Inspired by Michael Pollen’s latest book, In Defense of Food, I went all out on dinner tonight. My good friends Elizabeth and Jenni came over, and the four of us chowed hard. We started with a fantastic recommendation by Cyndal at Quality Cheeses:

St Marcellin (purchased from Quality Cheese, 5.99 per serving, France) is a creamy brie-like cheese that comes in a deceiving ramekin. Mary had previously brought home some of this fine fromage last week, but I left it in the oven too long when trying to ripen the cheese and ended up with liquefied butter. This time, I had enough time to leave it out on the dining table with much better results. I put in on a plate with perfectly sweet green grapes from the market, a pear, and a loaf of complet from Le Panier. When buying this cheese, look out for too much of the mold that looks like white hair on the rind. A little is normal. Your grandma with a buzz cut is too much.

After that, we had market green beens with butter and panko bread crumbs; basmati rice pilaf with shallots, carrots, pine nuts, and way too much butter; and grilled zucchini and chicken breast marinated in soy sauce, Worcestershire, tequila, lime juice, and hot pepper sauce, topped with a salsa made from tomatoes, tomatillos, cilantro, and garlic, all from the market. We drank a dry Rosé by Vinavera (purchased from The Wine Outlet, $9.00, Napa Valley 2005) which paired nicely with the chicken. The guests used words to describe the wine like, “delicious”, “tasty”, and “spicy”, but Elizabeth calls every wine I give her “spicy”. Maybe I just like spicy wines.

We finished with glasses of sambuca, and now we’re all taking turns playing Wii Fit! Time to work off some dinner. Mary is so my in-house Wii Fit girl.

-Phil

Update: Here’s a cell phone photo of the plated cheese courtesy of Elizabeth.