Thanks everyone for joining me! Hope Steven shows up! Edna, real butter--the only way to go on fresh Maine lobster--THANKS! Annette--My hubby really WANTS to try your mousse, me too--YUMMY! Caroline--Oh goodie, some home made bread! Wow! What a feast we will have...those squash blossoms sound delightful! Cameron--Bibs are VERY IMPORTANT! Sorry you are allergic, but hey desserts are good! MORA!!!___ OH YUMMY!!! I"M READY!!!! BRING ON THESE NS SCALLOPS!!!!! Patti-- Soft shells are new shells after the hard shell is shed. They are much easier to eat, you can crack them with your hands, they are sweet and yummy. All Maine lobster is caught in COLD water! I like them 1.5 pounds each and 2 is just right! If there are some legs left over I LOVE a lobster omelet. Here are a few links to more lobster info than you may want! I like them 1.5 pounds each and 2 is just right! If there are some legs left over I LOVE a lobster omelet. http://www.newharborlobster.com/htm/facts.htm http://www.bayleys.com/faq.html http://www.lobsterfrommaine.com/selecting.html

I think you could add some lovely breads or rolls. Personally, the spinach/gruyere soup sounds a bit heavy - but not having tasted it, I don't know. I would probably be inclined to do a fresh spring pea soup (perhaps served cold) instead. Are you serving all this at one time, or in courses? I am thinking that you could use some other beverage, as you have a lot of fruit things going on, and something non-fruity might be nice. It sounds like a lovely luncheon for the ladies of the family!

