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We started things out with a fun cocktail I tried in Cleveland. The Basil Grape Refresher is made with muddled basil and grapes. Add a touch of sugar or simple syrup, and then shake with ice and vodka. Top with ginger ale to taste. Simple and easy cocktail, and you can play around with it to modulate the sweetness.
The first course was steamed crab legs and topneck clams. When I cook crab legs, I normally take frozen snow crab legs and put them in a big steamer basket over a big pot of boiling water. I'll dust it all with Old Bay and squeeze a lemon over all of it. The trick is to take them out of the basket right when they're warmed through--too long and they get leathery, too short and you've got cold spots.
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For the second course, we enjoyed pan-seared slices of halloumi cheese and chunks of Santa Claus melon. The melon is white-fleshed with a flavor similar to honeydew, and it looks like a striped green football. The cheese was salty and savory, providing a nice counterpoint, and anyone who hasn't tried halloumi yet ought to swing by Fresh Market and give it a shot. For this course the Thomas Hyland/Penfolds Riesling was provided by Paul and was fruit-forward with flavors of apple and grapefruit.
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Paul provided this wine as well, a Penfolds Bin 128 Shiraz. It had rich notes of cinnamon, cedar, and blueberries. Well balanced and nicely complementary to the beef. It's the second time we've tried this Australian wine and it's a great one. Not to mention the great math joke in the name.
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Late that evening we wrapped it all up with key lime pie. Congrats to Grace on the new digs and I can't wait to cook over there again.
3 comments:
I still can't believe you came over and cooked all of my favorite things. The halloumi is always my favorite. I could hurt myself eating it.
As always the food was amazing and the company was even better. You don't need an excuse to come over and cook, you are welcome anytime. I know, people comment on my altruistic nature all the time.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v732/gracyac/beefgood.jpg
ok. come clean, smarty, what's the great math joke in Penfolds Bin 128 Shiraz?
Math joke explained:
128 is a round number in binary (often expressed as "bin"). So in binary notation 128 = 10000000
For similar hilarity, there's an old joke that mathematicians get Halloween and Christmas confused, because OCT 31 = DEC 25 (31 in octal or base 8 notation is equal to 25 in decimal or the base 10 notation we normally use).
And yes, I look for cubes, squares, or primes in phone numbers and license plates. Spend enough time thinking about math and you'll see important numbers all over the place.
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