Wednesday, October 31, 2012

COOKING WITH FRIENDS September 2012

The weekend after I returned from France in September was the weekend that we hosted our "gourmet" cooking group at our house.

Of course, I had to try out some recipes from my recent cooking tour in Provence.

Since the meal was at our house, Jim and I were responsible for the main course. I also made a few things to munch on while we enjoyed drinks before dinner.

It was a warm late Summer night and we were able to have drinks on our patio.

I made Cheese Sablés (crackers) and served them with Black Olive Tapenade, Tomato and Mozzarella Tapenade, and Breakfast Radishes, fresh from Farmer's Market.





The six of us laugh a lot when we are together, and this evening was no exception.







Arlene and Jim were just back from a road trip to Oregon. Their first course was a Green Salad with Oregon Blue Cheese ("imported" by them), fresh Pears, Candied Walnuts, and Red Grapes.


The perfect first course for our dinner!!!



Next was the main course: A Compote of Chicken and Duck, White Bean Gratin, and Provencal Roast Red Peppers stuffed with tomatoes, olives. 



While the first two courses were enjoyed by all, the real fun did not begin until Colesie and Frank served their homemade Candy Apples! They made six different-flavored apples so that each of us could have a different taste.


Rather than going with the "program," we decided to share and to let Colesie, with the help of Jim, do the slicing. The slicing turned out to be more of a challenge than expected because the caramel shell was not cooperative to being cut through.




Even funnier was the eating of the apples because our teeth got stuck in the caramel. I will spare you the video that Jim shot of me trying to open my mouth and being unable to.




 As always, it was a wonderful evening with longtime special friends...can't wait to the next one which is not scheduled until early 2013.




1 comment:

mary ann said...

Great post ~ I especially love the apple experience. What fun!