The D and Me

OM fucking G. Today my friend Damon is working on the set of The Pick of Destiny. Ring a bell? Yes, that's right. That's the new Tenacious D movie. My friend is hanging with The D today. When prompted to ask a question for him to pass on, I was speechless. The best I could come up with is, "Have you ever rocked your own fucking socks off?" I'm such a fangirl it's sickening. I want to ask him to get an autographed cumrag for me, or some other keepsake, but he hasta be on his best behavior. He has far more discipline than I.

In other news, I had a fabulous birthday party on Saturday. I spent two days preparing $200 worth of tapas for only about ten people. I made:
* Crepe purses stuffed with smoked salmon, capers, cucumbers and creme fraiche, with a little lemon zest
* Different crepe purses stuffed with plums and peaches simmered in red wine and white peppercorns, mixed with chevre and fresh rosemary
* Organic heirloom tomato salad with 6-herb walnut pesto and balsamic syrup
* Canellini bean tapenade
* Kalamata olives marinated in the 6-herb walnut pesto
* Anchoiade
* Curried cauliflower crostini
* Tuna mousse
* Crudites and antipasti of salami, figs, almonds and roasted red peppers with brie and Huntsman (double Gloucester and Stilton)
* Mushrooms stuffed with a ragout of sausage, cream, arugula, walnuts and nutmeg
* Gorgonzola-walnut pate with honeyed figs
* Golden beet slices topped with the gorgonzola pate and drizzled with balsamic syrup
* Parmesan tuilles with pear slices
* Cocktail: a pitcher of cosmopolitans made with raspberry coulis and lemon balm from the garden, and hibiscus-cranberry juice.

The trick is to puree the raspberries, strain out as much of the seeds as possible, then freeze in ice cube trays (store cubes in a ziploc freezer bag). Use the cubes in your drinks. Then when the "ice" melts, the cocktail becomes more raspberrylicious instead of watered-down.


God, just looking at that list I can't believe I pulled it off. I also made a plum chutney with ginger, chili flakes and black cardamom (to top little toasted nan triangles), but there literally wasn't room on the table. I should go into catering or something. Luckily, among the vast leftovers (slowly being wittled away by a lazy Heather in too-hot-to-cook weather), there remains the majority of a bottle of cognac, a full-but-one-shot bottle of Maker's Mark and half a bottle of frosty Monopolova vodka.