I’m putting the finishing touches on this post on Halloween Wednesday, and I still am not quite recovered.
When we got back from the librarian’s conference on Thursday, I baked a giant chocolate cake for Susan’s Dad’s 90th. I decided to substitute 7-minute frosting for the whipped cream filling – that’s the kind that’s whipped up egg whites. I worked at home on Friday, and did not attempt to assemble the cake until about 11:00, after I’d had plenty of coffee and been at the computer for a few hours. It was still pretty exciting to invert that top layer onto the bottom one.
Susan’s Dad’s 90th b-day cake
Mark and I took the cake over to the home – I put it on a damp towel in the nice flat station wagon back of my Subaru, and covered it with a large Tupperware I retrieved out of the basement (I think Lea brought me dried orange bittersweet branches in it for a Thanksgiving decoration long ago; like 2001 or so).
Afterwards, Mark had had enough socializing, so I took him home and proceeded to an Obama benefit organized by the parents of a kid Al was friends with all through high school, and roomed with at college.
On Saturday, we went to the farmers market, and then John and I met up with Anna and her kids and went out to Molly & David’s farm, to meet the pigs, Mazel and Tov. Anna and I and another friend are going in together on a half hog. I’ll put together a gallery of pigs and kids shots, real soon now. ™
Then back home again, and spent the rest of the day and into the night – with the exception of a quick bike ride to Whole Foods to get alfalfa sprouts and skim milk – prepping for brunch on Sunday, and Matt Smith’s hippie 60s party. For the brunch the main thing I had to do in advance was make granola, for the yogurt parfaits – and apple sauce. The jar of raspberry sauce in the basement fridge that I’d thought to offer as a layer tasted OK, but smelled fermented, so I replaced it with the applesauce. I thawed out some rhubarb puree, too, but it was way too thick so I refroze it for future coffee cakes, and put out grapes and a few figs, instead. The eats for Matt’s party were hot appetizers – bacon dates, spanakopita, and pigs in blankets, wrapped with my good homemade dough, not poppin’ dough. And cold ones – devilled eggs (on a bed of alfalfa sprouts), and crostini with pesto cheese – mascarpone & goat cheese mixed with pesto – and topped with slivers of pickled peppers.
Crostini with pesto cheese
I wrapped up the last of the appetizers by 11:30, and headed to bed.
In the morning, I laid out the deviled egg halves on their bed of sprouts, and made the filling, to be scooped into the eggs onsite at the party. I mixed up the pancake batter, and headed over to E. Wash. I had a larger than normal group, because the invite had gone out to the Madison Epicureans Meet Up. I thought it was a little ironic that I was serving pancakes to the Epicureans, but I guess – there were yeasted overnight buckwheat pancakes, and real maple syrup, and all homemade. I had a few hectic moments when everyone arrived at once and I was trying to get the pancakes out to them. In the end I think everyone was well satisfied, and I even sat down to eat with Mark, as the last few guests took their leave. Mark pointed out that just about everyone was a member of the clean plate club – I think that’s because I was cooking the pancakes and eggs basically to order – so instead of taking a stack of three and not finishing, people got their cakes more like one at time, hot off the griddle. I know everyone got enough, because there were leftovers – One woman on her way out the door said “I can’t believe there’s still bacon left”. Mark and I ate it.
Home with the empties, and I had about an hour’s lull till it was time to head out to Mount Horeb for Matt’s. I got the car loaded while the packers played, and we were off. The party was at a motel, and I had a little apartment size stove in one of the units for cooking the apps. Susan had preheated it. The main party was in the back yard – there was tent with the band and a firepit. Mark & Susan butlered trays of hot appetizers up the hill. There were 80 – 100 pieces of everything and it all got eaten. I had one beer while I was cooking, and then still time for another while listening to the band.
We got home around 7:30, and put stuff away. I had egg salad sandwich on toast, made by chopping the broken whites into the container of deviled egg filling, and scraping the sides, and we settled in to watch the cable shows. I didn’t get too sleepy until Homeland, so I just watched that one again on Monday.
Egg salad with a thin layer of peanut butter on toast
