Date Night at Chez Magnin

So last night was Wednesday, and as many of you have noticed, that likely means Date Night. Being that I am leaving for 7 days tomorrow, I let Josh drive the menu.

It went something like this: beef and mashed potatoes. Oh, and pudding--more on that later.

He didn't specify an appetizer, so I made Shrimp Cocktail for our cocktail hour:


Well, me being me, I couldn't let my last date night dinner for 2 weeks be simple steak and potatoes. So I made filets. With a Parmesan crust. Josh has declared my Parmesan crust to be better than what he has had in the wonderful Chicago steakhouses where we like to eat. It's very simple: about 3T softened butter, a 1/4 c grated Parmesan, and 1 tsp crushed roasted garlic (from a jar). Mix, adding additional parm as needed, until you reach a pastelike consistency. Add, after turning the steaks, to the seared side.

I made about 3.5 pounds of mashed tators, because if he eats nothing else while I'm gone, I can be sure he will eat his potatoes. And I roasted a head of broccolli.

This is Josh's plate, about halfway through dinner, when I remembered that at least one reader was expecting pictures.


We also enjoyed a lovely Cab with our meal.


And on to the pudding. I failed miserably. When Josh asked me to make pudding, my response was "You mean Brownies?" No, he meant pudding. "I don't have a pudding recipe," I told him. "You'll find one," he said. "You like a challenge."

He's right, I do like a challenge. And I found a recipe. But this was more like chocolate soup. Honestly. As I was drinking mine, Josh told me that it "tasted like pudding."


He's convinced that I'll do better next time. I think I'll make brownies next time.

Other details: We drank Manhattens. And I asked for 8 shrimp at the fish counter. I also, made Josh a simplified Caesar salad. My salad was even simpler.

TTFN

New Hair

And I can curl it under too.

DDCP '09--The Bar

The ingredients:


The glassware:



The menu:

Mint Julep
Daiquiri
Whiskey Sour
Rusty Nail
Orange Blossom (frequently called a Gin and Juice)

While Josh can make most anything, and has all sorts of books for the unknowns (and there aren't too many of those), we limit the choices. This year it was the above. Last year was different as will next year's be.

DDCP "09--The Food

So this was my spread. The empty serving dish held the most yummy fried artichoke hearts from the Cheesecake Factory and the empty hole on the table held a friend's pizza/stromboli/calzone (no sauce) bites of heaven. My friends were wonderful...and there were no leftovers of their contributions. My contributions were a different story.


This is my crudites with my Green Goddess dip. We'll be eating this all week.


I don't suppose I have to identify this as shrimp cocktail. I think that's pretty evident.


These are little bites of chicken salad floating in endive boats. Nary a one was left.


Antipasto tray. I made a yummy panini for my lunch today with left over salami and Italian Fontina cheese. Mmmm.

Sadly, I neglected to take a picture of the dessert spread. I'm sorry. I'll do better next year. And yes, we will be doing this again next year. The Derby is always the first Saturday in May...pencil it in.

DDCP '09--The Hats

The Hats were a success...no doubt about it.

There was also a clear grand prize winner. Can you pick her out?



The hat bribes...I mean door prizes were a hit, too. Here is an example. These were all purchased from Joli. Okay, the little aqua colored square thing in the back is a pocket mirror. I got those at Bath and Body Works. I was able to get the mirrors in the color shown, pink and black. The notepads and the Ball Mania coordinated nicely.


Oh, here is my hat:


The fuzzy green thing is a frog. He's shy, maybe embarrassed to be paraded about on a hat, and is hiding behind the water lily flower. The ribbon represents the water.