April 2008

Carolyn's Home

Since she and her husband bought a house, Carolyn's been mentioning having us over for a little house warming party. Megan and I decided for her that it would finally happen on April 18 and she (and Stephen) were accepting of our overbearing ways.
Even better, our good friend Anna (one of our original members) came to visit from her sojourn to SLC. We planned the evening to coincide with her visit. Everyone has missed her and was excited for the chance to check out how the Wasatch valley has changed her. We'd all rather have her back here along the front range permanently, but we'll accept a visit.
I planned our menu and made our assignments. I took inspiration from one of my many minor obsessions and decided on crepes stuffed with chicken, ham, asparagus and spinach for the entree. I even jumped in to make the crepes from Julia Child's recipe from her landmark cookbook: Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I bet she never thought that they might be made two at a time on an electric skillet. I just heated the skillet to medium-high, spread a dipper full of batter in two spots on the skillet then picked the whole thing up and swirled the mess into decent sized crepes. I thought they turned out pretty well. Then I pulled to bits the chicken I had boiled up the day before. It's a gross job, especially when you don't know how to do it well. If I'd read my Julia Child more closely, I'm sure she would have the right way explained. Anna got to witness the massacre. I did offer to let her do either the crepes or the chicken, but then decided I didn't want to scare her away. Undercooked chicken is nasty.
We all made it out to the 'burbs with it's rows of modest homes and green lawns and got a peek at Carolyn's new digs. Stephen lead the tour so all could see the matching drapes on both floors. He promised that the place was coming together. The best part was the heart of the home: the kitchen. We marveled at the swanky refrigerator with the bottom drawer freezer and double door fridge. And I think someone actually oohed over the one handed pepper mill.
The food was tasty, if a little cold (my fault. I got the timing of things wrong. I'll never run a restaurant.) Asparagus is perfect this time of year and it went well with the Swiss cheese sauce. The company was good, lots of excitement happening with this group of world changers. We had a rather large group for dinner and a couple more friends joined for dessert. Dessert was a strawberry cake, provided courtesy of Desiree's food storage, complete with sprinkles.
Be on the look out for Carolyn's and Steve's upcoming house warming. It might spur them into getting a dining room table.