August 31st. Big Dinner. Burrata with roasted tomatoes. Guacamole. Roasted Asparagus and more.

Long list of errands with Sam.  His friends Anton and Jesse will unexpectedly be coming for dinner (they leave for their back-packing trip tomorrow).  Three young guys for dinner means I will make about ten thousand dishes.  And with Sam as a sous chef and shopping companion--oh dear--all limits collapse.

First stop was Sur La Table.  I arrived with pastry bag and all insufficient attachments.  Discovered that I did not need the little plastic connectors.  The star attachment in bag would do the trick.  That was easy enough.

Then to REI where Sam got socks, rope, sun screen, etc. for tomorrow's trip.  Walking to the car we got a mocha ice blended with an extra shot at Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf--something I haven't had in years--very delicious indeed.

Friday is one of the day's that Gioa's Burrata is delivered to Bay Cities.  It doesn't have a very long shelf life, so guests are mandatory--especially if I buy the pound container.   The lunch hour was long over, so lines were short as we bought both the burrata and two loaves of still warm bread.

I had been thinking we'd go to Trader Joe's, but wanted to check out the 99¢ store first (this, I'll admit is a bit of an addiction).  Friday afternoon traffic was so dreadful on Lincoln Boulevard that after an excellent round of purchases at both the 99¢ store (cauliflower,green beans,asparagus,  portobello mushrooms, red peppers,  pasilla peppers, organic lettuce, dill, chives, etc) and CVS, we decided to forego TJ's and buy our chicken and beer at Whole Foods.  Good choice!!  Both items were on sale--and so was fresh corn--so we had that upscale ease and no more driving before heading home.  It was close to 6--we had way to many food items--and lots of cooking ahead!!

Sam had requested Roast Chicken. This is my expansion on Marcella Hazan's chicken with two lemons.

I put in cherry tomatoes to roast to serve with the burrata, as well as asparagus.  Also--since the oven was on, roasted golden beets and pasilla peppers for future meals.

Not cooking alone, having Sam there, helping with both preparation and pre-meal cleaning, zipped things right along--and spurred me on to make many more dishes than necessary.  Part of the rationale is of course that it is better to have a refrigerator stuffed with cooked vegetables than raw and rotting ones.   So--on we went.

Although it was scarcely necessary, and didn't quite fit with the menu, I wanted to make another round of Hunan eggplant and so I did.

Sam made guacamole.  To re-cap:  The guacamole, burrata with roasted and fresh tomatoes and basil and roasted asparagus with lemon and parmesan would be the appetizers.

The main course--chicken with roasted vegetables, the green beans with portobello mushrooms, fresh corn.   And, there was even dessert--that lemon ice-cream with triple ginger snaps with still more gingersnaps and strawberries.

Plenty of left-overs and the golden beets and pasilla peppers still waiting for their table moment.



ice cream with strawberries...