Stupid Rain!

Dammit!  Today is supposed to be the first outdoor ABDC event of the year.  A Mothers' Luncheon Al Fresco in our backyard.  And sure, we can seat all 11 attendees (barely) at the indoor table, but I've been looking forward to the outdoor dining for about 2 months now.  I have flowers! and white linens! and wine glasses that were supposed to sparkle in the mid-day sun, while the lilac bush perfumed the air. ::sigh::

Instead, I awoke to the pitter patter of rain on the windows, grey skies and the front door rug draped over the bush by the front door getting soaked.  Also?  Twice before going to bed last night, I reminded the boy to make sure the dishwasher would run before morning.  I didn't want to have to wait to empty and start reloading it this morning with guest arriving at 11:30.  So you can imagine my dismay and ire, upon finding dirty dishes in the dishwasher at 7:30 am.  Happy Mother's Day to me.

We managed to rehang our biggest piece of original art in the great room this morning.  This piece was a wedding present, and in 20 yrs it has hung in the breakfast room, over the mantle (twice) at the top of the stairs, and now over the sofa.  I hope to finish choosing and framing the black and white portraits for the entrance hall soon.  DH did a nice job on the two-tone paint, and I can't wait to see the final dressed-up result.  We think we'll get our newest acquisition hung at the top of the stairs before guests arrive too.

Okay. I'm off to dress the table, play with flowers and prep the "Soup with No Water."  Today's theme is "What would you like to serve your mother?"  This soup is my mother's favorite.  Or it's her favorite thing to serve me.  Or its her favorite thing to serve when she's showing off.  Or maybe it's all of the above.  Anyway, when I told her last weekend about the theme, she asked, "oh, then what are you serving me?" When I said "the Soup with No Water, of course."  She squealed, "Yay!" and clapped her hands.  So that's one motherly vote of approval. :)  Too bad it's only a virtual meal for her, since she is on the coast and I am not.

Last thing, I dreamt I went to a tattoo parlor with my mom to see about getting my tattoo finally.  I've been back and forth about deciding what to get and where to get it.  In my dream, I had decided on the rainbow infinity sign that I picked out the last time I was seriously considering this, and the spot at the outside top of my calf that was my original tattoo location (but was intended to be a comma butterfly).  I had chosen the infinity symbol for the back of my neck at the base.  I didn't get the tattoo in my dream, because we had gone in at the spur of the moment, and I didn't have the pic with me.  But I made an appointment to go back.  It's an odd dream to me, because my mother would never be caught dead in a tattoo parlor, and I hadn't given the tattoo question any thought in months.  I'll have to think about this one.

Much Napping Ensued

Well, the Mothers' Day edition of the Arrogant Bastards Dining Club was a rousing success.  We don't always do a dinner party, so this month we did a luncheon.

At 11:30, the guests began arriving.  Unfortunately, the newest members of ABDC were unable to attend at the last moment, so we were down to 7 adults, 2 teens and 3 kids.

First course:  Guwumpke (apparently the spelling of this Polish dish is totally up to the speller), which are stuffed cabbage rolls.  These came in two flavors:  veal and pork stuffed for the carnivores and wild rice and morel stuffed for the vegetarians (or whoever wanted those flavors).  They were both sauced with a homemade tomato sauce.  The accompanying beverage was Paulaner Pilsner and/or a Polish mead of indeterminate age.  Both were yummy, but not as yummy as the Guwumpke.  Thank you,  busman1994for insisting, and bzdchrisfor introducing this polish delicacy (to honor chris's mom).

Main course:  barley52and I split this course.  The aforementioned "Soup with No Water" was made with a base of sauteed leeks, green onions, diced carrots, and minced garlic.  Next, add a whole bottle of wine (my mom always uses riesling, but I went with the Ironstone Obsession) and diced potatoes, and top up the liquid quantity with broth (vegetable today, but mom uses chicken).  I also added two sprigs of fresh thyme to be fished out later.  Boil until the potatoes are done and you're pretty sure the alcohol has evaporated.  Then add a pound each of tiny scallops, peeled medium shrimp and mussels.  In less than 5 min, the seafood will be done and you can serve.  I checked the mussels to make sure noone got a sealed one, and sprinkled the bowls with chopped cilantro.  Of course you serve the same wine as you use for the soup.  

B's dish was served alongside:  it was a spring-inspired dish of puff pastry rectangle "parks", spread with an herbed, roasted tomato, artichoke and garbanzo bean puree, topped with a layer of shelled edamame.  In the center of the field of green was a morel "tree."  This was stuffed with herbed cream cheese, then broiled after a dousing with balsamic vinegar.  The little parks were decorated with sprigs of fresh oregano, parsley and thyme.  The vegetarians got entree sized parks and the rest of us got appetizer sized parks alongside their soup.  I was a dork though.  I intended to pull out appetizer sized portions of soup base for the veg folks so they could taste the broth, but I dumped in all the seafood right before remembering that little fact. Doh!  Anyway, bzdchris said she'd like to serve the soup to her mom, and emorogsaid his mom would love it, so my mom will be happy when she hears this.  It's her all time favorite soup.  nayadwas making moany noises the whole time she was eating her large park, and Rupert asked for a second park.

Dessert was up next:  nayadand Wil produced a 4-layer torte with raspberry preserve filling and buttercream frosting topped with fresh raspberries.  It was delish!  We spent the majority of that course disecting why the crumb was a little larger and drier than she would have liked, and determined it was a combination of elderly baking powder and overmixing.  A similar thing happened to my Guinness cake back in March.  Wil poured two bottles of Menage A Trois rose, which was light and fruity and went smashingly with the cake.

Mavis says we stopped eating around 2, but we didn't leave the table until 3-ish.  By 4 everyone was gone, and we finished loading the dishwasher.  At 4:30, I headed out for a nap.  I awoke at 6:45!! LOL.  And now, it's time for dinner - the last of the soup as requested by barley52and Rupert, plus an herbed foccacia topped with both the cream cheese and artichoke-tomato spread.  :)