On January 22nd met in Dallas at jeannie’s house for our annual cousins-sisters weekend. We have been doing this since 2002 or thereabouts, and this was our second time in Dallas. Cooking being an enduring theme, Jeannie had arranged a full slate of cooking classes. First up, Sur La Table, for “Winter in Spain”.
The menu:
- Chorizo-Stuffed Dates Wrapped in Bacon – can’t go wrong with bacon
- Roasted Fish with Fennel and Piquillo Peppers – tip: sauté the fish until almost done and finish in the oven
- Braised Spinach and Chickpeas with Pimentón – good, but too much pimentón
- Coffee Flan – not as good as some of the flan Molly and I had in Puerto Rico, and then recreated at home
That took care of the morning! In the afternoon we experienced preparation of a traditional Vietnamese meal, courtesy of Dawn (actually, Dawn had done most of the work the day before with her mother and her aunt, who had been the head chef in a major hotel in Vietnam before coming to the US – all we needed to do was stand by, oohing and awing) – an enormous amount of food, all of it delicious.
Day 2 – Exercise! and a knife skills class.
Day 3 – Farmers market in the morning,
then prep for cocktail party (chorizo-stuffed dates up first)
Then, sadly, it was Sunday and Molly, Libby, and I headed to the airport. Jeannie dropped me off first. When I walked into the airport my heart sank because there was a huge line at security. But imagine my surprise when I discovered that I was pre-approved – so easy! Not a terrorist from Canada after all! No removing shoes, taking out the laptop, finding the little baggie with liquids. Security took about 10 minutes. Then came Starbucks – I waiting in line at least 20 minutes to get a coffee and a crappy muffin! Was practically related to the guy in front of me in line by the time we got through. Ha!
It was 2 degrees C (34 degrees F) in Vancouver when I arrived, and the whole city was in a deep blanket of fog. I was going to take a picture but it would just have been a grey blur.
Where to next year?
