Kima Smiles - Video

She's too scared to go down the basement steps so she's always psyched when I come back up.

Dogslide

Zucchini-bacon quiche

Best to make two of these as it's no harder and it goes fast. Slightly adapted from Gourmet 2005. This is for one quiche, so double this:

1 (9-inch) refrigerated pie dough round
1/4 lb sliced bacon, coarsely chopped
1 medium zucchini, halved lengthwise, then cut crosswise into 1/8-inch-thick slices
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup whole milk
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
3 large eggs
2 oz Gruyère, coarsely grated (1 cup)

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 450°F.
Fit pie dough into pie plate and lightly prick all over. Bake according to package instructions, then transfer crust in pie plate to a rack.

Reduce oven temperature to 350°F.

While crust bakes, cook bacon in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat, stirring occasionally, until just crisp, about 6 minutes. Transfer bacon with a slotted spoon to a paper-towel-lined plate, reserving fat in skillet.

Add zucchini and 1/4 teaspoon salt to fat in skillet and sauté over moderately high heat, stirring frequently, until zucchini is tender and starting to brown, about 5 minutes, then transfer with slotted spoon to a plate.

Heat cream, milk, pepper, and remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt in a 1- to 2-quart saucepan until mixture reaches a bare simmer, then remove from heat.

Whisk together eggs in a large heatproof bowl, then gradually whisk in hot cream mixture until combined. Stir in bacon, zucchini, and cheese and pour into piecrust. Bake until filling is just set, 25 to 30 minutes. Transfer quiche in pan to rack to cool slightly, about 20 minutes.

That sweet outdoor sound

Tuesday was the second evening of Music in the Park. The first evening, ten nights prior, featured a very competent soul/funk band and several beers each. While taking in the music we noticed:

a) large numbers of dogs
b) the people in front of us with fancy picnic paraphenalia, including special dishes with which to put salt on the rims of their margarita glasses, a rolling cooler, and a cocktail shaker.

Jealous outdo-ers that we are, we decided to show them just how fancy we could get, too. A few ideas were thrown out - creme brulee, with blow-torched crust; champagne, quiche, and fancy cheese; and of course a rolling cooler.

So on Tuesday we rolled in with the cooler, some Old Chatham Nancy Camembert from Whole Foods, and the two lonely bottles of champagne that had been pining for just such an occasion in my fridge for the last couple months. The zucchini-bacon-Gruyere quiche I made went over very well, as did Mari's creme brulee, which we scarfed down in three minutes, our forks darting in and out of the pyrex dish with abandon.

The best single moment, however, was the pop of the first bottle of champagne, and the cork's long ascent straight up into the air. It was the sound of exuberance. We all watched it rise up over the crowd, heads turning and craning up, smiles broadening in recognition. It's shorthand for celebration, champagne, and I'm sure everyone thought we were feting a birthday or a promotion or some other event, and it was even nicer for us to know that no, we're just celebrating the fact that we're outside, the night is warm, the swing band is great and the dancers are having a blast, and we're together, at least for a few hours, to enjoy all of it.

Nick and Johanna's wedding

Sorry to the other weddings I've been to this year, but Nick and Jojo's wedding was the best one I've ever been to.



A lot of couples do a mix of traditional vows and personal touches, but this ceremony, and the whole weekend, was completely personal. It brought together all their friends in an environment familiar to us all - no fancy dress, plenty of music and conversation and hiking and chilling out, and camping and swimming. The music at the wedding was done by their friends, an opera singer now living in Germany, accompanied by Johanna's cousin from Germany. An ultimate teammate played violin with Nick's brother-in-law. Everyone pitched in to help organize (the best man was Minister of Beer). Maybe it's the years of large Thanksgiving celebrations that made this go off without a hitch, or Nick and Johanna's superior ability to delegate.



I loved the handfasting ceremony - which started with "Nick, will you cause Johanna pain?" and the response "I may." "Is this your intent?" "No it is not." The catfish friend poem and Lemly's song were beautiful. At the end of it they just walked away to their tent, leaving all of us to mingle and rejoice and participate in creating things for them - wishes for time capsules, to be opened on their first, fifth, twenty-fifth, and fiftieth anniversaries; prayer flags; and their ketubah, a wedding contract, to be signed by all guests witnessing the marriage.



I teared up again during the toasts. Johanna's dad, all the way from Germany, gave a really moving message on repairing the relationships that were broken during the war. "My father's generation forced Nick's grandfather to flee; my generation was able to broker treaties and make peace; and now - Nick and Johanna are able to marry."

A Car Full of Exes

All I'm gonna say is, I love it when my life takes on the narrative structure of an opera buffa.

Pig Roast!

I don't want to say it was fantastically easy, but honestly, it was fantastically easy!

Claire and I picked up the pig on Friday just over the line in Pennsylvania. Brought it home and I used the old faithful machete and hammer trick to crack the spinal column and the head. He was about 70 lbs dressed weight.


Then we made the marinate with a cup of lemon juice, 1 cup lime juice, 2 cups oj, 5 heads of garlic, 6 handfuls of crushed fresh oregano, 3 tbl salt, and 3tbl cracked black pepper. And poured it over the pig in the basement.

Then we built the pit!

The next day I got up early and took Kima to the kennel, and Sean showed up with the hacksaw around 11. We made the pig holder and got the fire started.




We brought him up from the basement and wired the pig holder around him.



And put him on the fire.


Halfway through we flipped him (adding 1/2 bag of charcoal every 40 minutes).



Mmm, juicy!


Even babies like piggies!