Wednesday, April 25, 2007

The Menu

Ok, so I mentioned in a bullet someplace that I'm making dinner for CG (whom my friend A. suggested I rename Juan Valdez - Juan for short - in order to make things more interesting pseudonym-wise, which I may do should he hang around for long enough for CG to become totally ridiculous). Here's what's on the menu (though this is subject to change):

Salad (I'm thinking a pretty basic salad, mesclun mix, cucumber, avocado, homemade vinaigrette - no tomatoes as he's one of these weirdo "I hate tomatoes" people, of whom apparently there are many but whom I never realized existed until like a month ago - and if you, too are a weirdo "I hate tomatoes" person, yes, I think you're a weirdo.)

Pasta (bowtie or other cut pasta, as I think it's rude to make people deal with long noodles unless one knows them very well - the person, not the noodles, but wow that sounds rude - or maybe even cheese ravioli? haven't decided- with a white wine/butter sauce, with pancetta and chicken and peas)

Dessert (Because I believe that dessert is essential when one is having somebody over for dinner, even though I'm not really a dessert person. That said, sometimes the people eat too much of the dinner to actually eat the dessert, so I'm going to do something that takes no effort but that seems swank - I'm going to buy nice cookies and nice icecream and make homemade icecream sandwiches. Thank you, Rachael Ray, even though I hate everything you stand for.)

Oh, and I'll probably buy a baguette or something and toast it.

Who wouldn't love such a meal? Just who? And it really will be very easy in the preparation and short in the cooking time, which is also key as I don't want Crazy Kitchen of Crazy Difficult Meal to be in evidence. Also will need to spend some time hiding things like piles of books and papers in my study, because it's the end of the semester, and I don't really want him to see Crazy's House of Clutter. So, per my ways of cleaning when I was 10, I will hide all of the clutter rather than actually cleaning. Who can blame me? I mean, it's the end of the semester, and we're doing this dinner thing on Friday, when I won't be able to get home until like 5 because of Important Social Collegial Things at which My Presence is Required. So what are your thoughts on the menu? Would you like to eat this stuff? I would, but as I generally cook only for myself, of course I would.

9 comments:

phd me said...

I think it sounds great: nice mix of flavors, not overly fussy, relatively easy to put together. If only I were motivated to do such a thing for myself!

Dr. Crazy said...

Well. If I were doing it for myself this is what the menu would look like:

Salad: whatever greens (maybe even just lame lettuce), cucumber and tomato. Bottle dressing.

Pasta: Whatever pasta I had in the house, I'd probably just have a glass of wine while tossing the pasta with parmesan and extra virgin olive oil, and it would be turkey bacon or whatever bacon I had and peas (frozen, obviously). Chicken would be optional.

Dessert: I'd just drink the rest of the bottle of wine :)

See? Not so terribly difficult for oneself to accomplish!

AcadeMama said...

Ice cream sandwiches sound tasty, but I wonder if they might be too messy??...In accordance with you "don't make someone deal with long noodles until you know them well" rule, the same might be said of ice cream sandwiches. When my now hubby made dinner for me the first time (salad, pasta, bread), he made a wise decision by buying the dessert from a local restaurant that's known for fabulous desserts. I think he got a chocolate mousse tart or something..fairly inexpensive at $5 each, totally elegant, delicious, and no trouble at all since he could just leave them in the fridge until after dinner had settled. I'm sure CG will be impressed no matter what you make!!

Anonymous said...

rachel ray stands for something?

John Ottinger III (Grasping for the Wind) said...

I thought you might be interested in the New Notions 5 reading challenge

Horace said...

For the record, almost 20% of the world's population dislike raw tomatoes, though most of those don't have the same aversion to cooked tomatoes or tomato sauce.

That said, this is a nice little menu: not too fussy, but interesting enough to show you know what good food is.

My thumb's up.

helenesch said...

I think the menu sounds great--simple yet also kind of sophisticated in its flavors.

But I would insist on tomatoes! Of course, the really yummy ones won't be around until late summer...

Psychobunny said...

Okay, so I'm a little late in adding this. It sounds like an excellent meal. And I very much appreciate the tomato-free part of it. Because tomatoes? They're basically just fruit placenta. (And yes, I accept that this makes me a weirdo.)

Unknown said...

Hi, Dr. Crazy!

What fun!!!

One of the great things about long-term relationships is that you normal people (Dr. Crazy, my husband) can benefit from the donated tomatoes of those of us who don't like them.

I'm an only-in-season kind of girl.

Give me a million summer tomatoes, but I can take a pass from November to June.

xxxxx Anne