Company, or so I thought.

My ichiban is home from camp, but last night my niban (#2) was off at a friend's for a sleepover. The whole family was expected at my house for dinner tonight, so I defrosted a passel of red snapper and orange roughy for dinner tonight. My grill was wooing me, but then a conversation with a very dear foodie friend in Philadelphia made me think that poaching was the way to go. I snagged a couple of bottles of very flat ha'penny champagne from the infamous stash in my house and made a champagne court boullion to poach the fish in. There was a spinach/mung bean sprout/grape tomato/pine nut salad, broccoli steamed in peppered lemon water, buttered new potatoes and a five grain bread from the local bakery to fill out the meal. A 2002 rioja and a 2005 Sonoma County sauvignon blanc were ready and waiting, as well as the makings for an amaretto whipped cream, frozen custard (vanilla and "death by chocolate") and a local cherry/cranberry/blueberry/white chocolate loaf for dessert.

Unfortunately, the family couldn't stay to join us and rentigger had to go home to dear Mystree, but we were able to woo a lovely local fiddler to join us and put a dent into this feast. The sauv blanc and I have since made friends, and I think the leftover fish is going to be shredded on the leftover salad with some cubed cheese on the morrow.

Tomorrow is National S'more's Day, and there's a virgin firepit calling to me. My tandoori masala really wants to get in the mix, too. More on that later...