Dream Dinner

Dream Dinner

We start with bay scallops lightly browned in butter and placed with Dungeness crab into a sauce of heavy cream and Gruyere cheese mixed with sherry sautéed mushrooms, snuggled into individual ramekins and baked to perfection.   Served with  a side of grilled asparagus spears, and a nice Sancerre wine, this will be a lovely first course.  Next, a nice tenderloin of beef oven roasted over truffled pate  and served sliced with blue cheese crumbles,  a ménage of roasted parsnips and artichoke hearts with capers and lemon butter, and potatoes dauphinoise. We savor this with a 1975 Chateau Margaux red Bordeaux wine.  Following is a simple green salad tossed with walnuts and Clementine slices, dressed with a walnut oil and blood orange infused balsamic vinegarette, laced with ground Talamanca peppercorns.   A delightful Grand Marnier soufflé is placed into the oven to bake while we enjoy a glass of Chateau Climens Sauterne and some Manchego cheese with broiled Spanish bacon-wrapped figs….. “what is that timer going off so soon for?  I must have set it wrong .” I fiddle with the timer controls. “Buzz buzz buzz, why won’t it turn off? Something is wrong with this oven and it is just getting me all upset and the soufflé will be ruined and…”

My eyes open to a cloudy morning barely lighting my bedroom.  I manage to prop myself up, throw off the blankets, and find my alarm clock, hitting the “off bar” ending this raucous buzzing.  I guess I should get up and shower, thinking about getting something to eat. Maybe an Egg McMuffin would work for breakfast !  I walk by the oven on my way to the bathroom just to make sure. Not even warm. Darn, I can still almost taste that soufflé !  Well, not to worry, it would have been better made with Chambord anyway.

-Jerry Wendt 2012- 312 words

another exercise that has me hungry just reading it ! -JPW