June 7. Long Sunset Walk. Mayonnaise. Noodles with Peanut Sauce. Artichokes. Rajas. Eggplant. Arugula

A refrigerator full of leftovers and produce.  A perfect set-up for an impromptu meal.  And, wonder of wonders, all the pieces fell into place.  Both Lisa and Patty showed up around 6pm.  Although there were no clear dinner plans, I was confident that my refrigerator would provide.  And not just my refrigerator.   Lisa arrived  bearing a steamed artichoke and the left-over rajas from earlier in the week.  No fear we might end up hungry.
Buoyed by this knowledge, we walked for hours along the beach.  A ridiculously perfect late afternoon.  Surf was high, surfers were abundant, but so were families with tiny children running back and forth into the waves, digging in the sand, tossing balls, and the ever-marveling tourists who had made it past the boardwalk insanity to the miracles at the waters edge.  The sun had set by the time we returned home.  We were three hungry women.   Dishes emerged from refrigerated tupperware like clowns out of a circus car.  Roast Beets.  Artichokes.  noodles with tofu and carrots in peanut sauce.  Rajas con Crema. Eggplant with pomegranate Sauce.  Arugula.  Uh-oh to the arugula said Lisa and Patty, noting that some of the leaves had a slight yellow tinge.  If this has not yet been made clear, let me take the opportunity to state that I tend to use my own personal standards (paying little heed to expiration dates for example) in determining whether a food item is usable or not.  The arugula might not have been spectacular in a salad--but it's expiration date (not that I may much attention to such things) was five days in the future.  I assured my guests it would be fine sauteed with a little garlic and lemon (and of course there were enough other dishes that it wouldn't matter if it didn't work), and they didn't try to stop me.  In addition to the arugula, the only other item I thought we should make was home-made mayonnaise.  Melissa Clarke had recently written a paean on the subject --and our many artichokes provided the perfect occasion to try it out.
Due to our hunger and the speed at which we were preparing things, I didn't read the recipe through to the end--but will record it here in both it's actual and ideal form.

MAYONNAISE
1 large egg yolk at room temperature (uh-oh said I--but Lisa popped an egg into warm water--and there we had it)
Two teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon cold water
3/4 cup canola oil
1 plump clove garlic

In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolk, lemon juice, mustard, salt and water until frothy (very bubbly).  Then--and here, it certainly helped to have a well-staffed kitchen--much easier for one person to slowly dribble in the oil, while another keeps whisking vigorously--slowly add the oil--and within minutes you'll have a thick emulsion of mayonnaise.
It looked great--but we were all a bit disappointed with the taste.  Problem solved with the addition of a crushed garlic clove--made it fabulous.  Reading through the recipe after the fact, I discovered that one of the variations is an aioli, made with substituting olive oil for some of the canola oil and smashing the garlic with the salt at the start.  We'll do that next time.  This time, we happily ate the mayonnaise with each of the many courses--and were as happy as can be.

Homemade Garlic Mayonnaise (Lisa Fischer, 2012)

We even had room for a bit of chocolate and coffee ice cream for dessert.