Last night was the 2nd Dinner at DebS.
There were 8 guests and three of us. It went pretty well, I think. We had a multi-generation group, WWII, Boomers, Gen X, 30-somethings, and one teenager. I have been worried that these smaller diners might get awkward – this one had a few moments, but overall conversation flowed and people got along. Whew.
The theme was indoor barbecue. Even though it was a really nice day, relative to the weather we’ve been having – in the 40s and mostly sunny, and I could smell someone in the neighborhood outdoor barbecuing. Probably college kids, though, us old farts might as well be inside, as I said to some of my guests.
I made BBQ tofu and barbecue pulled chicken. I didn’t go to the indoor farmers market last weekend, so I didn’t get good chicken from Matt Smith. One of his 5 – 6 pound beauties would’ve been perfect. As it was I bought two roughly 3 – 4 pound whole almost-organic chickens at the grocery store. Roasted them Friday night, boned, shredded and mixed with BBQ sauce (also store). I made the tofu on Saturday – I used 1 1/2 boxes of tofu, but still made the same amount of sauce – that seemed to work great.
I made rosemary focaccia, and cut it into squares for the BBQ, and also bought a bag of Pepperidge Farm slider buns – I had a coupon.
For sides, we had macaroni salad – Joy of Cooking recipe, but I used frozen peas and roasted red peppers from a jar, for green and red, instead of one green bell pepper and one red one. And shallots instead of red onion. Veggies & dip – spicey dill dip, with carrots, celery, broccoli, golden beets, cucumbers, and grape tomatoes. Hummus, with a few pita points. Oh and instead of making oven fries, I just opened a bag of salt and pepper Kettle chips.
Dessert was S’more bars and rice krispie treats with Hershey bars melted on top – so all the desserts had chocolate and marshmallows. Not sure what Alice Waters would think – on Thursday night, when we went to hear her speak, she said you can’t compromise with the fast food lifestyle. If you’re trying to live the slow food life that is. I guess maybe I’m not.
Even though I did walk over and buy fancy $17 flowers at the local florist, instead of an $8 bunch from Whole Foods or Trader Schmoes. I put them in one of several gorgeous Rookwood vases I have from my grandmother’s house in Cincinnati – probably the only ceramic pieces I own that are worth anything. While we were sleeping, cats knocked it down. It flooded the tiled area under the pass through between the kitchen and the dining room, and I had a mess to clean up Sunday morning – but at least they didn’t break the vase.
We had egg sangwiches on leftover focaccia for Sunday brunch. And in the freezer I now have leftover chicken BBQ meat for Al, and an enchilada kit for John: the breast meat from one of the chickens, a yogurt bucket of enchilada sauce, and tortillas – that I can take to them when we go to Chicago in April.
