I just finished reading Julia Child's My Life in France and I can't get out of my head her discussion of her first meal in country... Sole Meuniere.

Simple, Elegant, Classic and Delicious... Here's what Julia said:

It arrived whole: a large, flat Dover sole that was perfectly browned in a sputtering butter sauce with a sprinkling of chopped parsley on top. The waiter carefully placed the platter in front of us, stepped back, and said: "Bon appètit!

I closed my eyes and inhaled the rising perfume. Then I lifted a forkful of fish to my mouth, took a bite, and chewed slowly. The flesh of the sole was delicate, with a light but distinct taste of the ocean that blended marvelously with the browned butter. I chewed slowly and swallowed. It was a morsel of perfection.

I don't have a TT recipe, but there are tons all over the web that look pretty simple and delicieux!

From the Blog Taste with the Eyes entry A Tribute to Julia Child: The Perfect Lunch I found this

To re-create the delicious Sole Meunière:
Season the fresh Petrale Sole, then dip it in a beaten egg.
Dredge in flour and shake off the excess.
Sauté in a half butter/half olive oil mixture until light brown.
Make the sauce in another pan; brown the butter, finish with lemon juice and chopped parsley.
Pour sauce on the platter, then top with the fish.
Garnish with lemons and parsley.

Your dinner sounds wonderful! Is this when you'll give her the memory book?

That would not be too rich, not in small quantities.

In fact, last night I started thinking about seafood with a sweet sauce, like hazelnut. Maybe I'll do some experiments this week.

"seafood with a sweet sauce, like hazelnut"

First reaction? Yuck. You need the seafood course to be relatively light and clean-tasting.

All these suggestions sound great. If you're looking for a chicken dish, Julia's 'Poulet poele a l'estragon' (Chicken roasted in casserole with Tarragon) from Volume 1 of Mastering the Art of French Cooking is excellent; although it might be hard to portion out a chicken for a crowd.

One of my favorite French CD's is the soundtrack from the Kevin Kline-Meg Ryan movie 'French Kiss'. It has everyone from Louis Armstrong doing 'La Vie en Rose' to Beautiful South doing an achingly beautiful version of 'Dream a little Dream of Me' in French. Starts out, though, with Van Morrison doing 'Someone like You.'

A little off topic: once I decided to surprise my wife. Came home a little early, got us a couple of glasses of wine, put the Beautiful South song I mentioned, and started slow-dancing her romantically around the living room. Her response: "Honey? Did you lose your job today?"

so arley has a wife...that's information ; ) !

Arley , my first thought when reading this thread was if my DH ( who is a sweetie pie, doll face) ever did all this for me my first question would be.... So how long has it been going on......and who is she ? LOL

LOL

"Posted by arley ----
One of my favorite French CD's is the soundtrack from the Kevin Kline-Meg Ryan movie 'French Kiss'. ---------- Her response: "Honey? Did you lose your job today?"

LOL!

Yes, a very nice CD. I have all the songs. I want to point out that Kevin Kline actually did sing that song "La Mer" by Charles Trenet on the CD. He did an amazing job.
I am not sure if Bobby Darin ever gave credit that he took that song and turn it to "Beyoung The Sea".

dcarch

Tried a simpler version of the Coquilles St Jacques tonight. Had promise. Also made a test version of simmered halibut with a savory-sweet hazelnut sauce. Hmm, not quite "there". Well, I have a couple more days to test-run dishes.

'Poulet poele a l'estragon' (Chicken roasted in casserole with Tarragon)
Just for info, it's not whole roasted but pan-fried. Une Poele is a frying pan.So, pan fried breasts would be delicious.

John-

Can't help with the menu, but I want to help with the afternoon plans.

Do you have the afternoon distraction yet? I would avoid the spa! They squeeze at your face (blotchy is not attractive)and you end up with face cream in your hair. Happened to me once on my birthday-not pretty.

