A Grand Success!

There is nothing quite like the full-body exhaustion that follows a good dinner party.

Last night’s dinner was a grand success! The grilled squid salad rocked. Cullen did a banging job on stirring the risotto. The piece d’ resistance was the cake. I tell you, nothing goes over better than a good old-fashioned layer cake for dessert. One guest had three, yes, THREE slices.

(I’ll be making a similar cake for Easter. I’m going to modify the recipe slightly by brushing the cakes with rosewater before frosting, and by making my own powdered sugar for the frosting. I’ll use a golden sugar without any cornstarch.)

We had a terrific time talking and drinking and debating for hours. I even made an after-dinner snack: roasted curied carrots. OMG! I don’t know if it was just the booze or what, but they were inhaled!

Ingredients:

Carrots (a bag of the baby ones)

Olive oil (enough to coat, maybe 1/4 cup)
Ginger (shake)

Hot curry powder (shake)

White Pepper (shake)

Kosher salt (tons)

Method:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees

Combine carrots and olive oil in a bowl.

Add spices.

Pour onto 1/2 sheet pan in one layer.

Roast at 450 degrees for 15 minutes.

Top with Kosher salt.

Serve finger style, but watch out!!! They stay hot for a while.

Thank me later.