Feast d’ Le Mare (Italian Feast of the Sea)

Almost as soon it ended last year the men started planning the annual Valentines’ Day Dinner. We originally thought about a theme around baseball…after all pitchers and catchers are reporting to Spring Training in a week…but we decided that such a theme may not be fully appreciated by the dinner honorees.

Fortunately, a few weeks ago Dan came upon a new theme for this year and we planned for the Feast d' Le Mare. James pointed out this would be well appreciated by the honorees as long as it didn't turn into a Feast d' le Merde--what would you expect from a PhD with the moniker of Dr. Sludge.

The internet was scoured, Food & Wine magazine reviewed, Todd English cookbooks poured over, and a menu came together. A week earlier I spent some time with the pasta maker and one of the entrees started to come together...but that's foreshadowing...first things first.

This year's event was at the Manz Estate on Pleasant Valley Road in Underhill, VT. So we headed out early afternoon on Friday, making our way north to an even colder, but not necessarily snowier environment. It was early evening when we turned off Pleasant Valley Road and into the Manz' driveway; the Morris vehicle pulled into the yard a few minutes after us.

Friday evening on these weekends has become an event of its own...specializing in beef. First we got our ladies settled in with some cocktails and then Dan went to work on the entree--some nice pieces of tenderloin. What a great way to begin the weekend's activities.

On arrival we were greeted by ice candles lining the walkway. Not only did it feel festive, it looked festive.

It was a pleasant evening of visiting and catching up. Then Dan and I decided that prior to going to bed we should try out my new snowshoes with a little trek part way up the ridge behind their house. I had brought my headlamp for just such a possibility...so off we went. We didn't travel too far, but we did get a couple of hundred feet higher than the house.

It was quiet, moonlit and beautiful. When we turned around to head back I had Dan stop so I could try and get a picture with house lights below us. Not really clear, but you get some of the feeling.

Saturday morning we had to start getting a little more serious about the upcoming meal...but not before we all headed out for some daytime snowshoeing. We all bundled up, got Zoe (the yellow Lab) her favorite stick, and headed out. It looked much different by daylight, but still beautiful and quiet.

The next joint activity was to try our hand at piksjitte, a Dutch (Friesian) game played on ice. James had learned of this game from one of his Dutch friends and was able to get a copy of the rules (along with a translation) sent to him. Since we were playing on the Manz' homemade skating rink instead of a frozen canal and we didn't have a pikhout (the item slid along the ice) we improvised and still had fun playing a version of the game.

The basics are to have a small block of wood (about a 7 inch long piece of 1x4) which is placed on its side on the ice. Ten pennies are then placed on the top edge...all tails up. This setup is all done at one end of the rink and you start sliding the pikhout from the other end of the ice...trying to hit the block of wood and knocking the pennies off. Any coins that end up as heads go to the thrower and then the bock is reset and play continues from roughly where the block and the pikhout end up.  Play rotates between players until all of the pennies are gone and you add up the count over several rounds. Our improvising began with the pikhout...since we didn't have an official weighted slider we used a can of cat food (this was a suggested substitute by James' Dutch friend). Then since the game is usually played over 30 - 40 yards we instead handicapped ourselves by having to use a curved hockey stick. We were fairly liberal in our interpretation of the scoring rule as well...but we had a ball.

Finally we had to settle down to preparing our feast for later in the evening. We got the ladies to head out for the rest of the day; planning to have us all back together for cocktails and appetizers at 6 pm. We then got out our secret folders and checklists; comparing notes and supplies before heading out for the final touches shopping and errands.

While out and about we did stop at the Chef's Corner for lunch. Our mutual friend Gail Tuscany often works there, but not this Saturday. But we did see her picture up on the wall--a staff group shot...not for employee of the month. Sorry we missed you Gail.

Once we got back to the house we began preparations in earnest. Our feast was to include a fish chowder that Dan began making from scratch. I separated and took the meat out of a 2 lb lobster and made a béchamel sauce to mix together in making lobster thermador. James began decorating the dining room and threading gummy fish onto hooks.



The pre work was just about completed when our ladies returned from their own activities...sporting new, very warm mittens from the Johnson Woolen Mill.
 

The dining room was set, hors d'ouvers put out, we all put on dinner attire (blue blazers, blue shirts, red pocket squares and khakis for the men...we asked the ladies to dress in business casual), and began the feast.

James finished putting caviar into heart shapes on cream cheese and crackers, we took some group and couples photos, and our wives gave us each a gift of scotch (thanks to Thomas for his assistance in helping them with selections).





  

The "Nibbles of Fishes" menu was prepared to be tapas-like with many items to be shared in small portions:

Appetizers

Red Caviar on cream cheese and crackers
Shrimp with Cocktail Sauce
Alaskan Smoked Salmon (thanks to Bessie, Dan's mother) with capers and cream cheese
Selected Cheeses an Olives

Insalada

Baby Spinach accompanied by Herring and Anchovies, drizzled with a balsamic dressing

Soup

Fish Chowder featuring Haddock

Amuse Bouche

Frozen Red Grapes drizzled with Champagne

Entrees

Ravioli stuffed with Crabmeat, Red Pepper Cream Sauce on the side
Lobster Thermador
Lemon Baked Scrod
Asparagus steamed with lemon

Dessert

Quartered Bosch Pears carmelized in their own juices
Ginger and Port Reduction Drizzle

It was an outstanding meal only made better by the company we keep. We finished off the evening with a little ice wine and a testing of one of our new scotches. It was another wonderful event.

Sunday morning we enjoyed breakfast together before James and Stephanie packed up to head home to Maine. Cheri and I stayed around a little longer to put on some skates and thoroughly christen the Manz skating Rink. It wasn't that it hadn't been skated on...it just hadn't had an injury.



So after skating around for a while, and taking some spills, I skated to the entrance area and was just about to say I'd had enough and that I was going to sit by the fire pit when my feet slid out and I fell backwards. Fortunately I didn't hit my head and although I landed on my bum I didn't hurt myself there. However, I did put my left hand out to break my fall...and ended up breaking my wrist in the process.



Brought to you one-handed, because the interested public deserves no less…

Let the Adventures continue!