I would arrange an obligation-just enough to get her a little annoyed. Maybe a friend has a gift certificate that is about to expire and needs her to help her shop that afternoon (maybe she calls weeping because she thinks her husband is having an affair-your wife will HAVE to go). And YOU have dinner reservations somewhere YOU would want to go (also annoying, since it's HER birthday after all) , so you carry on about being worried about her being back in time. This way she leaves dressed for dinner. Maybe you secretly fund part of the "gift certificate" and she gets something new to wear. At any rate, the annoyance will distract her from being suspicious. Maybe you invited someone to dinner she doesn't really like=that would be annoying and distracting too.
( I completely stunned my husband by babbling on for weeks about a reservation at Charlie Trotter's for his birthday-he had zero interest-and then had a fit when he had to go counsel a flighty friend who was about to elope with a new girlfriend and had to meet him at, you guessed it, the bar where we had his surprise party.)

I love a well-planned surprise. Make sure one of your guests is assigned camera duty!

Islay, the particular recipe I was referring to entails browning a chicken in butter in a casserole dish, then covering the casserole and finishing it in the oven.

CDkitchen.com says:

Poele:

A cooking method in which the item is cooked in its own juices, in a covered pot, and it is usually done in the oven. Also known as butter roasting.

I do know that one meaning of poele is simply a frying pan, but it's also used to describe this method of cookery; that's how Julia named her recipe.

A great cook but a but lacking on the language skills perhaps lol. The recipe in the link is just roast chicken - poulet roti! It isn't poêlé.

Here's an interesting recipe for poulé à l'éstragon

This meal sounds like a wonderful idea. Some ideas I had for the various courses based on really good meals I had while visiting relatives in France.

For the soup course: Cantaloup soup (sorry I don't have a recipe)

For one of the veg dishes: Cauliflower Au Gratin (my recipe below)

For dessert: Crème brûlée (A dessert that _requires_ the use of a blowtorch. How could a guy not love it. :-) )

CAULIFLOWER AU GRATIN

Serves 4-6 people
One head of cauliflower
2 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp flour
1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup white wine
Dash white pepper
8 oz of finely grated sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 cup bread crumbs

Cut cauliflower into separate flowerets. Place in steamer pan for 8 minutes. In separate pan, melt butter, stir flour into butter. Add milk and pepper, heating and stirring until it begins to thicken. Add wine and slowly add the cheese a handful at a time.
Remove cauliflower from steamer pan, and place in loaf pan, pour sauce over the cauliflower, sprinkle bread crumbs on top.
Place in 350 deg F oven for about 15 minutes

John,
PLEASE post a follow-up to let us know what you served and how it all went. I can hardly wait to see how this turns out!

I don't know anything about the menu but I want to chime in here as another warning about not sending her for a facial or a massage. You are a mess after those two spa treatments. Can you switch it up to a manicure/pedicure with some reflexology. This way she will come home looking nicer than when she left.

If you do decide to stick with the facial, you should make sure she gets hair and makeup. They get gunk in your hair around your face. I wouldn't want to go to a party after a facial.

jcoxmd, joanm and others - on the diversion - I've talked to the spa lady. She knows what is up and promises to send the girls away clean and ready for the makeup place they will next go to. I think it will be okay. Thing is, she just had a manicure/pedicure so it seems wasteful to do another right away.

chase, bizzo, sushipup, and others - on the fish course - it will be poached trout w/ hollandaise-crab sauce. I test-made it tonight and it works, is easy to cook and plate, and I'm unlikely to mess it up. Whew. I am running out of time (and energy) to dry-run dishes.

Arrrgh!

One of our friends dropped by just now. As we were whispering about the dinner - she is coming - I heard the unwelcome reminder . . .

"I'm a vegetarian, remember. Should I plan to watch people eat? I can bring a tofu burger."

To which I could only goggle and mumble

''Only if it's French.''

I don't know if that sounds like a rude exchange, but it wasn't - we know each well, that's how she talks, and she is well aware of my tendency to forget about the meat-less.

So I will need to slip her an extra veggie dish early in the meal. Lucky that bob mentioned chou-fleur au gratin . . .

Do you have a brother ?

Aarrgghh. Here, they don't really understand vegetarians - think they're a bit strange LOL. What about vegetable "timbales"? They would look pretty and you could make a few diffferent ones.

I decided it would be funny if miss vegetarian got dishes that looked just like what everyone is having.

So instead of lobster bisque, she'll get a cream of mushroom soup, I'll tint it with paprika to a shade similar to the bisque. She'll get a piece of tofu, shaped to look like the fish pieces, poached in the fish poaching liquid and sauced identically. No idea what poached tofu will taste like. Don't care. Grumpy. Can't think of a quick vegetarian dish that looks just like boeuf bourguignon, so that's where the chou-fleur comes in.

