My husband has been beside himself with joy and enthusiasm these past few weeks in the planning and preparation of a dinner and wine tasting event he was privileged to host for my sisters and their husbands, and ME ! He has piles and piles of cook books, cooking publications, and hours of perusing food and wine blogs and Food Network T.V invested in this dinner.In other words, he has been enjoying himself immensely. Of course he has the every day part of his life which requires he go to work, repair our well pump himself- which went out last month, and just last week and on into this week,he had to repair our septic pump which required digging up our septic system,working on it, spending lots of money and back-breaking labor on it , and then coming indoors and cleaning up so he could resume his passion, preparing for special dinners with people we love! ( Above is the center-piece of Friday night's event)
How does the table look so far? I'm just getting started. The china and carefully hand-washed and dried wine glasses are on the table, there is so much more to do...."
Forsake not an old friend, for the new is not comparable to him. A new friend is as new as the wind: when it is old, thou shall drink it with pleasure." Ecclesiates 9:10 And dear sisters, you are long time ( not old yet!) friends as well as sisters dear to my heart~
My husband prepared one of our home raised ducks for this dinner ahead of time. He ( the duck) is carefully killed and plucked ( I helped with that) and cleaned , ready to be the main course.
Because one of our home-raised ducks is the center- piece of the dinner, we used our ducks as the theme. The menu and table setting reflects this. I took pictures of our duck flock, enlarged them and added the menu and made a wine-tasting mat the same way. "
Wine was created from the beginning to make men joyful, and not to make men drunk. When drunk with moderation is the joy of the soul and heart." Ecclesiastes 31:35-36 The menu was also the place card and contained a Bible verse central to our philosophy regarding God's abundant blessings.
Here is the menu on a picture of our ducks on our pond. "
A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh merry.." Ecclesiastes 10:19
Close-up of the menu. "
Eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart." Ecclesiastes 9:10
This is the setting with the 4 wine-glasses . Each wine glass sits on a circle delineating the type of wine to be tasted. My husband also provided a wine-tasting sheet to help the tasters decide the qualities of the wine. "
One not only drinks the wine, one smells it, observes it, tastes it, sips it, and one talks about it."King Edward the VII
Close-up of this wine-tasting mat for wine glass placement(above).You might notice this is the picture I use for the header of this blog. "
Wine can be considered with good reason as the most healthful and most hygienic of all beverages" & "The flavor of wine is like delicate poetry." Louis Pasteur
My sisters , well, 2 of them with their husbands. (Tricia, wish you could be here!) My sister Joni and her husband Tom on the left, my sister Karen and her husband Kaare on the right. We had so much fun, and the meal was wonderful!!!!! I will post the recipes and more in the next post. Be assured, my husband did good, very, very deliciously and just ducky good!"
With years a richer life begins, the spirit mellows:ripe age gives tones to violins, wine and good fellows." John Townsend Trowbridge
My husband, the chef! He really could do this for a living...but maybe it is all the more wonderful he does this for love. "
May our love be like good wine, grow stronger as it grows older." Old English Toast
"He makes grass grow for the cattle ( and ducks) and plants for man to cultivate-bringing forth food from the earth: wine that gladdens the heart of man, oil to make his face shine, and bread that sustains his heart. The trees of the Lord are well watered, the cedars of Lebanon that He planted." Psalm 104
Here is my husband cooking up the last of the delicious duck dinner to accompany a lot of appetizers that accompany the wine-tasting! He put a LOT of planning, preparation, shopping, and then work ( of love ) into this dinner. The guests were two of my sisters and their husbands. We hope they went away happy , with full tummies, and good memories . The kind of memories that bond blood relationships with heart and soul. "Our brothers and sisters are there with us from the dawn of our personal stories to the inevitable dusk." Susan S. Merrill
Here is a close-up of the menu my husband prepared for this evening. "If the divine Creator has taken pains to give us delicious and exquisite things to eat, the least we can do is prepare them well and serve them with ceremony." Fernand Point ( 1897-1955)
One very popular appetizer with no left-overs was the Smoked Chicken Nibblies. My husband smoked the chicken needed for this recipe in the barbecue the night before. He really did do a lot of cooking and preparation days in advance of this dinner! "The best things in life are nearest; breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of right just before you. Then do not grasp at the stars, but do life's plain, common work as it comes, certain that daily duties and daily bread are the sweetest things in life." Robert Louis Stevenson
Here is the main course.Seared Duck Breast with Apricot Reduction Sauce,Creamy Garlic Mashed Potatoes, and Almond Haricots Vert ( fancy French way of saying GREEN BEANS with almonds). You must excuse the picture because I totally got distracted by the good food and good company and forgot to take pictures in time. Fortunately there was a tad bit of the main course left to put together a plate for pictures, but it does not do the first plating of this course justice!I have no words to fully express how very good this was. I am glad my husband prepared the duck, now I think I will raise a few ducks every year for the freezer, it is worth it! Because I cannot stomach potatoes I did not taste them but everyone else loved them.
Of course we did get down to the wine tasting education which my husband presented. I discovered my brother-in-law Tom and I have very similar palates. Especially when it concerns wine. (We have very good taste even if he does like potatoes) "No one that has drunk old wine wants new; for he says, "The old is nice." Luke 5:39
My sister Karen and her husband Kaare, aren't they cute? "Men are like wine- some turn to vinegar, but the best improve with age." Pope John XXIII I think all my sisters and I agree with this, and we agree our husbands are as fine wine!
My next post will be the last post about our dinner and it involves dessert! If you are interested in the recipes I will be posting them in my Lefse Girls In The Kitchen* blog along with many other tried and true family recipes.
