Pianists for dinner

We had a dinner party Friday night—not the best timing, since I had an orchestra job for the next two Sundays.

The walking-around course:
--honeydew slices with lime wedges and chile powder for dipping
--plain fresh cherry tomatoes
--a little molded appetizer with layers of pesto, feta/cream cheese, and sun-dried tomatoes/Kalamata olives, served with Ak-Mak crackers. I thought this was kind of overdone, like a magazine recipe, but people fell on it and devoured it.

The party included four piano teachers, so for entertainment Ron and I played Schubert’s Variations on an Original Theme (op. 82 #2) for piano duet and Nancy played a Scarlatti sonata.

The Main Course
--Pulled pork with Carolina vinegar mustard sauce
--spicy cole slaw
--baked sweet potato sticks
--corn bread (with stone-ground cornmeal we bought at a state park in Georgia)

And then, Baked Alaska Pie, which I learned from Grandma Oty. I used a graham cracker crust which included ½ cup crushed pretzels and ¼ cup ground pecans; one quart of coffee ice cream; and a three-egg white meringue. Lots of ice cream flavors are good in Baked Alaska, but coffee and coconut are our favorites.

Dick grew the basil, the cherry tomatoes, and the limes.

Tonight we’re having king crab legs, homemade whole wheat bread, and a salad with blue cheese dressing. Here’s the recipe for the simplest and best salad dressing you’ll ever make:

1 cup mayo
1 cup buttermilk
1 clove minced garlic
4 ounces crumbled blue cheese
Mix. Serve.

We went to the Mexican grocery store near us this morning and bought bags of fresh produce—tangerines, pears, leeks, collard greens, yellow squash, a pineapple—and 8 pounds of fresh-roasted green chiles. It’s our third batch of chiles this fall. I let them cool and then peeled them and portioned them into little ziploc baggies, and tossed them in the freezer. I use them instead of cans of green chiles.

We had our favorite Breakfast of Champions this morning—quesadilla made with a whole wheat tortilla, cheese, and a fresh roasted green chile. Canned green salsa. Tomato garnish. Banana, leftover honeydew slices. Lots of strong black coffee. Sunday paper.

Then, off to the orchestra concert. The first piece went well, with very little trembling of fingers or missed entrances. We had a few problems in the second, but since it was a contemporary kind of amorphous piece, the audience noticed nothing. Unfortunately the composer was present and he probably noticed plenty. I enjoyed it. I like playing when the group experience is more important than wondering what the audience thinks.