Italian Tasting Wrap-Up

Well, where do we start?

First Course: The power goes out three times killing both the microwave and the stove while trying to serve the first course (rici e bisi soup). The wine has been poured -- and there's no hot food. So, the lukewarm soup goes out. Not Good (although it does taste good) Later, we determine the culprit to be a dehumidifier plugged into the same 15 amp fuse. We do not even look at the microwave for the rest of the evening.

Second course: Polenta Stack (polenta, spinach and roasted red bell pepper) -- the oven is back, and I start to cut out the polenta, but no matter how many times I cut the damn red pepper with my knife, it does NOT want play nice, and slides around screwing up the first 15 pieces to the point where I have to grab them by hand and plate them. Once again tastes good -10 points for presentation.

The third course is the chicken w/ almonds, so I get a breather while Monica and Patrick get that together, but course four (stuffed savoy cabbage, with gnoccetti and peas served with a carrot cream sauce) follows quickly on it's heels.

At this point, we notice that we're absolutely flying through these courses, with almost zero prep time inbetween. We beg Bob to have winemaker and importer Martin slow down or talk longer. He does, and the listing ship finally comes to balance...

The rest of the evening and dishes (Lasagna w/ Mushroom and Lentil Ragu, Roasted Eggplant stuffed with Pesto and Steak w/ Tomato Confit and Basalmic Reduction sauce all follow without any further problems. Even the desert (Hazelnut Torte) is blissfully quiet.

Thanks to Patrick (as always) for getting the antipasto (Zucchini Carpaccio) together before I arrived and more importantly, for not panicking when I was about to ;)