The weather outside was quite blustery, but inside the Bayon's home it was warm and filled with good food and friends... the best kind of night!
The Chrises met us with beautiful flutes of champagne, strawberries and a hint of bitters. 'Topher was busy in the kitchen preparing a dish to come later, and 'Tina was preparing the antipasto platter and cheese platters. The house smelled amazing!
The treat for the evening was not food, but a man. A man named Al. Al brought wine. Lots of wine. And he let us try all of it!
He started us off with a "porch pounder" white and the flavors got bigger as we moved through the bottles. Some of the favorites were the Squinzano, which was really good, but surprisingly changed with a snippet of blue cheese, and the Deep Wood Lodi that really blossomed with a small bite of dark chocolate (also, we may have found Andrew's new stage name!) and the DuLogis Congac which was ah-MAZ-ing! Al walked us through each wine with elegant language and meal suggestions that made us all drool. While we tasted we nibbled and sampled at the lovely platters the Chrises set out for us: brie with fruit spread, blue cheese, figs, apricots, salamis, and a cheese they brought all the way from Pike's Place Market in Seattle!
Oh yeah... there was food! The Bayons had beautiful salmon crackers ready when we arrived - smoked or peppered salmon slices topped with a dollop of cheese, a sprinkle of red onion and capers, a drizzle of secret sauce and a sprig of dill. They were delicious!
The Redmores brought soft pretzel bites with two dipping sauces: a rosemary & thyme mustard and a classic cheddar-beer dip. We boiled the pretzels earlier in the day and did the final bake at our host's, so they were hot and fresh out of the oven!
The Jaffe's presented us with two gorgeous dishes: a jalapeno-quinoa cake with avocado cream and roasted cauliflower & onions with curry. Both were flavorful and lovely! The quinoa cake had the texture of a crab cake and just a hint of jalapeno - very well balanced. The roasted cauliflower & onions, again, had a great balance and a mouthful of flavor but even under a curry tasted fresh, not too heavy.
"Pea Cake is a hard worker!" It's true: Chris slaved away in the kitchen to present us with our last savory course. Exquisite, colorful, freshly fried pea cakes he'd been dabbling with on the stove when we came in. These had a great spice mixture with a bit of an Indian flare. They were paired with a tomato-pepper relish and were gone from our plates in an instant! Crispy on the outside, soft inside and layered flavors that kept the "Mmmmm"s coming.
There were chocolates from our hosts, chocolate cake balls from the Jaffes and lots more wine to finish off our evening... oh, and a hockey game.
For being "small plates" we had a ton of wonderful dishes to fill our bellies. And as always it was over too soon.
Thank you Bayons for a fantastic evening!
