How big can a shrimp be before you have to call it a lobster?

DavidLeave a Comment on How big can a shrimp be before you have to call it a lobster?
Gordon Ramsay’s Shrimp Cocktail

I can feel the excitement building, as we get closer to our big concert, Judith. Tonight we will be rehearsing with a slightly larger orchestra and next week, we finally have the opportunity to work with the full orchestra and soloists.  Seeing this amazing, lost work coming together, gives us a feeling of accomplishment, and we can finally see how the final piece will come together.  We can hardly wait.

Tonight for dinner we have invited someone who has been on the guest list for sometime, but never been “on the list”. He is a tenor and also named Shawn.  We had a forewarning (from Ruth)  that he is “an eater.”  Yeah…  nothing better than cooking for an eater.  So our trio gathered with New big prairie Shawn. This should be fun. We also found out that he has a placement back home for the summer, so good thing we had him over this week. read more

Going with the flow

David1 Comment on Going with the flow
Potato Gnocchi in Tomato Sauce

Gentle reader….  We do so enjoy sharing our culinary triumphs with you.  But there are those dark times, when you have a cooking failure.  Usually just before plating…..  AAAHHH the humanity!!! What do you do?  Read on to find out.

This Monday we are back to rehearsals for Parry’s Judith, but with a small string section.  Our dear friend Brian was able to join our trio (and came down extra early, in case of falling trucks), so at “5:30 sharp”, with a glass of 2011 Ser Lapo, Chianti Classico, Monday Night Dining is off to the races for another week. read more

The 3 L’s

David2 Comments on The 3 L’s
Lobster Eclairs

Tonight’s dinner is brought to you by the letter L….  L is for lobster.  L is also for lamb, and of course L is for lemon.  Now that I think of it, L is for luscious, and that is what we were going for.  This Monday was a special night, as we have no rehearsal on Easter Monday, plus we have some special guests with us, Susan, Craig and Tina.  Since it’s just a day after Easter, we thought of something Easter inspired.

For our appetizer the newf in me took over. Shawn found Jamie Kennedy’s recipe for lobster eclairs.  We decided to change it up and grilled the lobster instead of the standard boiling. The one issue we had, was that the recipe in the book, was not correct.  I have made Choux pastry many times, and I knew something seemed odd about this recipe, but thought that perhaps it was just a different take on an old favorite….. Nope, it was just wrong. It took a couple attempts to get them just right, since the next batch just wasn’t large enough.  Finally we had the perfect shells. Light pastry filled with Grilled lobster, cider mayonnaise, fennel, fresh herbs and a touch of arugula.  This was a lovely start to the evening, served with Flat Rock Cellars Riddled Sparkling Wine. read more

Here’s to Steph!!!

David2 Comments on Here’s to Steph!!!
Gift from St-Ambroise

We had a delightful surprise this week. In January, we blogged about a meal in which we used St-Ambroise Apricot Wheat Ale, for a glazed pork tenderloin. The Regional Sales Manager, for our area, was in the neighbourhood and dropped off a care package of their products for us, including their new Maple Beer, that has not been released yet.  It also included their Scotch ale, an Oak Aged Pale Ale, beer infused cheese and Beer Mustard.  I really want to drink the beer, but I think we may need to plan a meal around it.  We are so grateful, to have someone take the time to thank us personally, for a mention. read more

The “Cylinder” of Life

David6 Comments on The “Cylinder” of Life
Beet and Goat Cheese Salad with Pistachios

I have mentioned before, when a guest is invited to dinner, during the rehearsal season it comes with the warning “Dinner is at 5:30 sharp.” That being said, we are not the MND police. When a truck falls off the ramp for the 404, and lands on the 401 below (for those not from Ontario, this is the busiest highway in Canada) we must make allowances.