Collected all my recipes, made my shopping list, wrote up a timeline - by X pm I need to have completed Y, counted burners and dishes, etc. Getting worried, a lot - too much? - has to get done between noon and 6 pm. Not sure if daughter helping will speed things up or slow them down.

I'll report back on the dinner - or disaster, whichever it is - tomorrow night.

John, I've been thinking about your surprise birthday dinner and hope all is going OK.

This thread has been a really fun read this past week. I can't wait to hear the end result! I'm sure that no matter how perfect or imperfect everything goes, it'll be a very memorable birthday for her. Of course I'm hoping for perfect!

Well, after all our John has done I'm thinking that we won't hear from him until late tomorrow!

She'll get a piece of tofu, shaped to look like the fish pieces, poached in the fish poaching liquid and sauced identically

If she doesn't eat fish, you might want to poach it in something else other than the fish poaching liquid....unless its like a court bouillion, fish-free. Do hers first, then your fish.

I was thinking the same thing Jessica. If she doesn't eat fish her tofu should not be cooked in fish broth.

That would be the same as cooking for a vegetarian and using chicken broth or beef broth instead of vegetable broth.

Ann

Well, SWMBO's dinner was successful and I survived, though my left index finger paid a price.

I persuaded her to invite her friend - the one who got her out of the house for the afternoon - to dinner on Sunday. Just a low-key small dinner. This was an excuse for grocery shopping in the morning. So Sunday 9:30AM found my daughter and I picking up lobsters at the scary Asian live seafood place (ouch, live lobsters are expensive), pig's feet and cow tendons at the Asian grocery, and many bags of groceries at the big grocery store. We arrived home and snuck most of the food into the garage, bringing just two small bags of non-descript groceries into the kitchen. The idea was this would dispel any of SWMBO's suspicions about what might be going on.

So I was able to start chicken stock going before SWMBO and friend left at noon. Then our work started. Daughter cleaned the ground floor, set the table, and popped back into the kitchen to help with specific tasks, while son swept the back patio and cutely made the serviettes into origami cranes. Meanwhile, I was rushing to meet my schedule.

I'd planned things out, with a schedule of what had to be done by each half-hour mark during the afternoon. If you want to see how tight things were, I'll paste it in here. I'm quite limited for burners (4) and ovens (1) so that had to be planned out too. ''B'' means how many burners are in use, ''O'' means how many dishes are in the oven, and ''P'' means how many of my portable burners (little gas canister cookers, we usually set them on the dining table for hot pot dinners) are on.

TIMING

12:00 NOON - 1B
start boeuf bourguignon w/ browning beef
pre-heat oven to300F

12:30PM 1B, 1O
boeuf bourguignon in oven
make bolognaise sauce, simmer for rest of afternoon
make vinaigrette
prep corn

1:00 PM 3B, 1O
start mushroom soup
start lobster bisque

1:30 PM 4B, 1O
start crème caramel, caramelize the ramekins

2:00 PM 4B, 1O, 1P
start soaking halibut
make custard for crème caramel, pour into ramekins, store in refrigerator
make hazelnut milk for halibut sauce

2:30PM 3B, 1O
start soaking dried mushrooms for risotto
lobster bisque, grind lobster and resume simmering
start chou-fleur, steam and prep into baking dish then set aside for baking

3:00 PM 1B, 1O, 2P
lobster bisque done, strain and keep warm on portable burner
mushroom soup done, puree and keep warm on portable burner

3:30 PM 3B, 1O, 2P
start mushroom risotto
add carrots to boeuf bourguignon
cook corn (save water for pasta)

4:00 PM 4B, 1O, 2P
prep and blanch haricot verts
open oysters, make mignonette
cook pasta
set out hors d'oeuvres and wine

4:30 PM 4B, 2P
boeuf bourguignon out of oven, keep meat warm, start reducing sauce
make hollandaise sauce, hold warm
raise oven to 350F

5:00 PM guests arrive 3B, 2P
prep for poaching halibut (prepare liquid, bring to boil, cool)
plate oysters
toast croutons, cut cheese rounds, plate salad

5:30 PM Mary arrives 4B, 2P
bourguignon sauce is done, hold on warm
risotto is done, hold warm
poach halibut, done, dry and cover
sauté haricots, done, cover

6:00PM - Dinner 2B, 1O
serve oysters
serve lobster bisque (and mushroom soup)
chouxfleurs in oven for 15 min only to done set timer!

