Follow-Up:The Red Dinner

After a bit of discussion over what our Red Dinner 2010 should consist of (Rack of lamb with a fruit glaze? Salmon and citrus salsa? Red Quinoa?), David and I agreed that we really wanted a simple dinner, and that we really wanted to make lobster. We figured we only think about making lobster once a year, so why not just go with it? Lobsters for every Red Dinner from here on out? Seriously, life could be worse, right?

So, we made lobsters, simply boiled, and served with some melted butter. They were accompanied by curried-couscous with dried cranberries, a recipe by Ina Garten of The Barefoot Contessa. The recipe makes enough for leftovers, which we used this evening and added some pan-sauteed chicken, mushrooms, and wilted baby spinach. Check out the couscous recipe here. We also made a red leaf lettuce, pignoli, and goat cheese salad, which I topped with an easy-to-make homemade raspberry vinaigrette. I placed a healthy spoonful of my raspberry-lime jam into a jar with a lid, added a few tablespoons of balsamic vinegar, closed the jar and shook it up (I eyeballed this, so you'll want to taste the combo until you find a sweet-tart vinaigrette). As a beverage, David suggested a lovely Martinelli sparkling cider with berries, but I preferred the classic Shirley Temple. Dessert was homemade chocolate-covered strawberries, some dipped in coconut, some just in semi-sweet chocolate.

All in all, it was a delicious dinner! Nothing overly ambitious or exotic, save for our once-a-year lobster purchase, but completely lovely (and filled with love...awwwww).

The Red Dinner

We're not really into Valentine's Day. On occasion, we'll buy gifts for each other, but it's not a yearly 'must do' and we don't go out to fancy dinners, either; It's just too cliche for us. Don't get us wrong, however! We DO like to celebrate the fact that we are lucky to have found one another. A few years ago, David had the brilliant and romantic (at least I think so) idea to make a special Valentine's Day meal. The Red Dinner is a yearly occurrence, usually made sometime during the month of February, but not necessarily on the "big day". David conceives a menu of red-colored foods, starting with cocktails and ending with a tasty dessert. While I do not recall each year's menu, I've been served things like: delicious red wines, lobster with drawn butter, red potato salad, tomato, basil and mozzarella, rack of lamb, chocolate covered strawberries, and pound cake with raspberries, blackberries, and fresh whipped cream. I'm usually involved in the cooking process, since we enjoy cooking together but David designs the menu and does the shopping. We both think it's an exceptionally sweet way to celebrate the fact that we love being together, without feeling like we've been sucked into the Hallmark-ness of the day.

Dave's been tossing around a few ideas for this year's Red Dinner, which I think we actually might make on Valentine's Day. He's mentioned trying to use pomegranates in the meal, red velvet cake for dessert, and he's trying to come up with a special non-alcoholic red cocktail besides a shirley temple (since he makes me one of these a few times a week at this point!).

I wonder, what will The Red Dinner of 2010 consist of??

I'll keep you posted , but in the meantime, what would your Red Dinner menu look like?

A Little Secret

I just finished reading the Ribollita Recipe on 101 Cookbooks, that was posted in early January of this year. The author, Heidi Swanson, writes about opening her freezer, looking in, and wincing at what sees; 'a frosted landscape', 'petrified bags of cheese'...you get the picture. She had no idea what was in there. I, too, winced at her discoveries because I remember having a freezer that once looked like that, and it dawned on me that perhaps I should share a little secret of my own. (For the record, Ms. Swanson goes on to write about how, from the tundra of frozen darkness, she manages to pull all the ingredients for a Ribollita, which I find impressive.)

Over the summer, I freaked out because I couldn't find anything when I opened the refrigerator door. I decided to make a change in the way I dealt with the organization of my food. No, I didn't get a bigger fridge, and I didn't pull out all the jars and organize alphabetically (ok, I may have thought about this once or twice, but really, that's going over the edge). I took myself to the store and purchased 4 dry-erase boards. I made sure to purchase boards that had magnets, so that they could live on the fridge. I took these boards home, opened my fridge, and took inventory of all the fresh veggies that were currently residing there. I then placed the dry-erase board on the refrigerator door, so that I could "see" what was available in the fridge. Then, I tackled the freezer. I pulled everything out, tossed the stuff that was really old, and wrote whatever was left in the freezer down on another dry-erase board. I made sure to label any containers, bags, or wrapped items clearly before I placed them back in the freezer, and I placed the second dry-erase board on the freezer door. I did the same thing with the freezer in my basement, and I kept one board empty for writing down grocery lists or recipe ideas.

When I say this project was cathartic, I'm not exaggerating. I immediately felt calm and collected, and...organized. I also felt like I was going to save a ton of electricity, because I'd never really need to open the fridge or freezer door to see what I had. All I'd need to do is scan the boards, decide on what I wanted, open the door and grab my choices, and then cross whatever I just selected off of the list. By the way, the crossing off is key. We learned this lesson more than once after assuming there was chicken in the freezer, going grocery shopping, and then coming home to make a chicken dish, only to remember we had used the chicken a few nights before and we'd forgotten to erase it off the board.

Now, I know you might be thinking that I've gone over the top with listing what I have in my fridge/freezer. And you're right. I've since softened my obsessive grip on the fridge inventory, but I've actually upped the freezer organization, so that everything is grouped similarly, and I've divided my downstairs lists into a "Prepared Foods" board and a "Loose Ingredients" board. Are you rolling your eyes? Go ahead...I challenge you to try and list everything you've got in your freezer right now.

And in case you're hoping for a visual, here's one of my freezer lists:

I've been using this method of freezer organization for over six months and it's really working quite well. I always know what I've got on hand and I can come up with a meal in a moment's notice. I never see David standing in front of the open freezer with a blank stare on his face, and subsequently, I am no longer called into the kitchen to help him find the so-and-so. If it's on the list, it's in there, and he knows it.

If this sounds like it might make a difference in your life, here's how to get this project done:

• Go to the store and purchase a few small dry-erase boards.

• Put aside an hour of your time.

• Empty out your freezer (I like to do one shelf at a time, so that I don't have a bunch of stuff defrosting while I take the time to write everything down)

• Discard the old stuff.

• Label what you're keeping, and write it down on the dry-erase board, along with the quantity you have (i.e. Ground Turkey, white meat, 1lb)

• Put the food away.

• Place the board on your freezer.

• Stand back, put your hands on your hips, cock your head to one side, and smile as you admire your organizational skills.

Each time you remove an item from the freezer, erase it, or change the quantity to reflect what you've used. Each time you place a new item in the freezer, add it to your list.

Now, if only I can get motivated to organize my closet this way...