Shoestring Gourmet: Avez-vous besoin des pommes de terre frites avec cela? |
For our June Shoestring, we met at a special place and time to watch Jim Morgan as finalist on a cooking contest on PBS. Each of us prepared a dish from the show.
One of our newest Shoestringers, Jan Kruse, led off with a preprandial Cuban drink, mojito: rum, seltzer, lime, sugar, and mint. Marilyn’s mother, Janet McDonald, brought us McDonald Family Potato Salad. This was followed by Marilyn’s Goi cuon, Vietnamese fresh salad rolls. Next, Ursula Gore dished up Palak paneer, Indian spinach with feta cheese, spiced with garam masala. Our host, Syd Golston, served that spicy Louisiana stew, gumbo. As we watched Jim Morgan prepare Cajun blackened duck on TV, we ate the same recipe transposed to chicken.
Gerry & Linda Brazelton served praline liqueur as an interlude between entrees, then a cheesecake dessert. Kebba Buckley’s dessert was lemon squares, make with fresh fruit from the Brazeltons’ trees.
In August, we will meet at the Gore residence to savor the gourmet drive-in experience. Let’s turn on our Imanginetrons and envision what this might be like.
As you pull up to La Sonique in your Lexus and face the glowing menu board, an orotund voice rolls crisply out of La Sonique’s precisely matched Bang & Olufsen speaker set: "I’m Bruce, and I’ll be your server for this evening. Shall I display the wine list?" Yes, you tell him, and after considering the selection pick out the 32-ounce Mouton Cadet Big Gulp. Scrolling on to the dinner menu, you mull over a choice of seafood appetizers. Oysters Rockefeller or – can’t resist that crunchy stuff – the stir-fried shrimp?
Your appetizer order in place, you contemplate the entrée selections. The Kobe beef melt with Stilton looks appealing. How about the poulet cordon bleu? Or the German classic, Rindfleisch Hamburger Art, mit Limburger? For an extra two marks, you can get this mit Speck, with bacon. Or you might go Italian: a medium pizza topped with calamari fritti, Portabella alla Griglia, prosciutto, and Citterio Abruzzese dry sausage. If you have a sense of adventure, La Sonique also offers a line of Japanese specialties that go far beyond the California roll and tonkatsu all the other fast food places carry today. Shall I order the seven-course aphrodisiac meal from Atami, with its uni, pickled jellyfish tentacles and three kinds of nori?
After dinner, replete, as you settle back into your seat for the drive home, the cares of the day seem very distant. You’re sure that Alfredo down at the detailing shop will be able to get the baked Alaska out of the upholstery…
For the ultimate drive-in experience, wheel up to the Gore place at 6 p.m. on Saturday, August 12. Please be sure to call Ursula Gore at 602-863-9648 by Thursday, August 10 to coordinate the dishes.