44th Anniversary dinner (now with pictures!)

It is said, that practice makes perfect... it could be true.

Saturday night was spent serving Kathy's wonderful parents, and four of their friends, a five-course gourmet meal. This is the third time in four years that Kathy and I have done this and this year, my friends, was by far the most relaxed we have been in the kitchen.

Friday night we started out by baking potatoes, chopping and pureeing veggies, stirring together mushroom stuffing, and creating an herbed butter. Saturday afternoon was spent rolling steak, stuffing mushrooms, frying crab cakes, getting the potatoes ready for twice baking, and making the custard for the creme brulee.

After packing up, and getting into the kitchen where we would do the actual cooking of the meal, Kathy and I found ourselves staring at one another... This is actually fairly uncommon. Both of us (and yes, I'm putting words in Kathy's mouth) were in a state of shock that there was nothing to do foodwise, until about 30 minutes before the guests got there. It was like a well-oiled machine!!!

There were only a couple moments where panic set in... moment one came when we had to figure out if the flank steak was done... yes, kids, it was! The second moment came when the caramelizing of the sugar looked like it was going to be a problem... it was remedied by adding a touch more sugar... all was well.

Even professionals have moments like these... so as amateur professionals, I figure that was alright!!

The only complaint came the next day, when Kathy's dad said ... "there were no leftovers." In my opinion... that makes it a successful meal!!

Kathy should be posting a full menu (she's got the fancy words for what we made) But, in the meantime, here are some pictures from the dinner.

Stuffed Mushrooms with Italian Sausage & Fennel

Wendi's Crab Cakes

Kathy prepping salad

Wendi cutting bread

Herbed butter

Gazpacho

Cabernet Reduction

Plating the main course

Creme Brulee

The complete meal

Looks tasty doesn't it? Don't you want us to cater your next party?? (yes, that was a shameless plug!!)

You'll hear from us soon... we have another event in a week and a half... we'll definitely be posting pictures from there too! :)

-Wendi-