A Menu for Father's Day

We invited my parents over for a quick Father's Day meal last Sunday.  Everyone was either coming from somewhere or headed somewhere afterwards, so I wanted to serve a meal I could put together quickly, and of course, was made up of foods my Dad really likes.

I started by making a pitcher of lemonade from fresh lemons, sugar and filtered water.  For the first time ever, I made a caesar salad with the dressing from scratch and toasted my own garlicky croutons from a french bread round.  We also had baby back ribs cooked slowly in the oven and then finished on the grill with a really sweet and vinegary barbecue sauce.  On the side was some buttermilk cornbread and for dessert, I made my Dad a Key Lime pie!

Of course, my Mom and I needed a cocktail, and since we had fresh lemonade, I created a spicy chili lemonade for us with Absolut Peppar, lemonade and a dash of hot sauce.  YUM.  The hot sauce sank to the bottom a bit, but it still flavored the drink nicely.

My Dad loves Key Lime Pie.  When I was a child, I fondly remember trips with my family to Sanibel and Captiva Islands in Florida.  Very recently, my local grocery store had been carrying bags of the tart little Key limes.  I was mentally prepared to squeeze a million of them to get the 3/4 cup of juice I needed for the pie recipe, just to get that authentic taste my Dad loves.  But when I did my shopping, there were none to be found.  I ended up using a bottled Key Lime juice which actually worked out pretty well.  It tasted great and ultimately my tendonitis thanked me for not doing the squeezing.  I also decided to make the crust of the pie from ground shortbread cookies mixed with a little melted butter rather than the graham cracker crust.  I like the way the sweet shortbread and the tartness of the pie go together, but a regular graham cracker crust works just as well and is more traditional.

I want to share the pie recipe with you.  It's a very basic recipe and quite delicious!  Enjoy!

Key Lime Pie

1 9-inch graham cracker crust
3 cups sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup sour cream
3/4 cup key lime juice
1 tablespoon grated lime zest

Preheat oven to 350.  In the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine condensed milk and sour cream, beating until no lumps remain.  Add the lime juice and lime rind, beating until mixture is smooth. Quickly pour into the crust.  Bake the in preheated oven for only 5 to 7 minutes, just until pie begins to set up. Do not allow the pie to brown. Chill pie well before serving, preferably overnight. Garnish with whipped cream and a slice of lime.

Welcome To The First Post!

Dan Doke Photography

Food has been a part of Chris' and my relationship from the beginning.  One of the first times we hung out, we made our own pizza with basil pesto and thin-sliced red potatoes, drizzled with garlic and olive oil, and sprinkled with some parmigiano reggiano on homemade dough.   We liked to go out for Asian and Indian food whenever we got the chance.  When we were married in 2006, we knew we wanted really good food at our reception.  Our wedding was on the eve of the Lantern Festival during Chinese New Year.  Everything was in shades of red and gold and our food echoed the theme.

But our first real "a-ha" food moment was during our honeymoon.  We went down to Florida for a week and decided to spend some of the time on Captiva Island and the remainder of the time at Disney World.  While at Disney, we booked a table at Victoria and Albert's in the Grand Floridian Resort.  My sister had a great experience dining there a few years before, so we decided to give it a try.  We knew it was "fancy" and that the food would be good, but we really didn't grasp how life-changing good food and wine could be.  It was that night, in Disney World of all places, that Chris and I had the single best bite of food we have ever had.

Heather and Chris at Victoria and Albert's

Fittingly, it was the amuse bouche.  It came just after we clinked our champagne glasses together to toast our new marriage.  The amuse, the one small bite that comes first before everything else, the offering from the Chef to wake up your taste buds and prepare you for the meal to come, opened our eyes to what a real food experience could be.  It was a layered bite on a spoon that exploded with the taste of fresh peas and wood smoke, with a creaminess that was as light as a feather, with flavors that danced, then disappeared on your tongue.  We just looked at each other and said, "that rocked."

After 4 or 5 glasses of perfectly paired wines and twice as many courses, Chris and I stood up from our table (trying not to stagger like amateurs) and left, changed somehow.  We didn't know much about food, even less about wine, but we realized that all we really needed to appreciate it was to pay attention.  Listen to what the chef is saying about the food.  Think about the way the flavors in the dish are enhanced by the sips of wine offered in the pairing.  It's really just a story, that when told well, changes you a little bit each time you hear it.  It's not about being stuffy, or snobby or a "foodie", it's about paying attention and allowing the chef to bring you along on the journey.