Culinary Adventures

A couple of week ago I traveled with my boyfriend to visit his parents for the weekend. As a part of the weekend spent at their house, we planned to cook a fancy dinner for his mother as a belated mother's day gift.

That Saturday we went shopping after poring over a few old family recipe books and picking whatever sounded good to us.
No, we picked nothing that we knew for sure we could make. Hey! Experiments are good, right?
Well. We got the ingredients for everything, and put them away for Sunday afternoon.

After spending the morning and early afternoon going to church and watching the Indianapolis 500-mile race, we buckled down and got to work.

Turns out we make a great team! Sadly we didn't get any pictures of the two of us together, but somehow we managed (after a good 2 1/2 hours of intense cooking) to put a lovely meal on the table, served with wine and champagne that his parents provided.

We were allowed to use the fine china and make the table all fancy :) 

I put together a modified chef salad, topped with a citrus dressing that was quite refreshing. 

Dijon mustard sauce over a seared pork chop, mashed potatoes,
orange-candied carrots, and a side of orange slices and parsley. 

Somehow we managed a successful chocolate soufflé, served with an attempt at a candied orange.
Also concocted a delightful desert coffee with chocolate syrup, orange liqueur, and whipped cream!

We were a little out of our league (especially with the soufflé!) but in the end everything tasted delicious and the whole family seemed to be fans of our cooking efforts. Someday we'll have to try again!

"One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well." ~Virginia Woolf