Spoiled

Joan, Paul and all the folks at Fermentations are the best hosts and hostesses I know.  We had such an amazing time last night with our spontaneous eight-course dinner, we left shortly after midnight feeling pleasantly full, crazy-happy and spoiled beyond belief.  Thanks guys, for a most beautiful evening!

So, what eight courses did we have, you ask?

First, we had warm stuffed Dates with Walnuts and Blue Cheese and wrapped in Prociutto and paired with...

...a delicious white that Terry brought.  One objective of the evening was to bring some wines from our cellar that we need to enjoy before they pass their prime.  We rarely drink wine at home anymore unless we have company (we need to do this more often!), so we needed this special occassion to break some of them out.  Joan and Paul were up to the challenge of pairing food to the wines we brought and honestly, it was as if they had tasted the wines before choosing what they would serve.  I love it when that happens!  Culinary magic...

Next, we were served Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Spinach, Bacon in a Beurre Blanc sauce.

So delicate, flavor combinations that went perfectly with the white as well.

For the next course, we broke out our first red:

a 2004 Claret -- Terry wasn't sure how well it would have aged, but it was delicious.  Especially so with our next decadent course, which we dug into before I could get a picture.  So we took this one instead...

Does not do it justice...Duck Confit in a Pinot Noir Gastrique.  We fought over it and we cleared every tasty tidbit off that plate.  Sorry Daffy!

We backtracked for the next course...but we still had white left so it worked.

Mesculun salad (locally grown greens) with Port Viniagrette, Figs, Chevre cheese and toasted Pepitas (pumpkin seeds).  The dressing was so light yet so flavorful, we all kept remarking how incredible it was.

Next was Sesame Crusted Wild Alaskan Salmon on a bed of Quinoa...

We had the Claret with this...home run, baby!

After a nice, long rest...

...here's Chrisy preparing for the next course, while Terry opened our second red -- light, bright and full of jammy goodness!

Which went perfectly with the next course...

...more duck, this time Five Spice Crusted and served with our favorite Boulangere potatoes.  Thank goodness these are small servings or we'd be throwing in the towel about now.  And who can do that when there's still Buffalo Stroganoff to enjoy!!!  There's not even a picture of this one, as it disappeared the second it hit the table.  Crazy, crazy good.

Can you believe we had dessert, too??  How were we not rolling out of there?  It is truly amazing.  Experiences like this are so rare, what else can you do but enjoy every minute of the blissful four hours we enjoyed there.

Lemon Cheesecake with Raspberry Coulis...

...good to the last drop!

Good friends, great food, amazing fun...//