6:30 PM 2B
crème caramel in oven, set timer to check
plate, serve halibut (and tofu)
serve salad

7:00PM -
plate, serve boeuf (and chouxfleurs), haricots, risotto

7:30PM -
serve cheese, crème caramel

8:00PM -
Dinner finished

We managed to stick pretty close to this schedule. One of my guests helped by shucking 24 oysters, another stepped in and made the hollandaise sauce. SWMBO's best childhood friend drove 2 hours to get here, hit traffic but arrived just minutes before SWMBO came home, all pretty and fresh-faced, and totally surprised. We sat down at 6:30, just a tad late.

The adults, 11 of us, had:

Starter Oysters Half-Shell w/ Mignonette
Soup - Lobster Bisque (for miss vegetarian, Cream of Mushroom)
Fish Poached Cod w/ Hollandaise Sauce (miss vegetarian had Poached Tofu w/ Hollandaise) - the halibut at the grocery looked yucky, the cod didn't look that great either, not a good fish day at my local markets
Salad teresa's Goat-Cheese Crouton and Greens w/ Vinaigrette
Meat Boeuf Bourguignon (miss vegetarian had bob's Chou-Fleur au Gratin, which my daughter made)
Vegetable Haricots Vert Grand Marnier - I forgot to get Amaretto
Starch Mushroom Risotto
Cheese - Assorted Firm Cheeses
Dessert Chase's Crème Caramel

The kids ate outside, I made them spaghetti w/ bolognaise sauce, corn on the cob, and they had either ice cream or crème caramel.

The lobster soup, salad, boeuf b., and crème caramel were all hits. The fish was okay - I had been struggling w/ selecting this dish and the last-minute substitution didn't help at all. I believe miss vegetarian was adequately fed with her alternate menu but as she weighs like 90 lbs, how would you ever know?

Overall the dinner was pretty good. I enjoyed making the lobster bisque, ended up puree'ing some of the meat into the soup and it was rich, creamy, and very lobster-y. None was left over. The boeuf b. turned out very nicely, two bottles of wine, 5 hours in the oven then picked out the meat, discarded the feet and tendons, strained the liquid, added demi-glace and reduced for an hour by 1/2. 5 lbs of beef and that was all gone too. The crème caramel made me nervous - I think this might be the third baked dessert dish I've ever actually made - but my goodness it came out delectable. An elegant, delicious, and idiot-proof dessert - thanks, Chase! I'm proud of my daughter who bravely adjusted the seasoning on the mushroom soup despite hating mushrooms - and then allowed as to how it was kind of okay tasting after all.

This dinner pretty much pushed the limit of what I can get done in one afternoon with this kitchen and my current level of cooking efficiency. It was probably two dishes too much, really. Slashing my fingertip during the mignonette didn't help.

I took a few pictures of the cooking in progress, including a nicely noir ''lobster slaughter'' image - then things got too hectic - but there is one last photo of the group in our silly sunglasses. Unfortunately I can't seem to log onto photobucket from this computer. I may be able to get them posted later, but I'm leaving town for a week tonight, so maybe not.

Thank you, to everyone, for helping me with so many ideas and recipes. The ideas I used were all great, and the ones I didn't use, I should have. SWMBO is happy, daughter is happy, the kitchen was all cleaned up and the pots polished before we went to bed, and I am kind of cooked out but pretty content.

Let me be the first to congratulate you! Wow! That's some achievement. You must really love your SWMBO - how incredibly sweet.

The dinner sounds delectable. Frankly, I could never have done it, and would have had it catered LOL (which I can't afford, BTW). I admire you.

I had been following your threads on the Kitchens Forum. How is the new kitchen design coming?

