Friends to the rescue! (Also, food chatter)

[scarlettina]

My original plan had been to have Christmas dinner with grubbstreet, his lovely wife and a gang of usual suspects. Though the snow and ice are finally beginning to melt, and despite my digging away the snow and ice around the car, I still couldn't get the vehicle out of its spot on the hill where it's currently planted--still too slippery to be safe. That left me facing yet another solitary day and evening.

Around 4:30, I got a call from ladyjestocost, asking if I was available for dinner. Plans were made, and at around 6:45 I walked to the nearby 7-11 on the main thoroughfare near my place. They didn't dare try to drive up the hill, but I certainly could go down to them. They whisked me off to dinner!

We went to the Warwick Hotel's Brasserie Margaux, where my kind friends treated me to the restaurant's prix fixe holiday dinner as a holiday gift. My meal choices were as follows:

AMUSE BOUCHE
Prosciutto and Mellon “Lollypops”
Sherry Vinegar Gastrique

APPETIZER
Pumpkin Bisque
Pumpkin Seed oil, Crispy Sage and Crème Fraiche

ENTREE
1/2 Pheasant with Walnut and Kahlua Cream Sauce
accompanied by Haricot Vert and Pommes Anna

DESSERT
Blood Orange Creme Brulee

The amuse bouche really was an amusement for the mouth, with its sweet and salty flavors combined: four melon chunks, each wrapped with prosciutto, two each threaded on skewers and served on a bed of greens.

The pumpkin bisque was thick and light at the same time. The sage and creme fraiche added nice touches. Must try something like this with the sweet potato bisque I'm enjoying this season.

I'd never had pheasant before, and I found I enjoyed it quite a bit--as did ladyjestocost, who had the same. The gravy was marvelous, if a little overwhelming. I suspected that I was missing some of the subtler pheasant flavor. Later in the meal, when the gravy was well and truly gone, I knew I was right. That didn't stop me, however, from asking for extra gravy when they wrapped up my leftovers for the trip home.

My other entree choice would have been the Wild Mushroom Risotto Cakes with Snow Peas and Baby Carrots in a Beurre Blanc Sauce. bedii had that option; it looked delicious.

The blood orange creme brulee was very tasty, though I admit that the blood orange flavor seemed to get lost for me. Doesn't matter; the dessert was still delicious.

My hosts were, as always, excellent company. The conversation roamed from unorthodox flying machines to movies to family holiday festivities. A complete delight.

One of our waiters was a Mexican man with a striking face--big dark eyes, a quick smile and a remarkable profile. He looked like he'd just stepped out of a Mayan frieze (sans headdress and exotic earwear). I asked him where he was from (though I could have guessed) and he said Oaxaca, Mexico. I stared a little, probably longer than I should have. He just had such a distinctive face; it was like art. At the end of the meal, he presented me with a rose fashioned from a dinner napkin--very sweet.

All in all, a terrific evening. My thanks go out to bedii and ladyjestocost--they saved the day.

Comments

[gaelfarce.livejournal.com]

The meat and melon dish is one of my faves that I took from my last trip to Spain. Using a more smoked and sturdier meat is even better at contrasting both the flavors and the textures but prosciutto is grand as well. Glad you ended up having a good evening sans Chinese Food and a Movie!

[scarlettina.livejournal.com]

I missed the tradition, though, I gotta admit. :-)

Haven't seen you in ages, fella. We oughta do coffee or something.

[varina8.livejournal.com]

Your dinner sounds fabulous. I'm glad you were able to go.

[holyoutlaw.livejournal.com]

Wow, I'm sincerely happy for you. Yeah!

[mevennen.livejournal.com]

This sounds great! Pheasant is quite gamey (we have it quite a lot, as they shoot it round here and we're not too proud to do the roadkill thing, either - cock pheasants in particular become suicidal in the spring). I'd imagine it would go well with walnut. I usually just roast it, but it goes well with madeira sauce as well.

[e-bourne.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad you finally got out! My memories of pheasant are from childhood dinners after my brother's went shooting, and us later picking out the bird shot. You had the better deal. :-)

[autojim.livejournal.com]

I love pheasant, partcicularly roasted, and particularly wild (as opposed to farmed). Bonus points if I dispatched it myself (I don't hunt very often at all -- like 10+ years between trips, and either quail or pheasant when I do -- but I always use all of what I hunt. None is wasted, none is trophy).

Sounds like a very lovely Plan A2, indeed. Glad you were able to escape (and I'm sure the cats were all "FINALLY! She's GONE!" and able to put in motion their various nefarious plots. They ARE cats, after all).

Oh, here's the link I promised you!

[bedii.livejournal.com]

http://www.azuretasmar-lefilm.com/demo.html

I have GOT to get this soundtrack on CD.

Oh, and for the film I missed at the SIFF that I'm going to be grumpy for years that I missed--because it's caught in copyright hell which would take more than it's projected to make so nobody will clear the rights and I'll never get a chance to see it again--look at http://www.sitasingstheblues.com/ Nina Paley is a good cartoonist, a wonderful animator, and a nice person to talk to (although she'd never remember me), and now the feature film she animated all by herself (!) is stuck in the half-life of the festival circuit. This sucks.