BEST DINNER EVER!

Background: I have never been the type to prepare dinner nightly. Even when my son was small, sometimes, cheese, crackers, veggies and dip served as 'dinner'. Sometimes, it was a pot of chili (pretty good actually) that lasted for a few nights, etc. Actually, since my son was about eight, he learned to cook. By 11, he could fully plan, write a list for, and execute the actual meal. He made sure there was a protein, vegetables and sometimes a starch. He also made sure there was texture, color, and shape variety (I am so proud!) Johnson Wales would be lucky to have him! Now, we have been buying sauces in squeeze bottles for added presentation flair.

I don't usually cook something like I did tonight, but lately, I have been holding 'Sunday dinners' where I have a little more fun with food. To me, it is the culinary equivalent of 'dress up'. Alex and I have a weightloss bet (details to follow, maybe) so are using these opportunities to figure out healthy but DELISH! menus. First week, I made a london broil, watermelon and...I cannot remember the other items, but they were all healthy and very good. The next week, she marinated veggies that were thrown onto the grill with a huge salmon fillet. To that, I added my 'signature salad' and an amazing dessert of fresh strawberries with a balsamic vingar/bittersweet chocolate reduction. Independance Day was a couple of steaks, tomato/avocado salad, grilled yellow squash and sangria (we are experimenting with different flavors; this one included lemon/lime seltzer, a good Spanish wine and pomogranite juice)

I spoke to a friend who was going to come over, then grabbed my friends/neighbors who seemed to be happy that I caught them before they went to Silver Diner. The day I cannot cook better than SD, please just shoot me! Alex whipped up some white sangria (Governor's white table wine, my leftover lime mineral water for fizz and braeburn apples [no peaches; Burt ate all of them]) The addition of strawberries may have been nice.

The menu:

• Tomato and avocado salad with bacon, yellow peppers and cilantro
• Broiled marinated (in ginger, garlic, lime juice and cilantro) sea scallops and pan fried jumbo shrimp in sesame, lime bacon sauce
• Sesame crusted seared tuna with sesame, basic chili noodles
• Ginger lime pan fried shrimp with tomatillo mango salsa
  

We also had a fabulous bottle of Weingut Joh. Haart 2005 Riesling. I am not a big fan of white wine, but this Reisling is not too sweet and perfect with delicate foods like seafood. It doesn't overpower the spices and fruit and....oh nevermind, I am not going to pretend to know the dazzling 'foodie' terms; I'll leave that to Kathy.

Anyway, the wine coupled with the half of a pitcher of sangria released very lively conversation, general silliness and mangled demonsrations of pronunciations of "horrible", "nuCLEar", and an extended discussion and test run of whether or not Devon (the dog) is going deaf (OK, this may sound dull to you, but it was all pretty funny at the moment). More than half-way through this revelry, Jackson returned home from his Aunt's where he had spent the last 1.5 weeks. He was concerned for all of us, to say the least. We returned the favor by regaling him with stories of July 4 (walking through the woods from Reston to Herndon and back with only the light of our collective cell phones to keep us from breaking ankles or falling into the creek), etc. Thus, more hilarity ensued, as did more confused expressions of concern from my spawn.

In the photo on the right, what you do not see is that Burt was demonstrating Alex's excessive strength by demanding 'piggyback rides'. Afterwards, he kept walking around bending over in front of her; J and I were a bit concerned (can anyone say 'strap on'?) and took his glass away.

I find that the best times to be had are are impromtu and include at least one bottle of alcohol.

Thanks guys! I had a fabulous time

So, why am I still up? I am waiting for the bidding on a black Tadashi and a burgundy Shelli Segal (for A/B wedding) cocktail dresses. Wish me luck.