shortlist no. 8 / august 26, 2010

We are officially taking a dinner party hiatus. Not only is Francesco still sick, but the morning after the rockin’ evening documented above I woke up with an elephant sitting on my face and he stuck around pretty much all day. The elephant showed up right around the time we opened the 4th bottle of wine, and started dancing to my favorite song around the end of the 5th.

Thankfully, despite my hanging up the pot holders for a bit, the people of Sydney will not go hungry. Over the last week we have been invited to 3 different dinner parties and have been fed spectacularly. From baked fish wrapped in smoked salmon and green cabbage to maybe the best roast potatoes I’ve ever had to a Cremonese dumpling encrusted with seeds and filled with truffled mushrooms, I clearly have a lot to learn.

Maybe I’ll try to recreate some of our friends’ dishes, like the cinnamon pavolva with crème fraîche and stewed apples, the gougères or the chocolate-pear-amaretto tart.

As soon, that is, as this elephant packs his bags.

late winter Thursday night dinner for 4 (plus elephant and lots of Sly & The Family Stone)

pita chips and labne with za’atar

leftover mini meatballs

cheese course (camembert, goat’s milk bleu, cheddar, havarti) and accompaniments

fresh bread

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Kobe strip loin

burnt rosemary carrots

mashed potatoes

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torta di grano saraceno