BTW, as to cutting your finger. Julia Child famously cut her finger on live TV in the '70's, needed stitches, but just wrapped the finger and finished cooking in that stoic no-nonsense way of hers. After filming, she went to the hospital and got her stitches. Which became the source for the infamous Saturday Night Live sketch with Dan Akroyd. So you are in lofty company!

alwaysfixin, thanks. I wouldnt want to pay a caterer either. This dinner had a grocery bill of just under $200 ($53 of which was lobster, yikes). We also consumed $15 in wine for cooking (I use cheap wine) and about $100 of wine from the basement stash (my cost from the winery; $150-200 at restaurant prices?). It is remarkable to me how much money you save and how much fun you can have - with home cooking.

The kitchen is on hold partly economic uncertainty and partly because after working w/ marcolo on his kitchen, I saw so many faults in my own design. I am back to the drawing board.

On cutting ones finger my doctor friend, who was at dinner, says that if the piece remains attached and you put it back in the original position and bandage w/ Neosporin (kept handy in the kitchen), then fingertip wounds usually heal fine. I have sharp knives, so the cuts are nice and clean. Still makes me mad each time it happens.

YAY! It sounds wonderful!! I hope she enjoyed every minute of it! Glad your finger will heal...

Some pictures - bear w/ me, I'm trying to do this from an iPhone.

Boeuf b. starting - browning

One hour in - not so pretty, but those yucky feet and tendons are doing their job

3 hours - just added the carrots

Plated, messily

The horror of the lobster

Peace at last

Almost done

Setting the table

Silly people in sunglasses

Bravo! I'm SO impressed!

Il ressemble à une fête d'anniversaire la plus mémorable est parti sans faille. Vous êtes un planificateur incroyables ainsi que l'exécuteur de cet événement très compliqué.

Félicitations!

Merci d'avoir pris le temps de partager avec nous.

dcarch

Your documentation itself is impressive, not to mention the BIG PROJECT. Thanks for letting us enjoy your story.

Another cut finger story. Preparation for my granddaughter's birthday dinner was delayed while I made a trip to the ER for some stitches. I was working in my son's kitchen and pressed down hard on the wrong edge of an unfamiliar, unusually shaped knife. After getting the finger sewed up preparations resumed.

Jim

Wow, what a REAL man to do what all you just did. And risotto too no less. I can't even find the words to tell you how impressed I am. Even if it had tasted terrible, just the fact that you put all of that time and energy, not to mention money into it would have just blown me away.

What fun!!! Sounds like a delicious dinner....and I can see by the pictures a very good party!!
Is SWMBO the pretty lady in the wine colored jacket?

Nice job!

Wow! We are all duly impressed! What a cutie your daughter? is!

But the question is......now.....what do you do the next time?????????

Teresa

Wonderful!

lindac - '' is SWMBO the pretty lady in the wine colored jacket?'' The one wondering ''who is the creepy guy in sunglasses holding my hand? Eww, he smells like lobster.'' Yes.

teresa nc7 - I think I'm going to explore the wonderful world of one-pot meals for a while.

dcarch - merci bien pour ces félicitations. La générosité de vous et les autre gens dans ce forum ne cesse jamais de me bouleverser. Je regrette que le maudit facteur n'a pas livrée le CD en temps, mais c'est tout même un cadeau très apprécie. Bonne cuisine!

Well done you!

Love the pic of silly people in sunglasses! Great party and food for sure!! Thanks for the pics and sharing the event with all of us. Too flippin cool!! Loved reading your time line too. Sorry about the finger though. : )

David

Great job!

(Although I still will disagree about placement of the salad course....)

Clearly you're a gem and SWMBO is a very lucky woman! I'm glad you shared your glorious feast with our hungry eyes!

Lovely food and photos - the napkins are also awesome, well done!

AM

Congrats! Everything looks fantastic and what an impressive undertaking!

Great job :-)

Alexa

Great job! You have raised the bar for parties. Might have to leave this window open so that my husband can happen upon it.
Congrats!
Jo

Nice job!

What are you going to do with the cat? darfc.

There are not enough superlatives to congratulate you on your feat.....Well, well done! Truly a stunning meal, impeccably timed...and I'm amazed at how you were able to accomplish everything on 4 burners & 1 oven. A stellar birthday gift!!

Bravo indeed! It's all incredible.

Lee

I can't see the pictures here at work, I've got to remember to check them tonight at home.

The dinner sounds delicious and I'm sure will look every bit as good as it sounds. Congratulations on a job well done.

So SWMBO was suitably surprised and good for the daughter, to allow that the soup wasn't totally "icky", LOL.

Annie