Summer Solstice 2018

Every year I try to schedule a party as close as possible to the Summer Solstice - 21 June - in order to take advantage of the maximum daylight. Much like my Holiday Dessert Party at Winter Solstice, I have no recollection of how long I’ve been hosting this party. The premise of the party is very simple: open the back doors, fire up the grill, cook as much outside as possible. Although this year there was a twist: last year my deck was torn down and rebuilt, so everything from my deck was moved to the woodline behind my home. That included my grill. By the time Summer Solstice rolled around, I hadn’t used the grill for over a year. So, at some point before the party, I would have to not only move the grill back onto the back deck, but also clean and test it.

The Drinks

There was so much that I wanted to cook for this party that my challenge was deciding what not to cook. I had my heart set on using the fun blender that my brother’s family gave me for my birthday last year, so that meant a Hurricane from the boat drink book. My really good friend (let’s call her Bea) was bringing her sister, who excelled at making the superb Hurricanes last year. So that was a plan!

In addition to the Hurricanes, I really wanted to batch a cocktail made with at least one of the bottles of liqueurs that I redeemed at the local distillery over Memorial Day. I was thinking of scaling up the Rose, Cucumber, and Tonic, which was basically a gin and tonic enhanced with both rose liqueur and cucumber liqueur. I decided that I would scale up the liquor base to fit into my six-cup glass pitcher and offer the tonic on the side.

My Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) pick-up day was two days before the party - and it was going to contain kohlrabi. So I opened my Epicurious app to look up kohlrabi recipes, and then got distracted by the recipes on the home screen. Specifically, I was distracted by a gin based rhubarb cocktail that also contained fennel infused white vermouth. It sounded super refreshing. And it gave me an excuse to cook with rhubarb, which I had never done before.

The Appetizers

For my birthday at the beginning of the month, another really good friend (let’s call her Cea) sent me a novice cheesemaking kit. Naturally, I was looking for an excuse to use it. Since marscapone cheese was the simplest recipe in the accompanying book, I decided that I would try to make that. I planned on opening a jar of spiced jelly that I got at a very interesting Christmas party last December and buying a loaf of good fresh bread to serve alongside the cheese.

For some reason, I had an indescribable craving for homemade hummus. So I put that on the list as well. It only takes opening a can of chickpeas and measuring a few other ingredients into a blender; therefore, the only problem I anticipated from the hummus was having to clean the blender afterward.

Since an undetermined number of children would be attending - could be none, could be five - I decided that I needed some kid friendly food on the table. And what is more kid friendly than pizza? Especially if I could get my grill going and use that to cook the pizza. As a bonus, I could use the crushed tomatoes that I got with my CSA instead of a traditional pizza sauce. I could even make it super easy for myself by buying the pizza dough.

The Sides

My CSA contained a medium sized head of kale, and I was determined to turn that into a salad for the party. Bea brought a phenomenal kale salad (made with white chocolate) to the Third Annual Chocolate Dinner, so I texted her to ask if she could bring the recipe into the office the next day for me. Since she was going to be out of the office for a few days, she just texted me the directions. It totally seemed like something that I could manage, so I put a kale salad on the menu.

Blue cheese potato salad may sound odd, but it is a staple at my summer parties. It’s like a German potato salad, but cold and with blue cheese. I absolutely love the stuff, so I don’t mind if there are a lot of leftovers. Apparently some things are just too odd for some people to try.

At some point, I decided that I needed a vegetable in addition to the kale salad. Rather than turn one of my CSA lettuces into another salad, I settled on Dr Ron’s Salad, which is a recipe that my brother picked up in San Diego from a friend who was neither a doctor nor named Ron. It’s a wonderful combination of shoepeg corn, black beans, and diced peppers, seasoned with salsa and Italian dressing. I thought that might also be good as an accompaniment to the kale salad.

On final review of my menu, I noticed that I was short on starch. For some odd reason, I had a craving for Cuban Black Beans and Rice. I checked the recipe in my 2016 NetGalley recipe compilation, and that got me even more enthusiastic about it. I had forgotten that it contained bacon, in addition to the black beans and the rice. While that would not be suitable for any vegetarian guests, it would be awesome for the rest of us!

