Greek Affair

The way to my heart is music - so I tell many. Those who really know me, however, know that food is the truest way. Oh, where do I begin... How do I love thee? Hubs calls me a wookiee - what can I say, the man knows me.

Saddled next to my love for food is the love of entertaining, and of wine. Had plenty of both this past long weekend. (Sidenote: We've concluded that the only way we'll ever keep our place clean and uncluttered is if we have company over... all the time.)

On Saturday, we invited E's undergrad minions student workers from the lab to dinner. Two of them were Singaporean, so I toyed with the idea of making down home hawker fare (eg. Hainanese chicken rice, rojak). But it's too frumpy. Then I considered local fare, like steak or salmon filet and a casserole, but they can find that anywhere. Finally, I settled for neither here nor there - Greece.

* Olive and cheese platter, black mission fig compote
* Spring mix salad with fig-infused white balsamic vinaigrette
* Melitzanes Imam - roasted Greek/Turkish aubergine with cinnamon
* Spanakorizo - spinach and rice with tomatoes, sprinkled with crumbled feta cheese and freshly squeezed lemon
* Mint-garlic lamb chops
* Tzatziki - cucumber yogurt dressing
(Most recipes from allrecipes.com)

Paired dinner with a good California chard. Dessert was chocolate fondue with an assortment of fruits. (The guests brought an Alsace Gewurztraminer and Michel Cluizel chocolates - good taste!)

The next day, we had a friend over to catch up on Grey's Anatomy. Made more spanakorizo and melitzanes imam, and performed an encore of the chocolate fondue with creme de menthe. Kicked a bottle of Jadot's Macon-Villages (meh).

I had the day off on Monday, so I spent the afternoon reading at the cafe. Dinner was a break from Middle Eastern to Far Eastern - hae du bop at our favorite Korean restaurant. Baked a double-layer white cake with strawberry filling and Cool Whip frosting for a colleague's birthday today.

And... back to Greek today - leftovers. :) Got a 2006 La Crema Chardonnay, Sonoma Coast; my first La Crema, and I picked it over the Russian River Valley version. Very good! I was already giddy with excitement when I uncorked the bottle and caught a whiff of it. It was buttery, silky smooth, oh so palatable.

I'm saving the rest of the bottle to savor later, but I think I'm done with the Greek/Mediterranean/tomato stuff. 'Twas good while it lasted, but the kitchen will be taking a break for now. Phew!