Inter-continental lunch party

My friend hosted yet another luncheon at her place today.  I arrived a little late and the food was already laid out, both on the coffee table in the living room and the dining table.  The male elf commented that there seemed to be two "continents", then observed that there were actually three - Asia (Thai), Europe (French) and North America (American) - in terms of cuisine.  As for me, I preferred to think of the divide as being hot/cold dishes, as well as in terms of people - those who stopped eating after a while and just chatted, and those who hung around the dining table and just kept on eating...

I pretty much ignored the nice bowl of carrot and celery sticks, and immediately turned my attention to the huge bowl of pork rinds.  At first glance I thought it was a big bowl of curly fries, but I was thrilled to discover otherwise.  I couldn't believe that hostess' helper made these!  Totally awesome! Yes, I loooooooove deep-fried pork rinds...and not just as a condiment for Thai soup noodles, either!  I pretty much ignored the yummy dips and just snacked on these all afternoon...

There was also the shrimp and vegetable wrap in Vietnamese rice paper, which was always good, but I was more interested in the winged bean salad.  I've never had winged bean before, and this was made with minced pork, peanuts and shrimp.  Very yummy.  Wish I had room for more...

Turning my attention to the more European section, I snacked on some saucisson, homemade duck rillette spread over Robuchon baguette, and took bits from a whole torchon of duck foie gras.  All very good stuff...and I love rillette!

Now for some Americano!  There was a big pot of mac'n'cheese, with that yummy layer of cheese on top.  I had jokingly asked the hostess to prepare some Kraft Macaroni & Cheese from the box for me, since I ate tons of that stuff (and loved it) in college.  No such luck.  She gave me a box and asked me to step into the kitchen and make it myself...  In any case, it wasn't even macaroni!  They were conchiglie, but it didn't matter.  Cheese and carbs...does it get any better?

Apparently so.  There were also huge plates of fried chicken.  Now, I've eaten plenty of fried chicken over the years, but this was just...wow!  I took a drumstick, and that was very, very nice.  I remember telling the hostess that I would help her clean up the white meat, so I picked up a big piece thinking it was the chicken breast.  Nope.  Turned out to be the carcass with the pointy rear end sticking out.  I bit down on the butt, and really enjoyed all the skin and fatty bits.  This is when I was told by the male elf that "This is good.  It's local ass, not frozen."  At which point I replied "Yes, this is a really nice piece of ass."  And it was!  Unfortunately, the piece of ass was male...and no, I did not eat the testicle.

There were two platters of cheese from two different suppliers.  The Saint Felicien was really nice, as usual, and I nearly dropped my fork when I saw the male elf try to quenelle it... The Beaufort was pretty nice, like a young Gruyère or Comté.

...and we were treated to a seemingly endless series of sweets.  First up were the berry tarts.  The crusts were soooo brown and yummy.  And I really enjoyed putting the tart in my mouth, applying gradual pressure with my tongue and the sides of my mouth, and feeling the juices of the berries being squeezed out and dripping onto my tongue.

Our gracious hostess always remembers to make batches of canelés for my benefit.  This time there was a batch of chocolate-flavored canelés in addition to the classic type.  I think I still prefer the classics...

Next we saw two pithiviers galettes des rois being rolled out - one with pistachio and the other with cherries, both of course with frangipane.  Both were incredibly yummy and put the commercially available versions to shame.

Finally there was the stack of financiers.  I was never told the exact butter content, but rumor has it the number is somewhere around 30%... The recipe comes from Ducasse.  I allowed myself just one of these, as the sizes are pretty big.

I brought a few bottles of wine, but we ended up going through only two bottles of white, thanks to the white sangria provided by the hostess.  The 2001 Pride Viognier was definitely over the hill, and I suspected as much before popping the cork.  Nose was ripe, with toasty oak and honey.  Color was a golden hue like honey, and the freshness that Viognier should have in its youth is long gone.  Oh well...

2006 Taille aux Loups Montlouis-sur-Loire Sec "Rémus" - nose of lemon, toasty oak and minerals with a little ripe, sweet nose.  Much better than the Pride Viognier but a very different wine from the one I tasted back in 2008.

Before I left, the hostess brought out a few jars of homemade fruit vodkas.  I only managed to take a shot of the sour cherry vodka, which was very nice and smooth.  I'll have to try the lemon and yuzu varieties next time...

I was stuffed beyond belief, a little buzzed from the alcohol, and dying for a nap.  Guess what?  I only had 2 hours till my dinner with my newly adopted family...