It's just like clockwork. Every year, the calendar tells me that I've grown a year older. It's not that I don't believe it, or that I don't want to believe it, or even that I don't like that it happens. It's just a brute fact of reality.
In response to this brute fact, I decided to be a little bit selfish and self-indulgent and do something that I've been wanting to do for a while, but never found a good enough excuse to do it. I cooked up a big mess of fancy food. Of course, I have limitations on the quantity of food I can eat, and the big mess of food I wanted to make was more than what I could eat alone. So I got some friends to help out. And since I was aiming for fancy food, I was quite glad to have one of those friends help me turn up the elegance of the meal by helping me decorating and making sure that everything was done well.
Since I don't do fancy food very often, several of the things that I made were things that I had never made before. But since it's my birthday, it's not as if anyone would complain if things didn't taste good. It's a perfect plan! Anyway, here's what I ultimately ended up with:
Appetizer: Tomato bisque with crostini
Main course: Smoked tri-tip, broiled salmon with grainy mustard herb glaze, roasted garlic mashed potatoes, and a simple sautee of zucchini and sesame.
Dessert: Chocolate mousse and panna cotta with strawberry coulis
My commentary:
Appetizer: I'm surprised at how much flavor you can get out of canned tomatoes. I was actually a bit worried about this one because I thought it would come off a little bit bland when I was making it. But it turned out much better than I had thought it was going to be, and it was relatively simple to make. It's something that I think I might pull out again at some point in the future. I left the crostini in the oven a little bit too long, so they were a bit crunchier than I had intended.
Main course: It was a little slow getting out of the kitchen because I mistimed the salmon. I had wanted to heat the plates to help keep the food warm as it got dished out, but I didn't pull that one off, either. Plating a dozen dishes is harder than I thought it would be.
The smoked tri-tip was very tasty (my favorite of the night). And the simplicity of it makes me want to try smoking more meats. The sauce was just a mix of soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, vinegar, and some hot sauce that I let cook down until it became like a glaze. I think the slightly tangy flavor went very well with the smokey meat.
The salmon turned out pretty well. I think most of the trick was just buying very good salmon and not overcooking it. The mustard herb glaze was a grainy mustard with some mustard powder, rosemary, thyme, and parsley all mixed in. I added some olive oil and a little red wine vinegar to thin it out slightly.
Roasted garlic mashed potatoes are a standard dish for me now. I feel like I should have made more, because in the end it looked a little bit skimpy. But in order to do that, I would have needed to cook it in two batches (or invest in a stock pot). The zucchini sautee was about as simple as I could make it. It was just zucchini, sesame seeds, sesame oil, salt, and pepper that was lightly cooked together. I think it worked well with the potatoes to offset the stronger flavors of the proteins.
Dessert: The chocolate mousse is a 1:1 dark chocolate ganache that I beat before it cooled completely in the fridge. I threw in a splash of spiced rum because I felt like something that I should do. I honestly don't know if I could taste the difference. But I did serve slightly smaller portions than I had intended. I had thought the volume after beating was going to be more than I got. But the flavor was rich enough that I think I got away with one there.
The panna cotta recipe is one that I pulled out from the archive. I last used it a several years ago for a GCF potluck (I think). I think the strawberry coulis helps to fill out the flavor a little bit.
I think I just re-indulged myself contemplating foodstuffs, because that's probably far more words about food than what most people would want to bother reading. But it's my birthday, so I'll ramble about it for as long as I want.
I got a bonus birthday surprise today from one of my math classes. They brought in cupcakes and sang for me. It was a very kind gesture, and I figure that this is a sign that I'm doing something right. Unfortunately, many of these students will be getting their midterm back tomorrow, and that will be a less happy time for them. I think that a number of students had hit the wall, and the mix of personal issues in play (a child custody issue and a relationship breakup are among the things floating around) caused a minor collapse. That means that tomorrow I'm going to have to go in and clean up a bit before moving on.
I think I mentioned the proof-writing class before. I've decided that there's definitely enough interest to go forward with it. It's probably only going to be about 10 students, but that's good enough for me. I'm about 1/3 of the way through the notes right now, and will be putting in a lot of time on that in the next few weeks. It's only 4 weeks until the end of the school year, and I can feel it starting to drag a little for me.
It's coming up on a month since I submitted my revised paper to the CMJ. I hope that it will be better received this time, and maybe I'll finally get that publication out.
What else has happened over the last few weeks? My parents came through town, my sister-in-law officially announced her pregnancy (I'm going to be a real uncle, not just a cousin-uncle), a baby was born into our small group (the first one, with one more expected in the next week or so, and then another one a few months from now -- what's with all these babies?), and NSC came out of the accreditation visit very strongly (though the official announcement won't be until July or August).
Life is busy, but good.