Joining our trio this week, we have  Virginia, and Brian. By 5:30 we were enjoying a glass of wine, when we received a text from Brian telling us not to wait….  It seems a transport truck fell onto the highway.  After waiting as long as we dared, we set Brian’s food aside and started in on Monday Night Dining.  Tonight everything is cylindrical.  It wasn’t quite planned that way, but we did notice a trend. read more

Spring is in the air

David4 Comments on Spring is in the air
Tri-colour Farfalle

Last week we got cyber attacked…  Twice!  I’m pretty sure they were not after our little blog, but it still took a lot of work to put it back together.  We did lose a couple of entries (thank goodness for backups) and possibly a couple of comments, that I could not recover.  I think we are back up and on track again. Things have been warming up here, after a record cold February (we did not go over the freezing mark all month). A few days lately when the sun is shining, it is starting to feel like spring, so maybe we can shift our menu a little in that direction too. This week all we could decide on was the appetizer. While we were at the cottage, we had great fun making some interesting pastas. One that is always a treat to make is Farfalle Tricolore (tricoloured bow tie pasta).  We made carrot pasta, beet pasta, and swiss chard pasta (usually it’s made with spinach, but we had swiss chard in the freezer). These are combined and cranked through the pasta machine, then cut and shaped. read more

Post Gala Dinner

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Prep

First I need to apologize for the lateness of this post, and that subscribers would have seen the previous post twice. It seems our server had a nasty DDoS attack.  I ended up losing the last 2 posts, when we recovered a backup.  We are now on our own dedicated IP, which should help….  Now  on to our regularly scheduled blogging.

Anyone who has read this blog, the past while, has read about the Pax Christi Gala. I had strict instructions not to give too much of the design for the event away, before the event. Well the event was on Saturday, so now I can retroactively spill the beans. The event was lovely, with everyone all dolled up and looking elegant. The food was impressive, the auction had some amazing items, and the wine was an inspired choice (it’s a good thing we had some in reserve). Highlight’s of the night were our musical guests. Having Catherine Robbin come out of retirement, to regale us with Italian art songs, was a treat. She is so engaging. After dinner Francesco Pellegrino performed traditional Italian songs for us. Even with 120 people there it felt very intimate. read more

That’s no skin off my duck….

ShawnLeave a Comment on That’s no skin off my duck….
Ingredients for Curried Roasted Squash Soup

In a frenzy of activity, and a forest of topiaries, for the upcoming gala and the end of a record cold February, we are turning again to warming, stick to your ribs fare. We had not really come up with a plan, and we were up at the cottage, so off we went to the market, to see what was on offer.  They did not have celery root, nor chestnuts, but strangely they did have duck breasts!!!  This started us on our way to a menu plan.  Now I love crispy duck skin…. It is the main reason I eat duck, so when I saw Shawn merrily removing the skins, I was nonplussed.  Oh ye of little faith.  I know that “it will all turn out all right in the end…..  If it is not alright, it is not the end.”  So onward and southward to Monday Night Dining. read more

I’m not called uncle maple for nothing….

David2 Comments on I’m not called uncle maple for nothing….
Pax Christi Gala

We are now just over a week away from the Pax Christi Chorale Black and White Venetian Gala.  Do you want to know how I know that???  It’s because our apartment is packed with Gala décor.  One end if filled with boxes.  In front of our bookcase is a small forest of topiaries.  The bedroom has more boxes, and we have taken over the cupboard under the stairs, to store the wine and the rest of the décor. If you are near Toronto on March 7th, the Columbus Centre is the place to be. With the place in such disarray, Shawn will only allow certain guests over, in case we give them the wrong impression, but this week our dear friend Brian had a meeting cancelled and was available for dinner. Almost as exciting, he is bringing wine! Tonight’s guests are our trio and Brian (I just have to move some décor, so he can sit….  We started with a lovely Shrimp Bisque.  This is a luxurious dish, with a hint of Cayenne on the finish, but the trick is in sautéing and simmering the shrimp shells, to add depth and flavour to the soup.  This is one to serve, when you want to impress someone special. read more

All Hail Chicken Supremes

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Creamy Rice Pudding with Almonds and Pistachios

After last week’s shopping error, we got our chicken supremes this week!!  For some reason cold weather, to us means Indian food.  I think it’s mostly because of the Indian stews we love so much. Our apartment is a little…. well packed with Black and White Gala décor, so we stuck to guests, who would understand.  This week we have our trio and our good friend Jennifer ( with the mighty Enzo, who has been reviewing tonight’s music).

Enzo

We started with our Gingery Cauliflower Soup. This is a wonderful cold weather soup, creamy, but with the flavor of Indian spices. read more