May 13th - Coriander night, landscaping plans, and the Civil War

I'm a bit late posting (again). My parents came up to visit on the 14th, and I've been busy showing them the sights. But here I am, with a belated run-down of coriander/cilantro night. The guests tonight were Paul and Erika Mabrey, Clayton Johnson, and Sohrab Najafabadi. I know that the menu said coriander was the featured ingredient, but it really turned out to be somewhat cilantro-heavy. As you likely know, the leaves of the coriander plant are variously called both coriander and cilantro, but when I wrote the menu I was thinking of coriander more as the spice, or the seeds of the plant, and not the herb, or the leaves of the plant. One of my favorite parts of the evening was when Clayton pushed back in his chair and asked, "Was there one ingredient common in all of those dishes?" Obviously, Clayton is the type who makes his Cafe Davis reservations based on schedule availability, and not the menu options. :)

Now that we've gotten past that drawn-out bit of introduction, the menu for the night was chick-pea falafel with coriander dip; tomato, cucumber and coriander salad; cumin-coriander crusted salmon; and cilantro potatoes. Here's a picture of the falafel in progress:

It was just ok. I think it's something that I'm willing to tinker with though, because when falafel is good, it's *very* good.

Now on to the featured recipe of the day - the only one that actually had coriander spice in it:


Cumin-Coriander Crusted Salmon
(from Cooking Light)

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 fish fillet and 1 lemon wedge)

Ingredients

•      2  tablespoons  finely chopped fresh cilantro
•      1  tablespoon  finely chopped shallots
•      1  teaspoon  olive oil
•      1/2  teaspoon  ground cumin
•      1/4  teaspoon  ground coriander
•      1/4  teaspoon  kosher salt
•      1/4  teaspoon  black pepper
•      4  (6-ounce) salmon fillets
•      Cooking spray
•      4  lemon wedges

Preparation

Combine cilantro, shallots, oil, cumin, coriander, salt, and pepper in a small bowl, stirring to form a paste. Place fish, skin side down, in a shallow baking dish. Coat top of fish with cilantro mixture. Cover; refrigerate 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 400°.

Arrange fish on the rack of a roasting pan coated with cooking spray, and place rack in pan. Bake at 400° for 10 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork or until desired degree of doneness. Serve with lemon wedges.

As far as guest photos go, I somehow only managed to get pictures of Clayton. He was at Cafe Davis, however, to begin his 35th birthday celebration. Erika had the foresight to bring absolutely delicious cupcakes from Shank's Bakery as dessert. We cracked open a bottle of champagne, threw a "3" candle on top of a cupcake, and had an impromptu birthday party. Hopefully the rest of his birthday weekend only kept getting better!

I spent the following three days hanging out with my parents. On Saturday we drove almost 200 miles around the Valley, taking in sites we had never seen before. Somewhere near Bryce Resort we stumbled across a little store with an awesome inspiration for our backyard. We have plans to construct a shaded rock-garden next to the beer shack, and this is what I want to build in it:

As you can see, Mike is already relaxed just thinking about it.

Finally, today we headed to New Market to see the Civil War battle reenacted. It was a breezy, cool, overcast day. The reenactment experience was interesting, but it seemed to be more satisfying for the people participating in it than than for the spectators. Here's an amusing anecdote: We were in the shopping village area where people can buy Civil War-era buttons and really expensive period costumes. There was a man in full uniform talking to a couple in one of the tents, and he was making fun of people who dress up and go to Star Trek conventions. Really? Because dressing up and hanging out in a pasture is that much better ....

I love that the guy in the foreground is dressed in his naval uniform. But at least he's not a Trekkie.