Hot off the presses, once the latest issue of Bon Appétit showed up in the mailbox, came a new recipe for mushroom and shallot Salisbury steak, and when Kristen and Mookie came for dinner last Friday, we all got to find out how exceptionally delicious it was. My gracious, what glory: incredible flavors in the steaks themselves, a mushroom sauce to please us, the special treat of mashed skin-on red potatoes (this time with chives and bacon along with the sour cream and tons of butter)...and the fall-back to canned green beans.
The latest hurricane of 2024 had come ashore at the Big Bend of Florida overnight, and Helene proved to have a massive reach of unbelievable rain amounts. Here in Winston, we just got the brush-by, with steady rain fall and random occasional gusts of wind. By mid-afternoon, we were clearing. Those in the mountains to our west were not so lucky. No major damage around the house, and not as many small limbs and twigs to collect as I might have expected...but the second floor at the front of the house definitely had plenty of water coming through into the drip buckets.
About a block-and-a-half from the house, on the corner of West Fifth and Broad Streets, a tree took out the gas pumps awning and crushed a vehicle and landed on a beer truck:
The housecleaning ladies drove up as the weather was calming down, which was also well-timed because dear friends Margaret and Tathy arrived at day's end to spend the weekend taking in the awesome events of the annual Bookmarks Festival of Books and Authors. It was a quick in-and-out once they got here: dropping luggage, briefly visiting while I was doing dinner prep, and then off they went for the opening night activities at the Convention Center. Margaret and Tathy were excited to meet Stacey Abrams and Michael Eric Dyson, among others, for book-signings and meet-and-greet opportunities.
With all that activity, my plans around dinner for the visiting Mookie and Kristen had me making a quick return to vanilla bean pudding cake: after the more extensive clean-up from supper it was something I could throw together quickly enough to make sure we treated our dinner guests right.
”Mushroom and Shallot Salisbury Steak,” by Jesse Szewczyk. In Bon Appétit, October 2024, p. 18.
The return of late to this take on mashed red potatoes still being inspired by "Sour Cream and Onion Smashed Potatoes," by María del Mar Sacasa. In Cook's Country, February/March 2009, p. 9.
"Vanilla Bean Pudding Cakes," from Susan Reid. Published by King Arthur Baking. Recipe printed July 2017.
