Sunday Night Dinner 4.15.11

Sunday night dinner, chef's table for 2 @ squiggs, 5 courses

A friend pointed out to me that if i really wanted dinners at my place to be something special, i should be looking at things beyond just the food. so i did a bit more then the usual clean up and stuff and tried to create some ambiance.

There were 2 friends coming over for dinner, so i set up a chef's table of sort facing on to the kitchen. I had ran out to dollarama to grab napkins and a table cloth. It was also suggested to me to grab a candle, so i got a sturdy manly candle and a mirrored plate for it to sit on. The only thing i forgot about was water glasses. I also thought about what music to play, deciding to go with the chemicals brothers dj mix cd. a nice upbeat music that can easily be ignored.




Bread Basket: Lavender Bread
Due to having a lot of time on my hands recently, i've started to bake a lot more. The buns were cooked in muffins tins which gave them a somewhat rustic look that i wasn't too sure about, but the guests enjoyed the unique shape.








Amuse Bouche: Oyster/Strawberry/Ice wine Vinegar
I'd picked up this really nice ice wine vinegar and was wondering how to best showcase it and this dish worked well. The sweetness of the vinegar played off nicely to the saltyness of the oyster.








Soup: Spicey Mint Cucumber soup/Smoked Salmon/Mandarin Orange

The spicyness in the soup was a happy accident. Apparently in the container that i pureed the soup in, there was some residue left over from the homemade hot sauce that confused at first. The heat works well with the coolness of the other ingredients. This was also where i realized there were no water glasses.





Braised Pork Short Ribs With Asian Flavour/Kimchi Fried Rice/Baby Corn/Broccoli Stalks
Decided to serve the pork 1st of the 2 proteins/mains due to the lightness of the asian flavours used. Kimchi is pretty much Korean fermented cabbage that is just so packed with flavour, I highly recommend that you check it out.














Braised Rabbit/Blueberry Sauce/Morel Mushrooms/Mixed beans/House Cured Bacon
This was served as the 2nd protein because of the woodsy/foresty notes of it felt to me to be a bit heavier, er go, later in the course. The strip of bacon underneath was my first attempt at curing bacon and it was taaaaasty. i was seriously impressed with myself.








Dessert: Strawberries/Blueberries/Lime Curd/Chat Longue Cookies
Nice, light and clean dessert. Variety of textures and something that i could throw together in one afternoon.















Thoughts from the Diners

Thanks again so much for a lovely evening.

I would just say that I'm grateful for happy accidents - the soup was delish and surprising and went really well with the Lavender buns - the muffin tin gave them a nice shape.

My other fave was desert - the lime curd was amazing and my multiple helpings undid a good few weeks at the gym.

almost forgot the kimchi - really everything was amazing but those were probably my highlights