We had my uncle over for a birthday dinner and ended up blowing my own mind. The gift of giving turned out to be a gift to myself as well.
The Unc
Uncle John has had my food countless times, just never in the multi-coursed style I do for work. Hell…I’ve never had it! I mean…I taste as I go, I cook all the time at home or for family but, I’ve just never been able to sit and enjoy the composed finished product as it is intended to be eaten. Same for my wife, bless her heart. She hears the details of the nights events with nary a crumb to speak of as her own.
Eating my own food?
There was one time back in ’07 while living in the bay area. I was able to sit down for something like this, but it was wine focused. The feel was much different then. Not being wine focused or planned allows a sense of freedom that feels relaxing. Speaking of relaxing; this marks the first dinner of this magnitude I’ve done while riding the sweet, sweet wave of a consistently filled vodka tonic, gigitty. Please keep in mind that I dropped the garnish ball on a few courses because of drinking, socializing, enjoying myself, parenting and keeping things relatively clean. Here is a photographic run through of what we had.
Pictures will never do this dinner justice because the depth and character of certain courses can’t come through this medium. The duck fat, fried potatoes in duck broth were luscious. A pork patty/meatball over the fresh pasta was ethereal. These roasted veggies were also shockingly good. Ahhhhh, the gift of giving was marvelous.
