I had this short stop at Rosemary's and had a biggish dinner party
to get to see all my friends, some of whom are aging off rather too
quickly. I had three nights to entertain and gave everyone a choice,
but unfortunately everyone chose Friday night, with nobody available
on either of the two other nights!

Rosemary and I went to Dave's across on the mainland, where some
good bargains on decent merchandise were available, but she tends
to pick the more expensive options, and I the better bargains, mostly
cheaper but with minimal compromise on quality. We split the list,
with me doing the perishables and she the canned and packaged goods
and the cheese, about which she has more opinions than I, and then
meeting in the middle. At checkout, I was glad she had her wallet
out, given the number of really terrible buys in the cart. I was
soon ungladdened, because it was the wrong wallet and had neither
cash nor card, so I turned out spending a couple C-notes, probably
40 or 50 more than if I'd have done the other half of the selection
as well. Oh, well, she doesn't pull this very often and buys the
booze 3 times out of 4, so I shouldn't complain.

We started with cheese plate of stuff found at Dave's. They were
all quite edible if twice as much as equivalent cheese could have
been gotten for, and aside from the first, I would never have
bought them at all.

A real St. Andre was real, fatty, and bland, I think it was
going for an extortionate 30-odd/lb, so one could get 90% of the
goodness for half the price or less with a decent Brie.

Dutch Emmenthal, brand unknown, tasted like soap.

Artikaas Gouda was slightly better, with a nonzero tang and a
nonzero nuttiness. It cost way too much.

Yay, Breton crackers were on half price, and I kind of like them
with cheese. Rosemary doesn't like them at all but does like Stoned
Wheat Thins, so she got one of each, the latter at full normal price
or above, the store having no doubt figured out that there are many
twosomes with similar purchasing practices.

There were cheese wafers made by me in the afternoon then stored in
the oven because of the humidity, These were a hit, as they should be.
Mostly old Cheddar bits with maybe some Parmesanoid and Swissoid.

Sweetish meatballs made from 80% lean beef - these were really lightly curried, the sweetness coming from onion, carrot, and toasted coconut;
I offered samples of them to the pre-crowd, and then they went into
the fridge, where they were forgotten, too bad, because they were
fairly good, and I'd likely have made my whole meal of them.

Cedars I think hummus and Stacy's pita chips.

Romaine and Campari tomato salad was fine: I dressed it with a
hollandaise with tomato which was rich and worth drinking.

Also my Asian sweet-sour cucumber salad.

The main courses were butter poached, which for delicate foods I
like better than sous vide.

For my friend who can't eat chicken, I did pollock, which was on
sale; this turned out to be a very tender white fish of dubious
provenance, fillets of maybe 3/4", tasty enough with just a hint
of fish tang. The leftovers made a nice chowder later, I'm told.

Chicken breast was done just past pink. I'd have strongly preferred
it pink but had to think of the sensibilities of the multitude. It
was done beyond the velvety stage, I think 150 when I checked. It
should have been 140. The plan was to offer sauteed peppers and
onions on the side, but I forgot these, and the cleanup crew
discovered them afterward.

Chinese potatoes two ways, spicy (a couple serranos sauteed in)
and nonspicy (extra garlic and soy sauce to add oomph) - I think
at some time in the distant past I posted a recipe.

For starch, linguini fini with garlic butter.

Edy's not slow-churned vanilla ice cream with golden kiwis,
strawberries, and plums - as to be expected, much better than the
slow-churned junk.

Edy's not slow-churned chocolate chip ice cream with toasted
coconut topping and chocolate sauce for them as wanted.

Riva Leone Barbaresco 12 - this was a bit over the hill, with
the cherries going to dried, the acid offbalancing it a bit,
not a great wine by any means.

Chateau Souverain Cabernet 18 - typical of the old-style young
California Cab, a little green pepper, slightly cheap-tasting
in that way that is hard to describe otherwise.

Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc, vintage irrelevant - not as pissy
or acidy as fancier brands, this had nice tropical fruit and
a modest lemony tartness, going well with the buttery white
foods, as the fat coated the tongue and gentled the wine.

This is what comes when guests are allowed to bring the wone.
After the first tastes I took refuge in a Gosling's and ginger ale.
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