Busy afternoon yesterday! My Aunt and Uncle were joining us for dinner of course, as they’re staying with us for a little while. And Sara’s out of town, so we invited Jim over with the twins so that Jim could actually get some food for himself that wasn’t mushed up leftover baby food! And then my friend Richard, who was also one of the best men at my wedding, texted me that he was in town and taking the red-eye home – could he stop by for a visit on the way to the airport? Of course! The more the merrier!

But first we all met at the Bartlett/22nd street Thursday farmers market to watch Alexis and Emma play in a concert in the market. Aren’t they so cute there playing a “duet” with their teacher Katie?

Then we rushed on home and while Alexis was at soccer practice I scrambled to get dinner for 8 ready.

Sorry, I have no prep or process photos, but here’s what I did.

I soaked some white beans overnight, then cooked them in chicken stock. Separately I sauteed more leeks than you’d think possible, plus the same amount of spring garlic. Then I took every single wintry leaf from the Farm Box and added it in. That’s kale, chard, and that dark spindly one – I forget what it was called. I set that aside and browned up some spicy sausage, added in some chopped carrots from the farm box, and when it was all done I added in the leek/garlic/greens, and a whole bunch of beans from the pot. Then I made some garlic bread to use as a dipping/topping type thing. (As an aside, can someone please explain to me why anyone would buy pre-made garlic bread?! It’s so easy to make. Melt some butter in the microwave, microplane in some garlic, add salt, spread on bread, broil in oven. 2 minutes of work, 5 minutes of time!)
In the end, I made a critical mistake of overcooking the beans making for a more mushy consistency, but the flavour was all there. Great with some drizzle olive oil and hot pepper flakes.

We had already gone through all the strawberries from the Farm Box, so Melinda bought some more at the Thursday market after the girls had finished playing …

Then one of our resident pastry chefs, Emma this time, made dessert. Some homemade chocolate chip cookie, added with strawberries, topped with some Ben and Jerry’s from the corner store. Well done Emma!

Okay, now remember, there’s 6 adults for dinner. We could pile through a fair bit of wine. Thankfully the guests had remembered my friend Danny’s famous line, “A good guest always brings more than he can drink!”
And in the case of Jim and Richard last night, not only did they excel in quantity, but quality! Look at this Barolo that Richard brought! Well done sir! 2006 Pio Cesare Barolo. Now Barolo snobs out there (Slaton, you listening?) could say this was infanticide, and they’d be right, but wow was it ever good right now. Such purity of fruit (it’s the nebbiolo grape, btw) and light hand with the oak, not at all on the oxidized side, but neither on the reductive. A really great wine. And where, pray tell, did Richard maage to secure such a wine while running from meeting to meeting? Costco! Yes, Costco has great wines. One of my fellow MW students is the wine buyer for Costco and I have learned that they in no way buy just close-outs, or lower quality wines. They buy top wines at all pricepoints, and just mark them up to keep that price ultra competitive. Buy without fear at Costco, folks.

Another wine was another Costco purchase from Richard. The 2009 Poet’s Leap Riesling from Columbia Valley in Washington. There are two big German riesling producers who have seen the potential of Washington State for riesling – Dr. Ernst Loosen, and Armin Diel – this bottle was part of the Armin Diel work up there. Now I’m a huge riesling nut, and this had good varietal characteristics, but lacked in the balance (a bit too high sugar for the acid) and complexity of a good German riesling. It wasn’t crazy expensive but not cheap either (~16 bucks at Costco, 18 elsewhere), I think you can get far better riesling for the same or lower price from German or even Australia.

As can be expected from Jim, he brought a great wine over – a super Tuscan – the 1997 Isole e Olena Cepparello. Super Tuscan just means that it is a wine made in Tuscany where the winery decided to not follow the rules that would be required to called it a Chianti, or Brunello or whatever. The rule violation could be size of oak barrel or duration in said barrel, or could be the grape varieties that made up the wine. This wine was showing really well right now, at 14 years old. Great secondary fruit character, but still that great rustic cherry that I associate with good sangiovese.

A great night, after a whirlwind afternoon and evening. All the wine and conversation was so good it put Jim and Sara’s little Jack to sleep!