Dinner in the dark and turning 40

I was unsure of how to celebrate Joel's 40th or my own this past month and as mine drew closer, I felt a little pressure to figure that out. It's supposed to be a big day, it's supposed to be momentous. Finally we landed on the idea of Joel cooking one of his epic feasts out of two of our Ottolenghi cookbooks and I searched for the most ridiculous show-stopper of a Birthday cake I could find. We invited our pod and Joel spent the week preparing and receiving mysterious packages. Then we were given notice of extreme fire weather over the weekend and told the power would be cut for 24 hours starting during our planned dinner. We changed nothing but checked the batteries in the LED candles and lanterns and made sure the 2000 watt power inverter was set up beside the car and there were extension cords spread around the house to the fridge and freezer so we could be on back-up power in about 10 minutes when needed. When the day arrived the dinner was absolutely perfect, I'm going to share some pictures. The power went out as we finished the final courses and we cheered and made espresso by the flickering light of a lantern hanging in the cozy kitchen. 

Grilled Grapes with Mozzarella

Beet, orange and feta salad

Curried lentil, tomato, coconut soup

Palette cleanser: home made vodka lemon sorbet with champagne

Tri tip

Roast cauliflower

Baked home made gnocci

Asparagus with almonds, capers and dill

Roast eggplant with sesame, and sauteed shallots

We began with one of my favorite chardonnays sent by my parents

At the meat course this big peppery Cab Sauv came out

Dessert was a St Honore, butter puff pastry crust with Italian pastry cream filling; layered with sponge cake brushed with rum; decorated with chocolate and fresh whipped cream and pastry cream-filled caramelized cream puffs.

We also had a tray of assorted italian cookies by the same pastry shop

 

Thankful

Since it's the week of reflecting on being thankful, here is my big over-arching thing I am thankful for. What a gift it has been to be located here during the lockdown. We've had 7 months of blue skies almost every single day (except for the smoky time). And so much room to run, hike and lounge outdoors. I run or walk alone every day and Joel runs or takes a bike ride on the roads or mountain bike trails. It keeps us positive, no matter what is going on out there. 

Thanksgiving of course was not the same this year. We didn't have a sit down dinner for 40 in the back yard or guests arriving from all over the place, cooking and baking here for days beforehand. That whole festival of food will be a happy memory from the past for a while yet. 

This year we decided not to try to make it like anything else we've ever done. We skipped traditions and our pod of three families gathered here. We had a loose theme around a British pub night. Everyone brought beer and we ordered curry for the adults and the kids had steak and ale pie and chips. I made an apple pie and the kids all went to bed leaving the adults to sit out under the twinkle lights and patio heater and enjoy ourselves. 

Glass Fire and Red Flags

A screen grab from the San Francisco Chronicle this morning of the damage to one of the huge wineries destroyed this week by the Glass Fire. 

We had a lovely three weeks or so of our "normal" September weather. Skies in the deep blue that you only see along this part of the globe. The mornings were a little cooler and evenings filled with crickets and frogs in symphony. Days for lounging in temps around 30c. Perfect for sipping rosé and BBQing. 

We'd cleaned the soot from all our outdoor decks and washed all the cushions and hammocks. But as we feared that didn't last. Fire season resumed with a new fire exploding in wine country just an hour North of us. *Just* before that began we had word that our wine order had shipped from Terra Valentine but it's not here so we're a little worried one of our favorite places might be evacuated too. 

Marin is on high alert with a red flag warning this week too. No one is allowed to use power tools outside or use many of the roads through the parks and lots of parks are just closed. Red flags are something we're pretty used to having whenever the humidity and wind gets to the danger point. I hope that they don't need to cut our power but if there's any high wind this week, we fully support them shutting down the grid. We have a generator and are equipped to just carry on. 

Living anywhere on the planet is going to subject you to climate emergencies at some point now. We're gutted that all the most spectacular places we have been are going to be first on the chopping block it seems.