Gazpacho Gone Wild
By kristin on Sunday, August 12th, 2007
MENU:
- gazpacho with minced cucumber, onion & cilantro garnish
- angel hair pasta with cherry tomatoes, gorgonzola and fresh basil
- fresh baguette with anise honey
- fresh fruit
- vanilla ice cream
- store-bought butter cake (not gooey)
- chocolate chip cookies
GUESTS:
- Michael Booth
- Austin Lines
- Austin’s Parents
One thing I like about our new kitchen, something that keeps the whole thing very exciting, is the spontaneity. Some folks get flustered when they had planned a dinner for four, and six or eight show up. Others make awkward faces when friends conveniently drop in for a visit just an hour before a meal. Not us. So far, it has been a pleasure to share our masterpiece of a kitchen with our friends. And their friends. Let’s face it: you can make a lot of friends with food.
On this particular night, Michael decided to take a break from his professorial duties. He called and wanted to make gazpacho. He would be there in an hour. I fought the horrible back-to-school/Sunday afternoon grocery shopping maddness, and we both got back to the house at about the same time. Unbeknownst to us, Gabriel had invited Austin (our Eagle Scout painter-of-baseboards) and his parents to stay for dinner. (Thankfully, we had just the right amount of food.) This was really the first time the three of us had put on our ‘cooking show’ for real adults. That’s why we put a couch in what most people would call the ‘breakfast nook’. So people could hang out while we made feasts.
(I mean, it’s so easy to impress high school kids with cooking talent. They will eat just about anything, and get mystified & excited when it comes from somewhere other than the microwave.)
🙂
We found that there is plenty of room for all 3 of us to work in the kitchen at the same time, without tripping over each other, or stabbing each other with a chef’s knife. This was also the night that I learned an important practical fact: we needed more dish towels. We had enough dish towels to handle the amount of mess that Gabriel & I typically make in the kitchen, but I don’t think I was really prepared for the tornado that is Michael in the kitchen.
Like it says in the Book of Revelation (12:6-10):
And the woman fled into the kitchen, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days. And there was an iron chef war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not against Michael’s mighty gazpacho; neither was their place found any more in the kitchen. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, for heaven’s sake clean up that mess! How did you manage to get tomato on the wall and the floor, and who smeared cream all over the granite countertops?
I’m pretty sure it went something like that. It was wonderful. We amazed the parents, and even convinced Mrs. Lines that she likes gorgonzola. How can you beat that?
