"It is well to remember that the entire population of the universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others." A.Holmes

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Duck Delight & Wine Tasting With Love

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

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a very fun evening Kathy. Your table/centerpiece are beautiful. It will be fun to see the recipes that were prepared so lovingly.

KathyB. said...

Thank-you Mildred.I am looking forward to sharing the recipes because they are so delicious! I am hoping my husband will make more of this very soon, hint hint Jim!

LindaSue said...

Wonderful evening - the table is beautiful and as always seems Jim outdoes himself with the menu. What a blessing the combination of your skills are to your family and friends.

KathyB. said...

LindaSue, thank-you. It was a wonderful evening and the food was so yummy....I am still enjoying some of the few left-overs and have persuaded Jim to make some more of the appetizers, which I could fill up on and be satisfied with all by themselves.

Wobegon Cottage said...

Where can I get a coat like his??? I need a chefs coat.

KathyB. said...

Alice ( Wobegon Cottage) we will make sure you get one, after all, you NEED one for all the cooking, baking, and hosting you do for your family!

Anonymous said...

Kathy and Jim, we had such a wonderful time. The meal was unlike anything we had ever experienced - a five course, white linen meal when the chef came and joined us for the meal. :-) Over the top!

Joni

Connie said...

It sounds wonderful, Kathy! How lucky you are to have a live-in Chef! I'm sure you all had a delightful time.

EBet said...

As soon as I saw the title of your post I said to myself, oh I wonder if they used one of their own ducks. every thing looks wonderfull, Kathy you and Jim are amazing!

KathyB. said...

Joni, thanks! We had a great time too, and Jim is especially pleased if our guests like what he cooks! So he is very happy~

Daisy, I am fortunate to have a live-in Chef, and he is busy preparing some snacks right now!

EBet, home raised ducks taste waaaaay better than the duck I have eaten before, now I will have to be ordering some Pekin ducks for sure. We chose one of the 2 male Rouen ducks to be our dinner,and they were bred in France especially for their meat~ as I am sure you know.

Candy Duell said...

It sounds like you had a grand time. Your husband is quite a guy! You described it beautifully, and the table with all of the care and love looked wonderful. I loved the menu. It looked like everyone had a nice time.

Anonymous said...

Wow, it looks like you had a lovely evening! How lucky for you to have a husband that enjoys cooking.

Megan said...

That centerpiece is lovely! And you totally should have drawn an arrow to one of the ducks on the menu with a caption that read, "dinner." :-D

KathyB. said...

Candy, thank-you. We had a very good time and no one left the table hungry!

Kenleighacres, my husband is pretty good at a lot of things..but cooking is something he seems to excel in, you're right, lucky me.

Megan, ha ha! I have to be careful when I tell someone we are having one of my critters for dinner, that doesn't go over well with a lot of folks. But they handled it well. I think I might just do that the next time we serve duck! So when are you coming over for a duck dinner with us?

Southern Comfort said...

The table and meal looks so beautiful. You must have such a special husband to all of this for your family. I know you enjoyed this gathering. It would have been fun, and sweet, to have been there.

Vickie said...

Oh my goodness, Kathy B! Wish I lived closer - why, your husband Looks so "chef-y" that he should have his own TV show like Emeril!
What a lovely dinner and wine-tasting event!

Yep - I definitely think you should have a mole count on your sidebar. Hey we could have a contest to see who gets the most!!!

Debbie said...

What a treat to be a part of something so well planned and prepared. I'll bet your guests enjoyed being so pampered. Your husband and mine are total opposites.
Debbie

A. Joy said...

Pretty creative with those place card / menus! Glad to hear Dad cleaned up after working on the septic tank - before working on the dinner stuff. =) Sounded like a fantastic time!

Susie said...

Wow Kathy! Wish I could have come to that dinner!

Farmgirl Cyn said...

Oh my word, Kathy! This sounds absolutely fabulous! What a blessing for your husband to do this for your family and yourself!!!

Eggs In My Pocket said...

How wonderful that your husband likes to cook and entertain. I have an uncle who loves to cook and his wife, my aunt, loves it! I have always wondered what duck tastes like..........I have yet to find out. Every thing just looks beautiful! blessings,Kathleen

KathyB. said...

Southern Comfort, thank-you. I know my husband is special, and when I reflect on all his many talents and gifts and what he does for me I am certain! It would be nice to have you and your husband drop on in for dinner some time. If you're ever out our way let us know~

Vickie, I have a post coming up that you will appreciate and I think I will have that mole counter in my sidebar and issue a challenge to you~who gets the most ground tunneling , garden destroying varmints!!!!

Debbie, I hope they enjoyed being pampered, I know I did!And thank-you~

A.Joy, I just thought it needed mentioning that he did clean up, after working on the septic. I cleaned up after the dinner~you know your Dad, he thoroughly enjoyed cooking for all of us, isn't he wonderful?

Susie, as I mentioned to Southern Comfort, if you're going to be in the area let us know!

Farmgirl Cyn, he keeps telling me what a blessing he is..( just kidding!) He is and I know it, thank-you~

Kathleen, you know the old saying "it tastes just like chicken", well, it really does, just a bit richer. I have tasted wild duck and it was fishy, but this was home-raised and well fed duck, yum!More like the dark meat of turkey...

Megan said...

Ooooo, I would LOVE to come for a duck dinner! (In my case, sans wine, and WITH potatoes. ;-p) I haven't had duck many times, but have always enjoyed it.

Now if only I could scrape together the airfare... :-)

Thistle Cove Farm said...

When I come here, I know family will be celebrated and it warms me through and through!
Thank you, Kathy, for allowing me to share your joy.