OOH I love Rosemary. We are in the process of thinking out a new herb garden and you can bet there will be a number of rosemary plants. Probably my favourite recipe using rosemary is a Sausage and Rosemary pasta sauce. It is also wonderful in bread, cooked with lamb, pork, beef and chicken. Here are a few favourites. Home Cookin Chapter: Recipes From Thibeault's Table ========================== Adapted from Robert Alda's recipe. 4 to 6 Italian Sausage, hot or sweet, or combination Olive oil 2 shallots 3 ounces of Mortadella 1/2 cup dry white wine 1 tablespoon dried or fresh rosemary 1 tablespoon dried basil 2 to 4 cans tomatoes (depending on number of sausages) . Par boil sausage for 2 to 4 minutes. Mince Mortedella and shallots in food processor. Heat in oil in large pot and add mortadella and shallots. Remove casings from sausage and mince in processor and add to pot. Cook until meat starts to brown on the bottom. Add the rosemary and basil and the wine. Simmer until wine has evaporated. Puree tomatoes but leave some texture and add to pot. Simmer for at least 1 hour. Remove any fat that surfaces. Serve over fusilli or Conchiglioni (shell) shaped pasta, to pick up the little bits of sausage. Options: I have made this without the Mortadella and it works. When I don't have good Italian Sausage I make this same dish using ground pork. Saute the pork and season with the shallots, couple of cloves of garlic, hot red pepper flakes, grind some fennel(optional) with the rosemary and basil, and then follow the above directions. (Tastes almost identical) Home Cookin Chapter: Recipes From Thibeault's Table Beef Tenderloin - Kabobs ======================== 2 pounds beef tenderloin, cut into cubes (from 1 inch to 2 inches) 2 - 3 cloves of garlic minced 1 large shallot, chopped 2 tablespoons fresh thyme chopped/ and/or Rosemary 2 tablespoons fresh parsley chopped 1 cup red wine 1/2 cup olive oil salt Black Pepper - Coarsely Ground 2 Green Peppers cut into squares 2 large white onions- cut into 1/4's (option: Large Cherry Tomatoes) . Cut beef tenderloin in to nice size cubes. Mix together all of the other ingredients and marinate the beef for about 4 to 6 hours. Par Boil onions and green peppers for less than one minute. Drain and cool in icewater. REmove meat from Marinade and thread onto metal or wooden skewers, placing a piece of green pepper and onion inbetween each piece of meat. Grill on high heat. Turn a few times. Tenderloin should be served rare to medium rare so these do not take long to cook, depending on your grill. Home Cookin Chapter: Recipes From Thibeault's Table ===================== http://www.thefreshloaf.com/recipes/potatorosemaryrolls?destination=node%2F423 Potato Rosemary Rolls Makes 18 small rolls or 12 hamburger sized buns 1 potato, cooked and mashed 1 lb (3 1/2 cups) bread or all-purpose unbleached flour 3/4 - 1 cup water 2 teaspoons instant yeast 2 teaspoons salt 1 tablespoon butter 1 tablespoon dried rosemary or 2 tablespoons fresh rosemary 1 teaspoon ground black pepper 1 teaspoon ground sage leaves Cook the potato until soft, either by boiling or baking in the oven or microwave. For this batch I chopped up and boiled the potato. I then reserved a cup of the potato water to add to the loaf, figuring it had additional nutrients and starches that would help my loaf. Mash the potato. Removing the skin prior to mashing is optional: if you are using tough skinned potatoes like russets I would suggest removing them, but with soft skinned potatoes such as yukon gold or red potatoes I typically leave them on. The chopped up skin add nice color and texture to your rolls. Combine the flour, mashed potato, yeast, salt, pepper and herbs in a large bowl. Add 3/4 cups water and knead or mix for 5 to 10 minutes, adding more water or flour until a consistency you are comfortable working with is reached. I added close to a full cup of water and ended up with an extremely sticky dough that was difficult to work with. I was only able to shape the rolls by repeatedly dipping my fingers in flour. The end result was wonderful though. (I encourage amateur bakers to push the limit of what they think they can handle, moisture-wise. More often than not you'll be pleasantly surprised with the results, though you can go too far and end up baking a pancake, which I've done more than once.) Place the dough in a greased bowl, cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a moist towel and let the dough rise until it has doubled in size, typically 60 to 90 minutes. Remove the dough from the bowl, gently degas it, and shape it. For rolls or buns you can weigh them if you like or just eyeball them. I cut racquetball sized chunks of dough (larger than golf balls, smaller than tennis balls) then rolled them into balls in my well-floured hands. I placed them on a baking sheet covered with parchment, placed the entire sheet in a plastic trash bag, and set it aside to rise for approximately an hour again. While the dough rose, I preheated the oven to 375 degrees. If you have a spritzer, spray the top of the rolls with water right before placing them in the oven. Place them in the center rack and bake them for 10 minutes. Rotate the pan 180 degrees and bake them for another 10 to 20 minutes, depending on size. My large hamburger bun sized rolls took close to half an hour to bake. You'll know they are done when the bottom of the rolls is solid and slightly crispy. If you have a probe thermometer, check the temperature inside one of the rolls. When the internal temperature is approaching 200 degrees F, they are ready to pull out of the oven. Home Cookin Chapter: Recipes From Thibeault's Table Italian roasted chicken (Rosemary Lemon) ======================================== Edited November 10th, 2006 This recipe is my version of the Italian Chicken we use to order in a Italian restaurant in Sault Ste. Marie. It can be made with small roasting chickens, chicken pieces or cornish game hens. 2 Cornish Game Hens 3 or 4 sprigs of rosemary 2 heads of garlic, peeled and cracked salt, pepper juice from one or two lemons lemon zest (optional) hot red pepper flakes 1/2 cup olive oil Kalamata olives (optional) chicken broth . If using roasting chickens or game hens, split the birds down the back and remove the back bone. Place the chicken halves or pieces in the roasting pan. Toss in the garlic cloves and the sprigs of rosemary. Season with salt, pepper and red pepper flakes. squeeze the lemons over the chicken and drizzle with the olive oil. You can prepare the chicken up to this point and let rest in the fridge for an hour or two. Roast in a 450°F Check after about 20 minutes and add some chicken broth to the pan. This will stop the garlic from getting burnt. (If you are using the olives add them now) Add more if needed. When chicken is done, remove from pan and add a little more chicken broth, stir and serve sauce over the chicken. My favourite side with this chicken is Spaghetti Aglio E Olio

Hope you are feeling better! Funny we just picked up a case of wine from a Santa Barbara winemaker, Silver Wines, nice young guy, up and coming. His tasting room was in a small light industrial area by appt only (when you have a young family, thats the only way to go!). I had never tasted Cab Franc before...we liked it and bought a couple bottles. No one played music for us, sounds like you had a nice afternoon except for the tummy.