Lovely party, tired Em-i-lis

One important catering lesson I've learned is that no matter how well you prepare in advance, the last four-five hours are always seriously intense ones so you best get a good night's sleep beforehand. Some items simply have to be finished at the last moment, and transport is always somewhat nerve-wracking, especially fragile items like layer cakes. I'm flat on the couch after going full speed ahead for five hours this morning, but the party turned out beautifully and I hope the ladies are still there, eating, full and happy, especially the mom-to-be and her mom, the fab hostess!

Holy Cooking, Batman!

It's possible I set some sort of personal cooking record today, bracketed by a meeting and dealing with the car window repairs amidst a pending rainstorm, just to keep things interesting. In short order, I: cooked 4 tarts (two herbed tomato, two leek confit + aged goat cheese) poached 4 pounds of salmon made the frosting for and then iced a chocolate-almond cake deboned and shredded two large roast chickens made olive-artichoke dip for twenty threw together some din for the boys thawed some short rib ragu and cooked pasta to go with it (well, we needed dinner)

and planned for the rest I've to prepare tomorrow.

The boys and I had a terrific dance party to various YouTubed videos of their (my children) hit songs, and now I'm in hysterics over last night's The Daily Show playing in the background.

Have y'all seen the footage of the racist, lunatic ass-wipe from Nevada, Cliven Bundy, who appears to have just come back alive after having been frozen in carbonite in, oh, 1840? He not only refuses to pay the back-taxes he's now about 16 years behind on but also had an armed standoff with reps from the Bureau of Land Management (who were attempting to procure said back-taxes) AND went on and on about how slavery was better for blacks than emancipation or any time since. Oh.My.God. It takes a lot to stun me, and watching him, I was stunned. How grotesque and tragically antiquated.

Storm, hot, lucky, luncheon, movie

How I slept through last night's storm is beyond me. This morning, however, I saw the deleterious effects of its torrential rain and gale-force winds. We are SO lucky to have power right now- hundreds of thousands of folks in DC/Northern VA/MD are without, and it is nearly 100°. Yesterday's temp of 104° -not including the heat index- set a record. I feel very grateful and concurrently, extremely concerned for all people and animals who are without adequate shelter, lost power, are stuck in any way. I also feel fortunate that we didn't lose power because I had 7+ pounds of poached salmon in my fridge, and the aftermath of that not staying chilled would have been totally revolting. All was and is well, and the bridal shower turned out beautifully. A tip of my hat to that crew because they were without power and running water but remained festive and zen. And, as I heard later, they ate all the food. You go girls (and the few men who were there)! Awesome work!

The poaching liquid for this salmon was gorgeous- Chardonnay, juniper berries, fennel, basil, peppercorns, bay leaves, lemons and a few other treats. It was served with a dill-dijon cream which was lovely, light and full of flavor.

Aren't my little fleur butters cute? I knew that silicone mold would be good for something! And I really wanted to eat this (horribly photographed) grapefruit tart so might have to make myself one soon. Great recipe!

T and I just saw Moonrise Kingdom- SUCH a hoot. If you get a chance, hit a matinee. What fun!