Ah, France, home of my maternal grandfather's family! I had been looking forward to this meal with great anticipation. Jessica and I planned our menu earlier in the week, she was also looking forward to trying something different! Our meal was to start with some Escargot and some Moules Marinières (mussels steamed in white wine), followed by Coq au Vin (Alsation style, in white wine) and Pomme de Terre Dauphinoise (scalloped potatoes). For dessert, Crème Brulée...mmmm!Unfortunately, my French meal will definitely NOT rank up there with the likes of Julia Child, or Julie Powell, for that matter! We started first preparing the Crème Brulée, so that it could chill while we were preparing and eating the remaining dishes. I turned the oven on to pre-heat, and we got started. All went well with the food prep, and we also decided to make some meringue cookies (simply to avoid wasting the 6 egg whites that were left over from making the Brulée). It seemed to be taking an unusually long time for the oven to preheat.....it just would not heat up past 200 F. Well, considering everything but the mussels and chicken needed to cook in the oven, this did not bode well at all! Turns out the lower element of the oven was not working, so we had to improvise (also known as Jessica making numerous trips over to use my sister's oven), which clearly impacted the timing and ultimate enjoyment of our meal. Everything turned out well enough, and we were clearly able to triumph over a bit of adversity....but it certainly wasn't as satisfying an accomplishment as it could have been. Sigh...
Bon appetit
No comments:
Post a Comment