From a Challenge to a Feast...

Well, we proved after our dinner #11 that it is possible to unite the most picky eaters in one table. To say that this dinner was a challenge is a great understatement. Not that I don't mind the occasional challenge, I actually love them, but this one set the bar high. These were the limitations for the night:

• gluten free
• lactose free
• no shell fish or "anything that touched the ocean"

Now that i see it written up like this, I just realized I cooked my first kosher meal without even knowing it. Not 100% sure it would have been blessed by a rabbi, but nonetheless.

I cannot however, for all that is sacred in this blog, dedicate this post only to the food. It was an amazing dinner, delicious in all ways. But it was also a very special dinner due to the people that joined us. Not only did we have a very fun couple of Argentines (one who works with Tamy) but we also had my sister-in-law and cousin visiting from Mexico and Miami respectively. This would be the first of two consecutive dinner's where we would have family and friends visiting from far away (my sister-in-law will repeat two dinners since she is staying with us for a week). It is always a treat for us to have family join us on our dinners. I think it becomes very obvious for our readers that we are very close with our family, its part of who we are, and I think that translates to the experience.

Ok, so now back to the food! Full of challenges and all, Tamy and I set out to create an amazing dinner. Understanding all the requirements that we had, we set out to create the menu. We obviously struggled due to the fact that gluten, believe it or not, is very hard to avoid. It is in so many things that we eat on a daily basis, it has become a regular staple of our diet. So the menu we created after much contemplation and research (yes some twittering as well, thank you!) was the following:

Theme: Balsamic Vinegar

Appetizer

Goat cheese covered seared beet salad with arugula and pine nuts (for the lactose intolerant we removed the goat cheese of course)

Main Plate

Seared duck breast with balsamic reduction

Ying Yang Quinoa with wild mushrooms and asparagus

Dessert

Originally planned strawberries with balsamic reduction but finished with a Grape/Blueberry sorbet with balsamic reduction, garnished with peach slices

More on the dinner, the grocery shopping and the recipes shortly.