The Main Course

Since I fully intended on grilling, I started the main part of my menu with my beloved chipotle orange grilled vegetables. It was super easy and super delicious. All I had to do was mix the five ingredient grilling sauce, pick a selection of grillable vegetables at the grocery store, and then grill it all up. And if my grad school friend’s wife was still a strict vegetarian, that would be a perfect meal for her.

Flank steak is my other favorite meal on the grill, because it is both easy and delicious. The only problem with flank steak was deciding which spice mix to use on it. A really good friend of mine down south had sent me a phenomenal selection of spice rubs from Penzeys for my birthday. I had never cooked with these before, but the party offered a great opportunity to experiment. On the other hand, I had a tin from Teeny Tiny Spice Company that I really enjoyed. I’ve tried the Chocolate Chili Rub on flank steak numerous times before, so I knew it would be predictably delicious. I also had a few jars of homemade spice mixes, including a chili espresso rub that was excellent on grilled beef. In the end, I went with the TTS Chocolate Chili Rub. Once the thought of using it entered my mind, I couldn’t shake the craving for it.

To round out the menu, I decided to make some jerk marinated chicken tenders. These would be incredibly easy because I had a large package of chicken tenders in my freezer and half a bottle of leftover commercial jerk marinade in my refrigerator. So all I would have to do is defrost the chicken tenders, toss them in a ziploc with the leftover marinade, and throw them on the grill when the moment was right.

The Dessert

My sister was extremely generous in sending me a wide variety of cupcake decorations - and a Russian decorating kit - for my birthday. Of course, I wanted to make some gluten free cupcakes for the party so that I could play with my new toys. However, when I texted my gluten free guest to ask her what flavor cupcakes she wanted, she insisted that I not bake because she suspected that I was already doing a lot for the party. So I promised not to bake.

However, I would not be breaking a promise not to bake if I made a gluten free dessert that required no baking. Since I knew my gluten free guest adored my chocolate mousse, I added that to the menu.

The Execution

According to my plan, I was supposed to go grocery shopping on Wednesday, so that I could cook after work on Thursday and Friday, which would give me time to clean and set up on Saturday. I thought it was a good plan, but the old adage “Man plans, and God laughs” came into effect. After my appointment Wednesday night, I still didn’t have a complete menu. So I worked on that while having dinner at a sushi bar. Although I was able to finish the menu, I wasn’t able to draft the grocery list. So I went home instead, and drafted the grocery list before I went to sleep.

I left work on Thursday with just enough time to get to the orchard before CSA pick up closed. I dropped the CSA basket of goodies in my kitchen, and immediately headed out to the grocery store. I first made a quick stop at my small local liquor store to pick up a small bottle of white vermouth to infuse with fennel for the rhubarb fennel cocktail. Naturally, by the time I got home and got all the groceries sorted and stashed, I was exhausted. So I gave some serious thought as to what must absolutely be done on Thursday night. Starting the fennel vermouth was the only thing that I could think of. That had to infuse for two days, so pouring it off on Saturday afternoon would be cutting that time close if I started it Thursday night. And it was such a simple task that I couldn’t really justify putting it off. I also measured the dried black beans for the black beans and rice dish, and set those to soak overnight in the refrigerator.

On Friday afternoon, my trainer contacted me to determine whether I would be interested in meeting with him that evening. I thought about all the cooking that I had to do, but I figured that could be postponed a bit to progress toward my other goals. On my way home from the gym, I stopped by the grocery store to pick up rhubarb, hand soap, and raspberries. Of course, while scavenging the produce section for the elusive stalk of rhubarb, I discovered a whole pile of bagged kumquats. After a brief flashback to Little Z’s escapades at the Holiday Dessert Party last year, I added two bags to my grocery basket. Shortly after I had decided to replace the unobtainable rhubarb with strawberries, I found the rhubarb stalks in a box in the same case as the strawberries. I grabbed the other two items on my list, and was out of there.

