Sunday, September 7, 2008

A Lofty Dinner





Last night I had my first dinner guests. The Doctors Tuten (aka Paul and Libby). Well, technically my second, since Frank and I ate the first meal at the new dining room table last Sunday. Frank arrived earlier in the day to help me complete the last IKEA construction project; adding the glass doors to the bookcase. It looks great - pictures to follow at a later date. 
Back to last evening: After feasting on the antipasto platter (ingredients from Mazzaro's - see prior post), pecorino cheese drizzled with honey and a really tasty and smooth Gorgonzola and mascarpone  cheese, we sat down to a salad of fresh figs, arugula and bibb lettuce complements of Frank. The entree was a simple angel hair pasta with fresh eggplant in a tomato, garlic and red wine sauce. Since the menu was Italian, we opened the bottle of Casa Emma Chianti that accompanied me on my return journey from Italy last June. Dessert was a lemon panna cotta with fresh raspberries. 

3 comments:

Never Trust a Skinny Cook! said...

Hey Simpson -- tried to leave a comment the other day, but the system clearly had other ideas! Oh well.

Just know I love you and I am SO happy for you as you find your "new" life in your "new" digs!

XXOO,
Liz

Paul said...

Libby and I were very honored to be the first (well, technically second) dinner guests at Dick’s chic new digs in St. Petersburg. For those that know Dick (especially his culinary skill), I needn’t mention that the meal was fabulous! Culinary kudos to Frank as well – he’s really a master of salad making.

The Casa Emma Chianti (which I believe was their Chianti Classico Riserva D.O.C.G.) was very good: characteristic of Sangiovese with floral and fruit notes, well balanced and yet sufficiently complex. I should also mention that we enjoyed a bottle of Iron Horse Vineyards 2005 “T Bar T” Cabernet Franc with the antipasto platter. The Iron Horse was also of above average quality and a value performer too as it was a “deal o’ the day” that Dick found on wine.woot! After a little research, it turns out to be a fairly limited production (268 cases) from Iron Horse that is only bottled in years when the Cab Franc quality is sufficiently high (past releases include only the 2002, 1999, 1997 vintages).

All in all, it was a wonderful evening with two of our favorite people!

Richard said...

Paul and Libby, thank you for the kind words. We had a lovely evening, and while the food and wine are both important to all of us, it was the good company that made the evening.

Thank you also for the wine review. I wish I could get my hands on more of both.