Fruitless Adventures: 3 days of feasting

I had a visitor this past long weekend, who I will refer to as "K". Naturally I cooked a few meals.

Friday night we had some Chinese dumplings with shrimps, shitake mushrooms, and wood ear mushrooms. This was served in a chicken broth that has been "enhanced" by shrimp shells. We also had my favorite ice cream: black sesame ice cream.

Saturday morning K made some scrambled eggs...I have never seen it done this way: the yolks and egg whites were whipped separately and then folded together before scrambling. It worked out very well. Maybe I'll try that some time. In the afternoon we went to Frank Slide and had a picnic there. We had some deep-fried dumplings and also spanakopita from K's mom. It was a very nice picnic.

Saturday evening was the big feast: we started with a leek and Stilton flan with leek fritters, followed by roasted chicken with my scalloped potatoes, and finished with a ginger creme brulee. Unfortunately I had some trouble with roasting my chicken evenly---the breast was slightly overcooked while one of the legs was not quite cooked. Also, the brined chicken was still a little too salty. I guess the solution (pun intended) is to use less salt in the brine. The first and last courses were perfect, however.

We had leftovers for brunch on Sunday, and for the evening we made mussels in a saffron mustard sauce (and fries) followed by a Port wine sorbet. Those were very good.

Finally, for Monday brunch we had spaghetti with anchovies, ratatouille tarts, and more ginger creme brulee. It was a little bit of a screw-up: I added too much salt for the first two courses and they ended up a little too salty. It was not horrible, but it could have been so much better. Oh well. And the ratatouille is made by K, and improperly seasoned by me.