The deed is done...

...and everything turned out great. I have to admit, the recipe tasted better than any that I had used before for Coq Au Vin. And what a gloriously fun time it was, the whole family taking part. That is truly the "joy" of cooking.

The Main Dish - Julia's Coq Au Vin

Things are simmering nicely...the chicken is in the pot.  The recipe called for 2 1/2 - 3 lbs of chicken, but I think we ended up with 5 or 6 in there. When I made Coq Au Vin in the past, I also used carrots, celery and potatoes in it. Julia said those should be side dishes and cooked separately. We shall see...I am a big fan of one dish meals, which this isn't, although you have to admit that it has the down home French countryside style and smell to it. To be honest, I don't see how it could possibly fail to taste good. It certainly has everything that tastes good to me in it.

While the chicken is stewing away, the ladies are tackling a cheese soufflé for an appetizer, also using Julia's recipe. It's gotta be good.

Step One - Brown-braised Onions and Mushrooms

Well the "see if we can screw up Julia's recipe" event has begun. First up is getting the pearl onions ready. I kind of figured that wouldn't be much at all, until I read the recipe. She was serious about this stuff. Cooking onions for an hour? That's serious stuff just to get them brown. As soon as we clear the decks from lunch I'll get started on them. Half-time score: CU 17, MD 7 - now we're talkin!!!

Score now 24-7 - Go T I G E R S!!!!

The onions are happily braising away, the interesting part is that all the liquid is supposed to boil away, dangerous if you ask me. I opened the large bottle of Pinot Noir I purchased yesterday for this recipe, I was totally crushed when Macy informed me that the recipe didn't call for BOTH bullion AND wine. Well needless to say, I lost the argument that if one was good, both would be better...had to settle with a wine tasting to make sure the wine would be ok for the chicken part. It was...is... delicious...lingering on the palet...where's my glass?

The onions turned out great, almost but not quite caramelized. Julia would be proud. Then on to the mushrooms, one of my most fav veggies. Now if I had a dollar for every time I have sauteed mushrooms, I would be a rich man.  So they were easy, and good.

So that completes the first phase, on to the chicken main course, after the girls try their hands at soufflés!!!

Oh...final score CU 31 - MD 7 yeah T I G E R S!!!

Julie and Julia got nothing on us!!!!

Ok - it was a joke...at first. Last Christmas I bought Barbara the "Anniversary" two-volume set of Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. An act taken in a frenzied moment of enjoying the screen version of Julia and Julie (or vice versa - I can never remember which). The books have dutifully stood their watch on top of the mantle since Christmas, untouched but for the occasional look and declaration "someday we need to try some of these recipes."

Well it appears that someday has finally come.

This Saturday will be the day that Barbara, our daughter-in-law Macy and I will attempt Julia's Coq au Vin, a glorious chicken stew that we have made for years, but not with Julia's recipe. We got together this evening and went over the shopping list for a trip to the store.

The plan is to watch the Clemson/Maryland game at noon Saturday, and then spend the rest of the day/evening/night doing Julia.

And we shall see...

It truly is hard to find a bad place...

to eat in Charleston. We thought we would try some place new so we went to the COAST Bar and Grill (http://www.coastbarandgrill.com/direct.html) and WOW what a treat. Very nice low country ambiance, AND they had a light over the table where you could actually read the menu! Go ahead, laugh, but its a feature that I am beginning to appreciate more and more. The restaurant company has several restaurants, and they all adhere to sustainable and local supply of all items. We contemplated the choices and decided on fish. Barbara chose Red Snapper Almondine with cheese grits and Asparagus (which I snitched). I had Escolar (which has an interesting history, but was prepared wonderfully and so far, safely) and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Dessert came as banana bread pudding and we shared a serving with coffee. All in all, a great experience.

Oh, before I forget, all my cancer numbers were good so I received my next shot and our next check up will be in December.

Back to Charleston

Back to Charleston for a tour of the docs tomorrow. Anticipate that all will be well, no reason to think other wise. Nice dinner at Marcato's, our fav Italian place in the market. Barbara had a killer butternut squash bisque and I started with a draft Peroni and white bean soup with truffle butter (pant pant pant). Nice jazz quartet to go with it. Main course was a pepperoni pizza maybe the size of a large dinner plate. The crust was wonderful with homemade mozzarella and a fontina cheese that was to die for. Our meds must be getting balanced out as we left one slice of pizza that no one could eat. We are back at the room as Barbara munches on her Benet Wafers from the candy store. I asked her if any were going to make it home....read: "Who are you kidding?"