Birthday night was shared with one long-time friend and one new friend. It was a splendid evening doing what I love best, creating exciting eating plans then cooking it up together with friends. Thanks to Camille and El Caballero (see Camille for his reference) for the inspiration and the hosting.
Dinner plans were initiated by our voicing a desire for dinner on the cheap. Since all the restaurants floated out by Camille were nay-sayed for extravagance by El Cab, he offered his vermicelli and sauce as a dining option. Well, for Camille and I it wasn't enough to just eat packaged pasta and sauce from a jar. It needed our special handcrafted touch.
So, off to the G.O. (God bless the Grocery Outlet) we went for some inspiration. Ooh, let's get some chard. Oh wait, those are collard greeens. That's my favorite vegetable in Cambodia. How about zucchini? Add a red bell pepper. Does he have any garlic? I'm looking for parmesan cheese. Should we have some wine? What about bread? We swooped up all the fantastic ingredients and managed to fine a very inexpensive bottle of petite syrah from Lodi, which turned out to be a delectable wine with our meal.
Back to the commune, no joke, for some kitchen magic. There was a brief hunt for cooking pots and were satisfied to fine one big deep skillet for the vegies and sauce.
Smashed and chopped garlic. Cubed zucchini and pepper. Sliced collard greens salvaged from the steaming pot. El Cab was on top of the sauteing. He heated the oil in the pan, tossed in the garlic, added the zucchini and peppers when ready. Stirred, flipped and tossed. Lastly came the collard greens, and finally to top it all off, a jar and a half of marinara sauce.
The pasta was cooked in its normal way: boiled water. The sliced sourdough bread was toasted and buttered by Camille. The table was set. Then we sat and dined on divine pasta. It was delicious for lack of a better word. Of course it's digestion was vastly improved by the company, and the setting of an old-stlye wood kitchen with a hearty wooden table.
My birthday was complete.
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