When I arrived home after the great rhubarb quest, I was exhausted. So I went upstairs, curled up in bed, and planned my activities for the next 20 hours. By the time my allotted chill time was up, I had some clear direction of what must absolutely be accomplished that evening so I wouldn’t be behind on Saturday. In about three hours, I made hummus, prepared the CSA kale for the salad, started marinating the chicken, and made the chipotle orange sauce for the grilled vegetables. The only problem that I had with all of that was that the hummus was very (very) thin. I wondered if that could be because I measured the four ounces of yogurt by volume rather than by weight. However, I seemed to remember that the hummus thickened as it chilled, so I wedged it into the refrigerator and forgot about it. I also used up all my oregano in the hummus and all my olive oil in the chipotle orange sauce. It looked like another grocery store run was in my future.

By Saturday morning, I had determined that I definitely needed to go back to the grocery store for fresh bread, olive oil, and milk. But I wanted to get some long lead tasks accomplished before I ran that errand. I started the first few steps of the marscapone recipe for the cheesemaking kit that Cea gave me for my birthday. And then I set that aside to cool while I left for the grocery store. I coated the flank steaks with the Chocolate Chili Rub and broiled them until the internal temperature was a safe 145F. I made the rhubarb puree for the new pitcher drink. It looked more like rhubarb mash than puree, but I didn’t have the rhubarb or the time to do it over again. Into the refrigerator it went! I cut and boiled the potatoes for the potato salad, and then set that aside to drain in the sink while I was at the store. Fortunately, I had no major (or minor) drama during my shopping trip, so I was able to pick right up where I left off when I got back home.

Saturday afternoon came too quickly! I took the pizza doughs out of the refrigerator about thirty minutes behind schedule. I made the potato salad in a gallon ziploc. As soon as that was sealed and stuck in the refrigerator, I started cutting up vegetables and draining cans so that I could made Dr Ron’s Salad in another gallon ziploc. That about caught me up to where I wanted to be before bedtime on Friday. I sliced all the flank steak. I mixed the two pitcher drinks. I got the tables set up, covered, and arrayed with the appropriate dishes, napkins, and cutlery. Around 3pm, I started cooking the soaked black beans so that the dish would be ready exactly at 4pm. Of course, my calculations were a little off.

The Party

Not long after 4pm, Bea and her crew arrived with ice, some amazing gluten free chocolate cookies, a beautiful fresh corn and black bean salad, and can-do attitudes. My black beans and rice had just finished cooking together, and had another fifteen minutes to go before the rice would be tender enough to serve. Bea took charge of that, making sure to add enough cooking water from the beans to keep the rice moist. I asked Bea’s sister if she would set up my fancy blender and mix up a batch of her fancy hurricanes in it. She was more than happy to oblige. Between all of us pitching in, we had the pizza and the black beans and rice ready on the table before other guests arrived. So we sat down on the couches and comfy chairs to enjoy our drinks and chat until others showed.

It seemed like I went from having an empty house to a full house in no time flat. At one point, I had four kids, one dog, and uncountable adults occupying my first floor. At another point, I walked in on Bea and some of the other ladies playing “Guess Where This Goes” in my kitchen while attempting to unload my dishwasher. Apparently, they were amusing themselves because they promptly shooed me out of the area.

And, just as quickly as it had started, it ended. Even though it was too rainy for me to grill the vegetables - or anything else - no one seemed to mind the changes in the menu. Friends went back for second and third plates of food; happily, there was enough to feed everyone for multiple rounds to the table. And there was enough to send food home with whomever wanted it.

The Verdict

The menu ended up being a mixture of classic family recipes and new recipes. The chocolate mousse never happened, but there was plenty of dessert brought by generous guests. The marscapone failed miserably. Even after cooling with the citric acid, the mixture ran straight through my cheesecloth lined strainer, leaving no cheese behind. Despite the sludge-like rhubarb mixture, the Rhubarb Fennel Gin Cocktail was surprisingly more popular than the Rose, Cucumber, and Tonic. There was also very little Hurricane left because the adults were having fun with the dispensing blender. After the party, there was very little left of either the kale salad or the potato salad; however, there was an entire gallon ziploc full of Dr Ron’s Salad because that was never served. The black beans and rice had very little leftover, and there was only one piece of chicken remaining. I was surprised at the number of compliments that I received on the chicken, especially considering that I used a commercial bottled marinade and I cooked it in the oven.

Overall, I believe everyone found something to eat that they enjoyed and someone to talk with who was pleasant. And that’s really all that I aim for!