Chillin' & Grillin'

The Jaffes hosted our summer dinner, and for it we grilled all the things.  Grill, I say!

Jen headed to the garden when we arrived to gather the finishing touch for our opening cocktail, a lemon-thyme whisky sour (of sorts).  Served in a mason jar with a slice of lemon and fresh sprig of lemon-thyme, it was refreshing and delicious!  Not gonna lie:  I had two.  They had a great balance of sweetness and acidity - yum.

After he got the meat on the grill, Chris ambled inside with a spiced and marinated Mexican skirt steak.  We paired that with flour tortillas, two green tomatillo salsas, guacamole and a bit of pickled onions and a sprinkle of cheese.  They were so flavorful - a great punch in the taste buds to get started!  Everyone agreed they wanted one more taco, but knew we had a lot more food coming.  Best to pace ourselves.

The Rhodes stepped up to the plate with a grilled romaine salad topped with the most delectable deviled egg I've ever stuffed in my face.  The salad itself, while the base for the eggs, was nothing to sneeze at.  Lightly grilled and topped with a light, savory dressing.  The eggs on top really stole the show.  Smoked, hard boiled eggs were filled with a sweet potato-egg filling and then topped with... (wait for it)... bacon jam.  Oh!  You read that right:  bacon jam.  I mean, honestly, is there anything wrong with any part of that?  No.  No there's not.  And it lived up to the hype!  The parts themselves were fabulous, but together all the details of it married beautifully.  There was a brief sadness when the course was over... But then the Jaffes came out with the main course, and there was happiness again!  Beef sliders with kimchi and sambal aioli, served along side a root beer baked beans with bacon.

Andrew did a superb job on the tiny beef sliders - perfectly cooked (which I have to think its hard to do with they are so small).  The kimchi and sambal sauce were a unique twist on the traditional burger, and were portioned just right so as not to overpower the beef.  The beans were another twist on a classic bbq favorite.  Not sticky sweet and slathered in sauce, but robust and slightly smokey from the good sized chunks of bacon and a just hint of sweetness from the root beer.  They were what baked beans should be.

Along side the Jaffe's main course was a Bayon side dish, sweet pepper boats with herbs, cheese and bacon.  I just dove into these with my hands - they seemed to call for it.  The peppers were just al dente but the filling had melted down into them.  They were a good pop of color and flavor.

The finale, dessert was contributed by the Redmores.  We dished up a ginger scone w/ a drizzle of lime white chocolate, topped with a grilled peach and cognac compote and a big dollop of whipped cream.  It was served with a glass of peach-lime sangria.  Everyone was pretty stuffed, but seemed to find room for this summery bowl of goodness.  The scone had just a hint of ginger, but it was a classic compliment to the peaches and cream.  A little lime added just a pop of freshness.

You'd think that we'd be ready to be rolled out the door to pay our sitters.. but there was a little bonus to the night's dinner:  Cards Against Humanity.  Oh yes.  The Redmores were the only ones who'd played it before, so it was a new experience for everyone else!  There was a LOT of blushing and even more laughing - at one point Jillian was laughing so hard she couldn't speak (and threatened to pee).  And we all learned a bit more about each other (wink, wink).  Jen and Andrew came around about half way through the game with a platter of mojito popcicles, made with herbs from their garden.  They were so refreshing and cool - I didn't realize I wanted anything more to eat, but these were an absolutely perfect digestif.   At some point we looked up and realized we really did need to go pay our sitters.  Our night had to come to a close.

Thank you so much, Jaffes, for an amazing summer feast!