A Family Dinner (Mothers and Sons)

Tonight we had dinner at E's house for our 'Literary Salon'. We read Mothers and Sons (Colm Toibin) and ate well. Every time we get together with this group, I get more excited - not only does everyone like reading interesting books (and do a good job of discussing) - it's a bunch of fabulous hosts/hostesses (no pressure J!).

E offered a tremendous meal - and we only found out later that he had just gotten back from a weekend trip, so he's not only a good cook, he's a resourceful one. This was no single pan meal (like I did for my first dinner for the group) , rather the menu included:

Asparagus with Parmesan - Do I really need to say anything here? It's asparagus! I love asparagus. It always tastes good. And it really worked with the parmesan. But then asparagus works with a lot of stuff. Yum.

Grilled Salmon with Tomato - E really wins on presentation with the meal - the colors here are just pretty exciting. The tomatoes really were wonderful; I've never really had tomatoes with salmon and I really like the combination. The tomatoes had the flavor to stand up to the salmon. It works!

Whole Wheat Pasta with Pesto and Pinenuts - This was amazing! This was my favorite part of the meal. I've always been a bit so-so on the whole Whole Wheat Pasta thing, but this just worked. It was rich, nutty and I had seconds (I probably would have gone for thirds, but there was dessert to think of).

Green Salad with Red Peppers - This just looks yummy - nice job on the intense colors. And I do always feel better when I have some fresh greens.

The plate looked great. This was my first helping of everything. I didn't take later shots to update quantities. (The plates are pretty cool too - I really like that color of blue).

Hazelnut Cake - This was so good! I am generally not a huge cake fan. I find it to be too light or floury or something. This one was really rich and nutty - almost hearty. It was most certainly not a 'lite' cake as you could really taste the fat (yum!). I don't remember the last time I had a second helping of cake (I mean other than this cake - obviously, I still remember this time).

Really, it was so good - look at the inside. And the icing - a really nice buttercream!