Shoestring Gourmet: Martha Stewart Slips in Time |
If people out there can get away with claiming that 2000 is the first year of the new millennium, then Shoestring Gourmet can hold Thanksgiving in January. And this is going to be neither an ordinary Thanksgiving meal nor an ordinary Gourmet. It's going to be a Martha Stewart Thanksgiving, and it will be a Sunday brunch instead of a Saturday dinner.
Martha Stewart is, as you all know, is the nation's legendary Official Homemaker. A Martha meal would include artful décor and presentation, and could partake of many of the innumerable recipes that are part of the Stewart empire. We'll be meeting on Sunday, January 9, at 1 in the afternoon in case the power isn't back on yet. Our venue this month will be the Tempe home of Syd Golston. Call Syd at 480-345-2161 by Thursday, January 6 to coordinate dishes.
December's Gourmet at the Morgan residence was held in celebration of Jim and Marilyn's 10th anniversary together, and featured the cuisine of science fiction. Linda Brazelton opened with tasty squares of Soylent Green, which she insisted was cornbread. We know better, of course. As our first aperitif, Ray Pisar served Replicator Glitch, a sort of Bloody Mary with "worms" at the bottom. Marilyn McDonald served bacomnated grapefruit salad, from "Futurama".
To accompany the entrees, Gerry Brazelton uncorked Michel Picard wine, grown by Captain Jean-Luc's brother on the holodeck of the Enterprise. Diana Toone served meatloaf from "Rocky Horror" to shouts of 'Cook!' From Jim Morgan himself, we had blue Dentrassi bread with guacamole from "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy". Syd Golston prepared carbonade flamande, a stew in honor of Winston Smith "1984" cafeteria meals. From Ursula Gore, we got leg of lamb starring as the ape-men's 'warthog' from the opening of "2001: A Space Odyssey". Our visiting Alaskan twin towers, Kim Senft and Robin Visel, brought respectively Klingon "Gach" (squid ink pasta) from "Star Trek", and that favorite Y2K survival food, a military Meal Ready-To-Eat.
Kebba Buckley beamed us toward our close with Infinite Improbability Custard, another tribute to "Hitchhiker's Guide". We welcomed back two of our long-time Gourmands, Joice and Chuck Braden, who have been exploring strange new worlds in their new self-built motor home, and on the whole having much better luck than NASA. They brought us melange pudding from "Dune", paired with astronaut-quality Tang and bagged peanuts. Diann Smith brought SGIP, people-shaped green ginger snaps 'harvested on Third Worlds', accompanied by Ale of Outermein Spezkadett. Ken Brown wrapped it up with champagne to toast Jim and Marilyn's ten years together.
Special kudos are due Chuck Braden, who used his patented photon-gathering device to record the wondrous Gourmet Moments of the evening, such as Jim Morgan waving Ursula's 'warthog' bone while humming "Also Sprach Zarathustra". Folks, let's do this one again in 2999.