Memories of our dinner party

Our dining table for the evening. Each candle holder was a different frog from my collection many of which were given to me by my best friend Larry Prater who now lives in Tepoztlan Mexico.

Tim, Doug and Rich arrive with wine in hand for the evening.

As Earth Hour approached we lit the candles for the meal.

Mark and I hosted our friends for a candelight dinner last night. We turned out all of our lights for Earth hour. Rich, Tim, Rick, Robert, Doug, and John joined us for a six course dinner. We started with tuna sashimi-tini. Tuna on a bed of cucumber with a grapefruit, serrano pepper, mint and onion sauce served in a martini glass. This is garnished with a dried grapefruit chip. We pair this with champagne. Tim brought a lovely Champagne Chartogne-Taillet Brut. The guy at the liquor store asked him how much he wanted to spend on the Champagne and when he said "I do not know, $20?" the guy burst our laughing. He said it had been a while since he bought a bottle. Ah, such is the way when the value of the dollar has plummeted compared to the Euro. The amuse-bouche that followed was a warm foie gras served on a bed of mache with a honey, cognac reduction sauce. Scafata di Primavera with fava beans, escarole, baby artichokes, onion, sugar snap peas and pancetta we served with Lugana San Benedetto 2006 that Ric and Robert brought. They surprised me with a birthday gift of six candles with beautiful square glass holders. Our main course was Stinco di Agnello con Aranci e Olive (Lamb shanks with Oranges and Olives) served with grilled potatoes and paired with a beautiful Brunello Di Montalcino Il paradiso di Frassina which I am certain John mortgaged his house to buy. It was complex, smooth and spectacular. That wine went faster than the lamb so we opened a bottle of Agilianico Terredora Dipaolo to finish with the main course. Dessert was mixed berries with creme fraiche and orange zest paired with Clairette de Die Tradition style. We ended the meal with a pecorino romano cheese with a caramel wine sauce served with Vin Santo del Chianti, Villa da Filicaja. The company and conversation was as spectacular as the food and dare I say that we all looked so much younger by candlelight and with each new beverage. Mark and I are so lucky to have such great friends.