Dinner - Monday, May 4th - A vote

Option #1 it is. The only question will be the availability of the duck (I know I can buy whole ducks, but that will cost too much).

• Asparagus Crespelle with Balsamella Sauce

A crespelle with chopped asparagus and mascarpone

• Sauteed Pork Tenderloin with Apple Confiture and Risotto alla Paesana e Dragoncello
• Ashed Chevre with Slow-Roasted Beets
• Cream of Blueberry Soup with Vanilla Gelato and Dacquoise

I'll come over at about two o'clock to start prep. We will need to make the Apple Confiture, roast beets, gelato, crepes, and dacquoise - I will make the blueberry soup the night before.

Dinner will start at approximately 7:30.

Some Stuff

Here are two not really random experiments that I was quite happy with. The First:"Polenta Pie" will not look familiar unless you look closely. Then you will note that it is the braised 'veal breast' (actually pork in this case) that we had for dinner on the 22nd. So if the ingredients are unseemly this is a very suitable and tasty way to contain all the broken bits of things and sauces, etc. Even after I let it rest for an hour it was a bit runny, so if you want the recipe and decide to take the easy way out, make sure and let it rest for at least an hour and a half.

The second (and in my opinion better) of the two experiments involved something based on something that I came across while downloading and reading through the daily French Laundry tasting menus. I came across a Bavarois (Bavarian Cream preperation) that took apple relish. I had two apples, so it was my desire to try to make an apple relish - which I thought might be a savory accompaniment for pork. I mistakenly remembered that I had a pint of duck stock in the freezer, however, and so I switched from a relish to a confiture of apple, pinenuts, lemon, lime and ginger - only to realize that I did not in fact have the aforementioned stock. With the vegetable stock that I did have, I made Risotto alla "Paesana," and it worked out pretty fantastically - so that is going to be the option instead of pork that we'll decide on for the Monday dinner.

Dinner - Wednesday, April 22

Because I am loosing a bunch of people to a Monday I think that I will put dinner off till Wednesday

I will switch to Mondays if they are in fact more convenient later (we can try a little preemptive planning...). As far as this goes I presumably get a better average on a Wednesday, so I'm going to have to go with the more favorable numbers. If everyone could get back to me as to the nature of this change relatively quickly, that would be great.

I'm going to be cooking primarily from the French Laundry - with the exception of the dessert; so dinner will be for $10, but there won't be as many courses as you are used to.

• Blini with Black Whitefish Caviar and Confit of Tomato

Yukon Gold Potato Pancakes with caviar and roasted tomato with thyme

• Gazpacho Soup

Cold Tomato Soup

• Braised Cutlets of Veal with Yellow Corn Polenta Cakes, Glazed Vegetables, and Sweet Garlic


• Lemon & Basil Sorbet

Dinner will start at approximately 7:30 - 8:00pm.