6 AM, I am up and groggy from the night before, time to go for a run in a few hours. Its beautiful today, palm trees against a cloudless sky, nothing but blue. I hit the Santa Monica’s Farmer Market by 11 which is already bustling. I buy ingredients for tonight’s dinner, cauliflower, chives, bell peppers, leeks, roma green beans, chanterelle and baby shitake mushrooms. I meet up with Carly and cousin Caroline for lunch at Square One. There I devour my meal of an open face skirt steak sandwich with blue cheese hollandaise sauce. We chat with the gracious owner and interestingly enough, the bread we are eating is Eric Kayser from Paris, I am even more impressed.
Next I head to Whole Foods where I am happy to find calamari steaks and beautiful wild caught shrimp, along with cheeses of Tallegio, Casselnello, and Laurel Chenels Midnight Moon. I head straight to Redondo beach where my aunt lives, today is her birthday. Our family of 25 will be over in 3 hours.
I immediately put my cousin, Vanee to work and slowly but surely my others cousins arrive and I command them to chop, chop, and chop! By 5:00 all of the guests have arrived to watch as I slave away, I mean dictate my ‘sous’ chefs what to do. In all the chaos, I have time to breathe and watch what I have orchestrated. My aunt Hanh in the back corner diligently mixing the cauliflower puree, the other aunt/birthday girl, Thanh, brunoising the peppers and zucchini into 1/8” X 1/8” X 1/8” dice, cousin Ha, washing and tearing the swiss chard into rustic 1” pieces, cousin Caroline carefully brushing and slicing the exotic mushrooms, cousins Julien and Rachel peeling the skin off of the bosc pears, cousin Vanee washing endless dishes, and last but not least my best friend, Carly popping open bottles of wine.
I have to take time to dance with Ha and Caroline while searing racks of lamb and also to argue with my aunt about listening to Snoop vs. the Platters, not to mention sipping La Crema Pinot Noir. Finally dinner is ready, my menu; Shrimp poached in saffron broth with brunoise of vegetables and calamari, warm wild mushroom salad sautéed with haricot verts, parsley, shallots, and chives, Lamb ‘Tu’ Ways - charmoula crusted lamb loin and rack of lamb ‘cordon bleu style’ with puree of cauliflower, roasted lamb jus and lastly, a Cheese plate.
I must say it was one of the most gratifying meals I have cooked. There is something about cooking for loved ones. Always such an appreciation more than anyone else. My grandparents taught us well..love, live, and eat with family and that is also what inspires me to cook!
Next I head to Whole Foods where I am happy to find calamari steaks and beautiful wild caught shrimp, along with cheeses of Tallegio, Casselnello, and Laurel Chenels Midnight Moon. I head straight to Redondo beach where my aunt lives, today is her birthday. Our family of 25 will be over in 3 hours.
I immediately put my cousin, Vanee to work and slowly but surely my others cousins arrive and I command them to chop, chop, and chop! By 5:00 all of the guests have arrived to watch as I slave away, I mean dictate my ‘sous’ chefs what to do. In all the chaos, I have time to breathe and watch what I have orchestrated. My aunt Hanh in the back corner diligently mixing the cauliflower puree, the other aunt/birthday girl, Thanh, brunoising the peppers and zucchini into 1/8” X 1/8” X 1/8” dice, cousin Ha, washing and tearing the swiss chard into rustic 1” pieces, cousin Caroline carefully brushing and slicing the exotic mushrooms, cousins Julien and Rachel peeling the skin off of the bosc pears, cousin Vanee washing endless dishes, and last but not least my best friend, Carly popping open bottles of wine.
I have to take time to dance with Ha and Caroline while searing racks of lamb and also to argue with my aunt about listening to Snoop vs. the Platters, not to mention sipping La Crema Pinot Noir. Finally dinner is ready, my menu; Shrimp poached in saffron broth with brunoise of vegetables and calamari, warm wild mushroom salad sautéed with haricot verts, parsley, shallots, and chives, Lamb ‘Tu’ Ways - charmoula crusted lamb loin and rack of lamb ‘cordon bleu style’ with puree of cauliflower, roasted lamb jus and lastly, a Cheese plate.
I must say it was one of the most gratifying meals I have cooked. There is something about cooking for loved ones. Always such an appreciation more than anyone else. My grandparents taught us well..love, live, and eat with family and that is also what inspires me to cook!
1 comment:
sounds like so much fun! I wish I were there...then I would have been right there with julien and rachel peeling pears =) next time! promise!
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