7.21.2013

a big night

"To eat good food is to be close to God."

That's a line from one of my favorite movies, Big Night. A few weeks ago we had dinner at the Chestnut Street Inn (where Heather is now gardener) and they were serving the fantastic menu from that movie. One of the great food movies. I've been meaning to write about the meal, because it was quite an experience. And free, given for all Heather's work in their garden.

The dinner was seven courses. The first was crostini with herbed fresh goat cheese, roasted pepper, crispy kale and balsamic. Then a spicy minestrone soup, followed by seafood risotto, parmesan risotto, and pesto risotto (made with arugula Heather grew for them), arranged in three stripes like an Italian flag. Next, an unusual dish, timpano, which means drum. It's made with hard boiled eggs, meatballs, mozzarella, genoa salami, marinara sauce and penne encased in a very large pasta blanket, baked and then turned out and sliced. My favorite course was the Wild Alaskan Sockeye salmon with moscato grape sauce. And then cornish hens with parmesan roasted asparagus. In the movie, this was followed by a suckling pig, but our hosts wisely skipped this course. The dessert was tiramisu, made with ladyfinger biscuits soaked in coffee, smooth and creamy mascarpone cheese, and chocolate. I'm a little amazed we made it through it all (any more would have sent us to God). Really great food.

This means a lot to me because Heather really enjoyed meals like these when she was growing up in France. Here, it's hard to find anyone cooking like this, much less afford it on what we live on. And yet God has provided this treat for her anyway.