Wednesday, 25 September 2013

Excellent Nosh!

I love food (who doesn't?), and I am regularly treated to my Mum's wonderful home cooking. On the weekends when RJ is with me, we always have some nice dinners, such as the quiche I made the other day, and we often go to one of our favourite restaurants to treat ourselves to something delicious after work.
Even with all that going on regularly, there are still some outstandingly great meals, marking special and memorable occasions. One such meal I was invited to last Saturday.

It had been the birthday of one of my friends. Her sister's boyfriend is a passionate cook in his spare time, and an engineer when he is at work. He has turned his hobby into something more than that; people can rent his cooking skill for their own dinner parties, and he has a properly equipped kitchen at his home, complete with a professional-type stove and oven. The birthday gift my friend received from her sister and said boyfriend was that they were going to host a dinner party for her and those friends she chose to invite. I was one of the lucky ones!

 Here is our menue:
Appetizers. In German, this is called "Gruß aus der Küche", literally "greetings from the kitchen".
Butternut squash soup. The two bits in the middle are chestnut mousse and apple mousse. I particularly loved the chestnut mousse.
Prime boiled beef with beetroot, potatoes and horseradish. The beef was so tender, it nearly melted in your mouth!
Steamed pear and radicchio with honey dressing, pumpkin and sunflower seeds and Blackforest ham. A combination I would have never thought of, but it worked very well.
Guinea fowl with shallots, parsley dumplings and forest mushrooms. First time in my life I've eaten guinea fowl. The parsley dumplings alone were worth being invited to this dinner!

 Stupidly, I forgot to take a picture of our dessert. It was plum dumplings with chocolate icecream and whipped vanilla cream.

 There was sparkling wine before the meal and wine to accompany it, but of course there were also non-alcoholic drinks. Everything was home-made from scratch, including the chocolate icecream. We felt like princesses, being served everything without having to do a thing - our job was to enjoy, and enjoy we did!

 Afterwards, I was sure I would not need to eat for a whole week, but of course, on Sunday, I had my regular meals again.
Posted by at
Labels:

22 comments:

  1. Kay G.25 September 2013 at 13:14

    Wow, how lucky can you be? To have someone cook a meal like this for you must be wonderful!
    Also, how nice that the chef can see his cooking appreciated and honoured on your blog.
    Here's someone in Georgia who thinks it looks and sounds great!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Librarian26 September 2013 at 07:40

      It tasted just as great as it looks and sounds, Kay!

      Delete
  2. messymimi25 September 2013 at 14:06

    Well, all i know is, i better not show my husband these pictures until we save up enough money to come visit Germany!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Librarian26 September 2013 at 07:40

      I am quite sure there are excellent cooks around your area, too :-)

      Delete
  3. Anonymous25 September 2013 at 15:16

    wonderful! This photos arouse my appetite as well!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Librarian26 September 2013 at 07:42

      It wasn't easy to get them right, with the light being a bit difficult; the dining room was candle-lit, so the pictures were too dark without flash, but flash has a tendency to make the colours look a bit unnatural.

      Delete
  4. Thickethouse.wordpress25 September 2013 at 19:06

    Six courses! And not such very small ones! But what delicious ideas! And so many of them! Now I want to go be creative in my kitchen!

    And Meike, on another topic, I have lost the link to your mother's Etsy shop. Can you give it back to me, please! The weather gets colder and I am wearing wool socks for sleeping and for slippers.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Librarian26 September 2013 at 07:45

      It was a LOT of food, and all of it was delicious, Kristi!

      I will put the link to my Mum's Etsy shop back on my blog as soon as I can remember how it worked :-) In the mean time, I have to wait for her to give me the link to the shop again; I have not saved it anywhere.

      Delete
  5. Graham Edwards25 September 2013 at 20:55

    I love meals which have a number of smaller dishes (although these look quite large) and sometimes choose to have three or even four starters instead of a main course in a restaurant. I usually find that they are quite happy to do that. The dishes you had look very exciting and appetising.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Librarian26 September 2013 at 07:47

      Graham, I do exactly the same when I am at a restaurant where the variety of starters appeals so much to me that I want to try more than one. And knowing myself and how much I can (or can not) eat, I often skip the main course and go from starter(s) to dessert.

      Delete
  6. Friko25 September 2013 at 21:01

    This looks excellent fare.
    What happened to Wiener Schnitzel and Gruenkohl - not together, obviously -.
    Old fashioned Hausmannskost is all I remember from Germany.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Librarian26 September 2013 at 07:48

      Nothing wrong with Hausmannskost, although I can not remember the last time I had a Wiener Schnitzel. But I do love Grünkohl, especially when I can have it at my parents', usually with Gänsebraten and Semmelknödel in November.

      Delete
  7. Frances Garrood25 September 2013 at 23:29

    Eat your heart out, Masterchef. Literallyl!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Librarian26 September 2013 at 07:49

      We all ate so much, and one of my friends even helped another one to finish off her plate (that one wasn't too keen on the guinea fowl).

      Delete
  8. Jenny Woolf27 September 2013 at 22:17

    Gracious, I hope they told you to fast for 48 hours beforehand! :) I am not sure I would enjoy that many courses, but if I could spread it out into a couple of meals I would be in heaven.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Librarian28 September 2013 at 10:00

      It was most enjoyable, Jenny, although I would not want such a huge meal often. No fasting for me beforehand, but I only had a cheese sandwich and a piece of cake for lunch :-)

      Delete
  9. Thickethouse.wordpress29 September 2013 at 05:50

    Thank you for the link to your Mother's Etsy store....I wonder if she could put some adult women's size 8-9 (US)socks there? I'm not sure about using the other site...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Librarian30 September 2013 at 07:14

      Dear Kristi, I am sure my Mum will read your comment. If she has what you are looking for, she will be in touch about it.

      Delete
  10. Terra 29 September 2013 at 21:41

    The chef must be talented, it looks and sounds delicious.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Patsy30 September 2013 at 14:13

    Oh yum.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)