survived another December 1

Fall is always a bad time.  I think I wrote that I have had many losses of friends and family in the autumn months.  It all leads up to Lisa's Angel Day of December 1.  

The last week was the worst.  Joe suggested having one of our "What the Hell is He Cooking Now" dinners on Dec 1.  I said yes but was skeptical.  We usually spend it with a friend but she is on a 30 day cruise and safari!  So we invited our friends over and Joe did a movie themed dinner.  I am his sous chef!  It was a good plan.  We were busy for the couple of days prior.

We started with a toast to Lisa.  After that we had a great visit and ate weird and wonderful food for 3-4 hours!  

The blue soup was a bit of a bust (from Bridget Jones's Diary). He made it with spirulina - it was more green than blue but it is almost Christmas.  The salad had dressing on the side (Bridget Jones) - no orgasms were had.  The Timpano (Big Night) was the hit.  It is a layered pasta dish with meatballs, tube pasta stuffed with a ricotta filling, pepperoni and a tomato sauce. A cast iron pot was lined with lasagna noodles and the rest was layered in. Except for the fact that it didn't stand up well to the cutting, it was tasty and the leftovers went home with the guests!  Socca "Alla Hassen" (The Hundred Foot Journey) was delish.  Tamagoyaki ((Jiro Dreams of Suchi) was really good - Joe is getting better at his sushi rolling.   Dessert was Capezzoli di Venere (Amadeus) - translated Venus Nipples - truffles made with ground chestnuts in dark chocolate covered in white chocolate and a dark chocolate dot on the top.  They were yummy but there was no doubt they were homemade!!  With the truffles we had homemade eggnog (from most every Christmas movie ever made).   As usual Joe had too many dishes so we now have liver and fava beans tonight for supper (Silence of the Lambs).  Not surprising, the folks were not disappointed to miss liver...

It was a night that Lisa would have loved - entertaining at Christmas was something she did every year.  I think she was with us.  For years she had an open house afternoon at the beginning of December - she delivered hand made invitations to everyone in the neighbourhood.  Memories.

Wishing all a peaceful holiday season filled with love.