Every year we have dinner with our friend and the drummer in our band, Chops. We have all been working on music together for over six years now so have grown close, having spent a lot of time together. But little of that time is passed just hanging out, relaxing and talking.
So he came over last night and Nick treated us to a delicious and nutritious dinner of Baked Filet of Sole, breaded with Panko and homemade breadcrumbs, topped with a lemon, wine and herb sauce. The side dishes included roasted carrots, parsnips and potatoes, and steamed green beans and broccoli. We also had a chopped vegetable salad with a dressing that he made using the Blueberry Vinegar I made in the summer (seen here).
For dessert he served Apple Pie made from scratch, with a scoop of French Vanilla ice-cream.
It was a really good meal and we all had fun. As Chops put it, we had ‘put him in his happy place’.
I had to laugh because as I was setting up the table, Nick reminded me that ‘they were men’ and therefore didn’t want anything overly fancy-pancy. But then, after I had set the table with some plain cream coloured plates, he came by and said, ‘I think we should use the fish plates, don’t you?’. Haha, nothing fancy required, except fish plates to go along with the serving of fish! Of course he was right and the fish plates added a nice decorative detail but still kept things looking manly.
(The plates came courtesy of some guys hosting a garage sale at their art studio once, who at the end of the day, gave them to me for next to nothing because they thought it was funny that I actually liked them. There are six of them and a platter, each with a different platter. I previously photographed them here.)
For a centre piece I just grabbed a few small branches, plunked them into a vintage pressed-glass jug, and hung some old silver Christmas ornaments on them. I thought it resembled coral. To further tie-in with the water/fish theme, I placed this on a tray that has shells embedded within it.
To make it easy to know which wine-glass belonged to whom, I used these little coloured charms to the stems of the glasses. Apart from the food, and of course the company, those little things were Chops’ favourite element of the meal. He played with and spun his around while we chatted, actually declaring that he really liked that little ball thing. At one point he spun it with such vigor that the ball dislodged itself from the ring and went flying across the room.
And since our band is called ‘The Rails’, I always give him the vintage gift-tag with Santa riding in a train. He leaves it behind every year, and I just save it for next time!
Next to me and Nick, this drummer is boycat Eddie’s best friend in the world. Throughout the evening he stayed very close to him. And Chops loves him right back.
Since this post is about food and about Eddie, it is a two-for-one, filling in for yesterday’s absent ‘Food Friday’ post and today’s ‘Caturday’ post.
Here’s wishing you a great weekend!
xo loulou
