Just entertain me, champagne me

My Dear Boy's parents left yesterday after a number of days of utterly gratuitious eating and drinking. We ate in Sonoma at The Girl and the Fig, in Napa at Terra and the Culinary Institute of America at Graystone, in San Francisco at the Ferry Building (crabcake sandwiches, Cowgirl Creamery cheese, Acme bread, Ciao Bella gelato, Scharffen Berger chocolate. . . bliss), Chez Marthe (a.k.a. my house) and Plouf.

And we went to numerous wineries and tasted and tasted and tasted. Swirl, sniff, sip. . . however, I personally never spit. I don't care if the wine tastes like bat urine, I drink it. The pleasant buzz that lasts all day is part of the appeal of tasting, an activity I very much enjoy. It's such a perfectly useless way to pass the time; it exists only for its own sake and is thus very relaxing. We've decided we like Sonoma better than Napa. Everything is more easy-going, less self-important and 15% cheaper. Plus, there's just more wineries making more interesting wine there. Napa sometimes seem like Disneyland Wine Country, big, flashier, but not necessarily better.

I was very excited to have Stephen's parents for dinner here. I cooked for them loads of times, but never in my home, so it wasn't quite official. I planned pretty well, so most of what I cooked was done all or partially in advance. This let me be relaxed, chat and actually enjoy the act of entertaining instead of running around sauteeing and sweating, a somewhat novel concept. My menu:

With apertifs,
White Bean Puree with Basil with bread and crudite
Sugar and Spiced Nuts

For dinner,
Curried Butternut Squash Soup with Shrimp and Goat Cheese Ravioli
Proscuitto-Wrapped Snaper with Braised Fennel and Heirloom Tomato Sauce
Creme Fraiche Panna Cotta with Roasted Nectarines and Figs

Everything worked quite well, but the panna cotta was the real homerun of the evening. It was based on a recipe from a recent issue of Bon Appetit. Super easy and just unusual enough to be really impressive. It looks to become a part of my repetoire.

I think Stephen is a little bummed that he won't see his parents for a while, but they had a really good time, so I suspect they'll be back sooner rather than later. My mom is coming October 6th to for futher eating and drinking to celebrate the day of my birth. So more love and more full tummies coming up.