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!

The Start of the Dark Ages

Winter is settling in and we are doing what we can to survive the “Dark Ages” of January to March. While the adventures are still happening, the colder and shorter days are slowing some of the activities down.



We have taken a multi-pronged approach to keeping active…

Shoveling snow…making ice candles…

 

Having a party to watch the Patriots beat up on the Jets…no wait…that was how it was suppose to turn out. Fortunately (at least from my point of view) the Steelers vindicated the loss…of course I will now be cheering on the Packers…At least this gave us an opportunity to make some three-day chili, have people bring over cornbread and salad, and spend an evening with friends.

The hot tub continues to be an oasis in the middle of cold days and nights. It may be cold getting out to it, but once you are in it becomes easy to enjoy and the warmth stays with you all the way back across the deck into the house.

While the hot tub is nice, we also figured that a trip to Florida would get us past some of the snow.  So off to visit Dad  for a long weekend.  Of course, with the snow storms moving up the east coast, we woke up on the Thursday morning we were set to leave and found out that our flight was cancelled.  Fortunately, the airline automatically rebooked us to a later flight in the day, so it actually gave us some time to get the current storm results off the walkways and cars. The snow was actually beautiful (other than the shoveling part) and made the house look nice in the winter light.

 
 

With the delays and changing flights our trip took us from Providence to Chicago to Tampa. All in all we spent about nine hours in airports and planes...arriving in Florida just after midnight.

Our nephew Brian, who decided to continue living in Tampa after graduating from the University of Tampa earlier this year, picked us up and provided carrier-service to Zephyrhills where Dad winters. We had a great time visiting with Brian during the trip—we don’t think we have seen him since last May—and he stopped in for a few minutes to say hi to Grampy as well.  Since it was so late he decided to head right back to his place in Tampa, but it was great to spend some time with him.

Coming in so late—earlier that morning—Friday started out as a slow day.  Dad’s dialysis appointment got moved up a little bit so after we dropped him off Cheri and I decided to do some shopping and a few errands.  I took the opportunity to get Dad a wireless router and set it up at his place.  Now he can bring his laptop out on the porch…over to the couch…into his bedroom.

My sister Deb came over from Lakeland, where she now lives full time, to spend part of the afternoon with us.  She brought along a new chaise lounge for Dad that he wanted but hadn’t been able to find in stock at the local Home Depot.  So while Dad was finishing up dialysis I put the chaise lounge together as well.

Out on Dad’s refinished porch he now has the chaise lounge and he is displaying his ability to keep some plants in bloom and flourishing out there as well.

After Dad rested up from his dialysis we enjoyed a nice fish dinner (after all it was Friday…not that it mattered, but a good excuse), a little TV and then off to bed.

Saturday morning we awoke to the sound of the Valleydale Park annual Yard Sale.  We were at Dad’s last year for this event as well and it is quite an undertaking for the Park.  Residents start setting up tables on their lots the night before and by 7 am the early-bird lookers are already making their way through the Park.  It is almost non-stop cars until just after 10 am with people looking for just the thing they didn’t know they really needed.

Dad took advantage of the event and put a couple of items on two of his friends tables—Ruthann & Harvey’s and Bill & Georgianna’s—both of which sold.  As a last minute thought he put the old chaise lounge frame out on the curb…mostly for trash pickup, but when someone asked I told them Dad wanted $2 for it…he offered $1 and I took it for Dad…gone and with more money in his pocket then when he started.
Cheri did take advantage of the nice weather and went to the outdoor track by a nearby hospital (I wonder if this is a Florida thing…put the ICU near the exercise area…hmmm).  She was able to get in a three mile run, so at least one of us got some exercise over the weekend.

After she got back (and showered) we packed up Dad’s car and headed out for Melbourne on the east coast.  Dan and Paula Chang now live in Melbourne Beach and we had arranged to head over and spend the night with them.

Dan and Paula have a beautiful house right on the Intercoastal Waterway and we arrived just in time to have cocktails and appetizers on the back patio overlooking the waterway.

We were also able to enjoy the sun setting over the  Waterway.  Dan and Paula say they often see and hear dolphins and manatees just off their quay, but we were not fortunate enough to glimpse any.  However, there were large numbers of pelicans and seagulls perching on the roofs of the dock structures next door (a special thanks to Danny for providing these pictures).

The Changs fed us extremely well…all washed down with some good wine…and then we watched a little bit of a movie, visited some more, and then all headed off to the guest rooms.  

Sunday morning Dan and Paula combined to give us a big breakfast and we spent more time just visiting.  It was very relaxing and too soon we needed to load up Dad’s car and head back to the Tampa airport.  Before we headed out we did get a photo of Cheri and Paula together.

We made the trek back across the State and arrived just as we had planned 90 minutes before flight time.  It was hugs and goodbyes on the curb with Dad and then our return travels from the sun and 70 degree weather to another planned snowfall in the coming week…it is after all winter in New England…and we are looking forward to it. 

The Adventures continue…