. My plant was quite prolific but I didn't think the tomatoes themselves had a very developed flavor.

Jenise, I am sure JoAnn will chime in here about this but since I have been buying them at the Farmer's Market, I thought I'd give you my observation. They are a rather tangy tomato, sometimes I even detect a hint of smokiness. I like to combine them with Sungolds, and yellow pear. The Sungolds are so sweet, the Yellow is mild, so the Chocolates make for an interesting combo. When I eat them plain for a snack, I salt them up a bit and add a drop of balsamic on top. They are yummy that way. Don't you think the soil has a lot to do with flavor? I'm getting Cherokee Purples at the market right now that are so darn sweet, but the ones I grow are not as sweet.

[Jenise]

But tomatoes always make me salivate too. Jo Ann, what did you think of the chocolate cherry tomatoes you grew? I see them on top there. My plant was quite prolific but I didn't think the tomatoes themselves had a very developed flavor.

Jenise, I am sure JoAnn will chime in here about this but since I have been buying them at the Farmer's Market, I thought I'd give you my observation. They are a rather tangy tomato, sometimes I even detect a hint of smokiness. I like to combine them with Sungolds, and yellow pear. The Sungolds are so sweet, the Yellow is mild, so the Chocolates make for an interesting combo. When I eat them plain for a snack, I salt them up a bit and add a drop of balsamic on top. They are yummy that way. Don't you think the soil has a lot to do with flavor? I'm getting Cherokee Purples at the market right now that are so darn sweet, but the ones I grow are not as sweet.

Karen, yes they're tangy: even when ripe they taste a bit green. Which I personally like, especially salted as you say for even more flavor, but I have to admit that wanted to be more impressed than I was. I stole a taste of some commercially grown ones at the market the other day, and theirs were identical to mine. But they're probably local, you might get better results in Northern California.

Agree with Mike!

But tomatoes always make me salivate too. Jo Ann, what did you think of the chocolate cherry tomatoes you grew? I see them on top there. My plant was quite prolific but I didn't think the tomatoes themselves had a very developed flavor.

Actually, I love the way they grow on the vine -- like you said, really prolific. I like their size and the testure of them. They are tart, and have the mouth feel I want in a good, firm, but ripe tomato. However, I think they lack personality, especially when compared to the green grape and the snow whites that I grew last year (couldn't find snow white this year). It is a tomato, in my estimation, that works well with other tomatoes and flavors, and that stands up well to roasting, which I have been doing a lot of with my tomatoes this year. I used it in a greek salad last night and it holds its own in that tangy, crunchy medley. I like it better than a regular cherry tomato, if for nothing but the aesthetic value. But, there are others that I prefer for flavor.

Galantine, again? (...imagining a whiny teenager in Heinz' house...)

Sure, I prepare a lot of rabbit, poultry terrines and Galantines, sometimes once or twice a week, to replace sausage in my daily nourishment inasmuch as sausages and pork meat don't agree with me. Because of using regional products in my kitchen, I know where the animals have lived and how they have been fed. So I'll be very sure that the amount of antibiotic and pesticidal in our food will be very low. On the other hand the taste of my terrines, galantines are much better than products from any industrial producer available. The family and our friends know it and ask for it.

[Robin Garr]

A meatless dish of mushrooms, red lentils and caramelized onions crafted to go with Stag's Leap Wine Cellars 2000 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. It went great, so much so that Mary said she preferred the pairing to her more traditional pick, pepper-crusted grass-fed locally grown steak seared medium-rare. (Served with chopped, barely wilted fresh spinach and Greek pitas.)

My day's work - pickled okra!

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