GWSmith

Good HALLOWEEN evening fellow foodies ! I just had to post my brand new wine delivery........ [Y] As Boxx says, its a great day when vino shows up at the doorstep [] Enjoy the display...... ....which bottle to open tonight? [] .......Gary

Ok David, I look forward to that... My VEGAN Swedish Meatballs are posted further back in this forum. NO dairy, NO meat and I put this all together for a dinner party of MEAT EATERS and they were floored that it would be so convincing [Y] ....later

Hey, thanks everyone for the recent activiy and 'chili' activities ! I have never made it myself, but, a vegetarian version may be coming!!! Meanwhile, enjoy yourselves and lets see some of those photos from START to SERVING ok ??? ..............Gary

Thank you Stephen Schaffer for your tip with the wood planks! Very interesting. Thanks for stopping by and checking out our Fine Food area... Now, how about a nice photo essay from YOUR kitchen, I for one would be interested [Y] Hoping to see what you come up with..... ...........Gary

Thanks for that nice compliment Boxx.... I can only hope that this will inspire our friends to get on board with some equally nice dishes and photos to go with them [] ........Gary

Here in this parting photo, my Italian confection being dipped into the dark roast coffee.... [H] Hope you have enjoyed this Sunday evening's FIRST for me, dinner........... I think I am getting the hang of grilling fish. Now, if I can only get those TUNA steaks just right........hmmmmmmmmm....... As always, I hope this has inspired you to post your dishes from start to finish in photo essay so that we may all enjoy them as well... Until the next time...... ............Gary OH, and be sure to DOUBLE click on any of these photos for a closer view....

Now, we move onto the dessert portion of the dinner........... Fresh, dark chocolate covered, almond biscotti (from Whole Foods also)... Served with a fine Starbucks dark roast coffee.... Even at this late hour, the coffee will NOT keep one awake. As you may, or may not know, the darker roasts have LESS caffine as this is roasted OUT of the coffee. The lighter roasts contain much more!

From the Whole Foods Floral dept. Chris put this little arrangement together tonight...

Here is the close up of our wine this evening.............. It IS organic and a vintner that our local Indian restaurant serves. Whole Foods has this, so we picked up it for tonight..........OUTstanding as Boxx would say [] Do note the small 'milk glass' oil lamps my dad gave us...........they cast a nice, soft light as you can see...

Add fresh lemon slices and Italian parsley and you have a great closeup photo of the finished dish... [] Just to mention..........the butternut squash was made with 100% maple syrup, ground sea salt AND, vegetarian sour cream....... Just a novice idea that turned out really GOOD. So much so, that I would make it again for a serious dinner party! According to Chris (my grilling expert and teacher), the fish turned out perfectly ! So, I need to keep the 500 degree grill a bench mark, and adjust the TIME for the different fish that we purchase...

Following my usual photo format, the table setting photo............. Note that a very nice, chilled white wine has been served along with a FRESH flower arrangement [Y] ...

Here we have the plating...........a little messy, but you get the idea... []

ON the grill ! 3 minutes each side at 500 degrees F.

Back to the main theme for tonight's dish............. Here, the flounder has been moved to the 'cage' and on its way out to the deck AND the grill... (powered by natural gas....)

Here is a closeup of the 'Sock Eyed' smoked salmond... Served on a gourmet cheddar cheese cracker, topped with fresh, organic Italian parsley and a little bit of Asian chile pepper sauce for a 'kick' ...

Moving on to the NOSH segment..............here we have a variety of olives from Greece and Italy, garlic cloves and hot red chiles along with grape leaves wrapped around a rice and herb mixture... Yep, there is some 'string cheese' present for the first time...............we have many gourmet cheeses, but we decided to try something a bit simpler instead...

This fine wine LEFTOVER from our dinner OUT on Friday evening.........from the corp. restaurant "Carabas"...........very good... It was $35, and we brought home the unused half bottle to enjoy this evening.... []

Here, the fresh, organic, LOCALLY grown butternut squash is about to be steamed in some brand new stainless 'accessories' [] (at my workstation...)

A closeup photo...............

Shown here, the flounder with the seasoned rub applied... NOTE: Just had to get that vino in the photo...........it is always important to enjoy a bit of wine while cooking [Y]

We stopped at Whole Foods tonight, picked up this neat 'rub' for the fish...

Ok everyone....................been a while, but here goes.... First off, let me say that I am TOTALLY NEW to grilling......... This evening will be my first ever grilling of fresh Flounder. The other first will be my first time EVER steaming fresh organic Butternut squash!, yes, that right, have owned a steamer insert for my 8" sauce pan that has never been used until tonight. Sunday, October 14, 2012............to be remembered [] Ok, lets start off with a photo of the Flounder shall we ? Shown here with a bit of XVOO to sit in for a bit...

Hey there Jhoak, since it has been a day, how did your mussel dish turn out ?? Photos are always a PLUS and I look forward to them... Thanks Steve for the added recipe suggestion [] ........Gary

Tonight, I did up the vegetarian Swedish meet balls once again... You have seen these on a number of other evenings, so I will just discribe here... I prepped TWO heads of garlic, all cloves were simply cut in half, NO chopping into fine pieces. TWO whole onions were used, one white, one red, chopped to medium sized pieces... One package of baby 'bella' mushrooms, their stems were chopped FINE, the tops were quartered. TWO whole fresh nutmeg pods were ground. Half container of vegetarian broth. THREE containers of vegetarian sour cream. Lots of XVOO Fresh ground sea salt and pepper. Eggless noodles cooked.. Vegetarian meatballs (from 'Morning Star' VERY good !) Sauce and meat balls were simmered on the new gas range. Later.............. Poured over the noodles, plated, and topped with fresh Italian, broad leaf parsley IN Fiesta Ware pasta dishes (cobalt blue, made in USA!).. A salad of fresh yellow and red sweet pepper, chopped organic romane hearts, along with fresh sliced tomatoes .. Topped with XVOO, and organic balsamic vinegar... The VINO was a FINE white wine from Gainey vintners - 2007 vintage, servied chilled... YUMMY [] .........Gary

Great Rd... However, we never saw the finished dish and plated for viewing ?? We are waiting with baited eyes [] ........Gary