I've Been To A Marvelous Party

Sherry's Salmon and Scallops in Clementine Glaze

"I went to a marvelous party..." wrote Noel Coward in 1938, speaking of a bohemian bacchanal on the French Riviera.  I could say the same, with equal conviction, in 2011; last Saturday night, I went to my own birthday party, in my own home: didn't have to lift a finger to have the most delicious, intriguing meal, and an utterly fabulous time! (Click here to see more photos of the event.)

Izabel and Sherry Prep for Dinner

My friend Sherry Moore (click here for Sherry's bio) who, as I've often said, is an extraordinary human being in many, many ways, threw a party for me the like of which has not been known before—at least not in this neck of the woods.  She planned for weeks, she invited the guests, she arranged flowers and set a gorgeous table—the last with the invaluable assistance of our friend and household angel, Izabel B.  On the day, Sherry and Izabel cooked and served what Sherry modestly described as a 'tapas style dinner:' a series of mini-courses each more elegant and inviting than the last.

The Famous Grazing Menu Dinner Party

The Famous Grazing Menu Dinner Party

(a foodie fable)

Once upon a time, long ago and far away, we made a fabulous dinner. 

(Truth to tell, it wasn't far away at all: it was in Cambridge.  And it wasn't all that long ago, either, although it was before Labor Day, which feels like ancient history by now.)  Anyway, in that distant epoch, Colin and his lovely girlfriend, Eden, came to visit Anne and Ken in Cambridge,
and were joined there by Colin's mother, Su.  Both of us—Colin and Anne, that is—wanted to throw a party to honor Sherry, Anne's local best bud who helped Colin out of a jam last spring, inviting Sherry's partner, Joan, as the seventh guest. 
Talking this over weeks in advance, Colin had suggested a grazing menu: the kind of dinner made up of lots of smaller dishes, served casually and without the traditional sequence of courses.

Boston Organics Challenge, Part II: Re-Imagined Summer Menu

Boston Organics Challenge, Part II

Re-Imagined Summer Menu

Cream of Summer Tomato Soup recipe

Spiced Cheddar and Onion Spread recipe

Refrigerator Pickled Dilly Beans recipe 

As you can see from the list at the end of this post, our latest Boston Organics box held a bounty of local summer produce.  Filled with nostalgia at the sight of it, I craved a New England farm-stand supper like the ones we often had in my youth: ripe tomatoes, snappy green beans, and fresh, just-picked corn on the cob, with nothing but a little salt and butter, and homemade crusty bread to sop up the juices.  Ah, but that was then.  This is now: my husband doesn’t share my mania for vegetables, and, in truth, we both could use a better-balanced dinner than the ones that beckon from my memories.