Dinner with friends and stuff

First off is "stuff". My garden is being stunted by so much rain. The tomatoes are growing but the rest of the stuff is suffering. Maybe growing a garden isn't meant to be this year.

The broccoli is flowering before it has even become edible broccoli. What is up with that?



Ok, so onto dinner. Our friends Kerry and Terry were coming over for dinner (Yes, their names rhyme get over it and lets move on). We started off by trying to make sourdough bread again. Came out better this time but a bit doughy and still not rising as much as it could.



I was disheartened to read in the Cheese Board's bread book that it took them 2 years to get it right. I went on to read about proofing chambers and humidity. So, next time we will try to proof the dough in a plastic bag that is big enough to cover the baking sheet and we will see what happens.

Terry did exclaim "THIS is the best bread I have had since I have moved to New England" (he moved from the bay area too) so I know we are on the right track.



Since dinner was going to be a bit on the heavy side I decided to make simple chard as a vegetable. Just cooked it up with some olive oil and garlic and finished with a bit of lemon juice. That was enough.



We also made Risotto Al Gorgonzola. I got this recipe out of an old Gourmet issue that is the collector's edition: 65 years 65 recipes 65 photos. It is the best issue of the magazine that I have ever seen. Thanks to my friend Val who gave it to me I am working my way through the entire issue. This dish was a killer.



Then there was the lamb. The recipe we used is from the book "pure and simple cooking" by Diana Henry. It is a great cookbook. The lamb was made from a recipe called "roast leg of lamb with anchovy cream". It came out perfect. The blend of lamb, butter and anchovies along with cream and vermouth were excellent. Easy recipe as well.



I also made dessert which I am a loser at making. Simply put I don't like dessert. So, I suck at making them. I made another recipe out of the same issue of Gourmet (Val, this makes the 3rd recipe I have made out of this issue. Only 62 more to go). It was from 1979 and it was a Frozen Lemon Meringue Cake.

If I had cooking friends that lived here they might have been able to warn me that I shouldn't make meringue on a VERY humid day. But the dessert was a huge hit and even more so the next day when I took what was left over to my neighbors Cathy and Jeff for their BBQ. I promised Jeff I would make him another one. Ew, I hate dessert.



Then the next morning because I didn't feel like dealing with anything we went for Dim Sum. We have found a great place in Woburn called China Pearl Not the best I have ever had but pretty darn good.



Sorry the pictures are blurry. I was secretly taking pictures with my cell phone.