Gotham Gal: Another dinner party

We had a really great dinner party the other night. 5 couples plus us makes 12 people in total. I truly enjoy these evenings. The preparation, the anticipation and the entire event.

I was thinking about how my parents frequently held dinner parties for business and friends. Perhaps that is where I got the bug to entertain. It is great for our kids to see us open our home to friends and family all the time. I hope it is something that they will continue to do. What is interesting is that I find we are some of the few people I know who entertain often or at all.

Anyhow, here is the menu for the past dinner party. I am not going to post the recipes but I will share the full on menu...and maybe some info on the "how to".

We started with cheese sticks and curry spicy nuts. I like serving this with pre-dinner drinks because it is light and just whets the appetite. All easy. I just use pre-made puff pastry. Take about 1/2 lb. of Gruyere and grate it. Mix with some paprika and some herbs. Put on the bottom half of the rolled out puffed pastry and flip the dough over to seal in. Cut up into long strips and bake on a cookie sheet for 15 minutes or so at 350. The nuts. Take unsalted butter, some curry and herbs and melt together. Add the nuts and toss for about 3-4 minutes. That's it.

First course...spicy crab soup. Love crab soup. Must be that Maryland childhood.

Second course...mache salad with pomegranate seeds, roasted acorn squash, sugary walnuts and Gorgonzola cheese.

Main course....panko macadamia nut crusted talapia fish pan fried over spinach sauteed with ginger oil and a sauce of carrot/ginger juice reduction. The sauce I couldn't replicate if you paid me. I played around with it at least 4 times before serving.

Dessert....lemon mousse with chocolate pistachio biscotti, Mexican wedding cookies, peppermint patty chocolate chip cookies on the side. I always like serving a few different type of cookies on the side as an added bonus.

All good. Not light on the calories, but hey, it's a dinner party. Enjoy.

books of the moment

Gail Simmons: Talking with My Mouth Full: My Life as a Professional Eater
Loved it. If you love food and the industry that has sprouted across the globe, read it!
Cristina Alger: The Darlings: A Novel
i LOVED this book. First time novelist. Well written. She does a great job of describing each character. The story is loosely based on a Madoff type character. Total NY story. Page turner. She knows her town and these people. Really LOVED this book.
Stephen King: 11/22/63: A Novel
This is my first King book. He is an incredible story teller. Quite a book, very creative, interesting idea and story. It is so long. 850 pages. I get why he is one of the best selling authors
Whitney L. Johnson: Dare, Dream, Do: Remarkable Things Happen When You Dare to Dream
I was so graciously asked to write a blurb for this book. It doesn't come out until May when I will write a post but for the time being you can pre-order. Here is my blurb; Every woman, regardless of age or profession, should read this book. Through stories of real women, their dreams and their struggles, Johnson's book has created an instant community. What's more, she has opened the door for women to empower themselves to dare, dream and do.
Russell Banks: Lost Memory of Skin: A Novel
An interesting novel about the underground topic of child molesters. Banks takes on a disturbing topic as he weaves a variety of strange characters into the fold. Maybe I wanted some kind of closure from the book. The book is a big idea which really navigates a slice of America. Really well written but not so sure I'd recommend it. I stuck with the book but I didn't love it.
Susan Weissman: Feeding Eden: The Trials and Triumphs of a Food Allergy Family
The name of the book says it all. Every parent and every teacher should read this book.
Tom Perrotta: The Leftovers
I have read a few of Perrotta's books. He is an incredible writer but I always feel so unfulfilled when his books end. This concept of this book is that one day random people disappear and the world changes. The book focuses on one particular community and a few families. At the beginning I was wowed by the premise of the book but as always his books begin to ramble and the end was so bad it was if he couldn't figure out how to finish it. Literally the last paragraph made me say to myself, "seriously"?
Alice Hoffman: The Dovekeepers: A Novel
I wanted to finish it, I really did. But half way in I moved on. Really beautiful book. A story of four women who lived on Masada who are thrown together through fate as they tend to the doves. Wonderful history and interesting paths of each character. Just super dense. I hope to return to finishing it. After all...it is on my kindle.
Deborah Copaken Kogan: Between Here and April
This book tracks a terrible tragedy of a mother who took her life and her childrens in the 70s. I was interested in it because it happened where I grew up. Unfortunately the book bounces all over the place and only focuses on the authors own issues that she believes to be connected to this but in essence it is a serious reach and rambling.
W. Bruce Cameron: A Dog's Purpose
It took me a while to get into this but a very clever book. Life through a dogs eyes. Really well done.
Kyung-Sook Shin: Please Look After Mom
International best seller. Not only a peak into a past generation of Korean life but a disturbing look at alzheimers. Sticks with you.
Kathleen Flinn: The Kitchen Counter Cooking School: How a Few Simple Lessons Transformed Nine Culinary Novices into Fearless Home Cooks
Flinn writes about how she transformed 9 people to love cooking, understand food and what they are eating and basically changed their lives. Good book.
Julie Salamon: Wendy and the Lost Boys: The Uncommon Life of Wendy Wasserstein
What a fascinating life. I actually liked the last 25% of the book the best. A woman of the generation that was told she could have it all and with all her success she still felt unaccomplished. A worthy read.
Michael Ondaatje: The Cat's Table
A beautiful memoir of Ondaatjes solo journey from Sri Lanka to London as a young boy of 11 to return to his mother who had been residing there for 3/4 years. Those 3 weeks made quite an impact on his life as he threads those stories back to his life as an adult.
Jeffrey Eugenides: The Marriage Plot: A Novel
loved this book. brilliantly written, great character development, literature references abound, questioning of religion, depression issues, post college angst. loved loved.

Gotham Gal

Another dinner party

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