10_0221 | dinner party....

Last night Justin and Ashley were kind enough to put their appetites and stomachs on the line and try out a couple new recipes for me.  It is always great to see them and they were very kind about the smoke pouring from the kitchen and fouling the everyone's clothes.  In spite of dinner being typically late and the one alarm fire pumping from the kitchen, everything went well.  I took some pictures and posted the recipes on my new recipes page.  

A little note about the dinner parties:  I generally do not follow recipes.  I may research how to create a certain kind of pie or a reduction if I don't know how.  I scour several recipes, taking note of common ingredients and procedures to get to a common end.  I take that knowledge into the kitchen and throw my own twist on the 'common' recipe.  As far as recipes go, however, I feel that at some point in time, someone, somewhere has probably already mixed these ingredients together.  I don't think that I am inventing any truly new and unique foods, but I don't knowingly make someone else's recipe either.  That said, each dinner party will have at least one dish I have never made before.  Most of the menus are thought of about a week in advance.  I think of flavors I feel might go well together and the come up with a way to get them together.  From this one dish, I generally will plan the rest of the meal, taking care to try to involve all the areas of taste [bitter, spicy, sweet, sour, etc].  Sometimes I might choose a single ingredient and try to show it's versatility [a la Iron Chef].  As these may eventually contribute to the cookbook I am co-authoring, dinner guests are invited/asked to criticize the meal as best they can.  At the next party, please, be frank with what you liked and didn't.