The Watermelon Radish

The Watermelon Radish
A Kid's Point of Food

Friday, June 1, 2012

Dinner with Friends

A few nights ago my family packed our wine and cheese in a bag and drove over to our friends Jeff, Julia, Paige and Sidney's house for dinner.  The adults spent the first part of the evening conversing, while the kids played fun games like laser tag and hide and seek.  A normal game of hide and seek soon turned into tag, unbeknownst to the seeker.  We played that for a while, waiting for dinner to be ready.  My mom and Julia worked in the kitchen, so we had to avoid that room.  The moms made chicken picatta.  They pounded chicken, dredged it in flour then dipped it in egg.  They finished the chicken with panko/bread crumbs. Heating the pan with hot oil came next, then cooking both sides of the chicken while adding more oil.  At the same time Julia cooked some risotto, so both of them were flipping like crazy.  The dads sat in the living room and finished off the cheese that we brought for an aperitif.  They were oblivious to the three girls running through the room being followed by Andy, their small dog with a big bark.  I caught only snatches of their conversation about wine, cheese, vineyards and all the usual dad topics.  Soon, dinner was ready and we all gathered in the kitchen to load our plates.  The chicken was a masterpiece, it was now cooled and sprinkled with a sweet and sour lemon sauce.  You could still taste the clean white meat, and the bread crumbs gave it a nice crunch.  The risotto had miraculously been compacted into risotto cakes!  The were warm and gooey, due to the wonderful cheese that had been placed in the center.  I love green beans so I put some on my plate.  The only time I've seen white green beans is when I went to their house.  The fresh green beans were sugary and split in your mouth. There were also baked cherry and heirloom tomatoes.  They were warm and filled with warm juice.









Then came dessert time, I found out that Paige, a third grader,  had made the entire dessert herself!  She made the  fragrant raspberry sauce, the velvety brownies, but not the ice cold vanilla ice cream.  The brownies were chocolaty and warm, the raspberry sauce made them taste sour and sweet.  The ice cream, which I ate separately because I'm weird that way, was also very good.  It was all amazing.  


And it is always a treat to have
1. Dinner with friends (that have kids, especially if they are my great friends)
2. If the dinner is also super good too!
3.  If I can post it on my blog!

Kudos to the G family!!

Watermelon Radish


12 comments:

  1. There has to be a Bravo series lurking within the Watermelon Radish blog. From musical tables at the Hotel Bel Air, the comic tangle of Grandma & Dad (they should be on the Dancing show), the bathing rabbit, the live scallop that became a pet... o wait, that movie has been made- The Blob.

    Now youve got Fred & Barney yakking about wine, grapes and baseball. Betty & Wilma pounding the squawk outta da chicken, Pebbles, Pebbles, BamBam and Dino careening through the house.. it is the @1st century Flintstones!

    Stone apertif!

    And pass me a risotto cake , please.

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  2. Sounds like a super great night. Wish we could have joined you...the food looked amazing and super impressed with Paige's dessert.

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  3. Dear Watermelon Radish,
    Your blog should come with a warning label. I was only a little hungry when I sat down to read your latest post and in less than a minute I was drooling like a ravenous beast! I'm sitting at the computer and had to actually wipe my chin for fear I would drool on the keyboard! The dinner looked great and sounded delicious! I would like to say I am going to enjoy my chicken picatta & green bean masterpiece now when in actuality, my PB&J just oozed onto my plate.
    Thanks for keeping me fed!

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  4. very nice.
    sounds like a very yummy dinner and evening.

    ciao bella
    LS

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  5. Sounds like you got your fathers subconscious desire to be a chef.
    Howard

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  6. Wow! That sounds so delicious. You dear WR have such a way with words... yum!

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  7. Dear Kellen
    WOW...you amaze me. Think your writing and understanding of fine cuisine is wonderful. How did you mature so fast ? Noticed you have been doing the writing since 2010.Thank you for sharing with me. Love Aunt Anne

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  8. It's always great to have dinner with great people! My students also love to play hide and seek. I can imagine how much fun you guys are having!

    I also love chicken. Wish I'll be able to join you guys sometime... Now, keep making us hungerrrrrryyyyyy

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  9. Kellen you inspire me! Love Lynn

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  10. Another fun post Kellen. Love your descriptions of your brave (and fun!) eating adventures. You're inspiring me to try something new next time I have sushi. Hope you might be blogging about your recent trip to the wine country too.

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  11. Carissima Kellen,
    Riordinando le mie foto trovo quella bellissima del nostro abbraccio al "Solociccia", sono commosso al ricordo, perciĆ² ho piacere di mandarti un saluto insieme a Kim, per augurarti cose belle e buone per il lavoro e per la vita.
    Un abbraccio
    Dario e Kim

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