Through the Kitchen Window

I photographed all the birds I posted today through the kitchen windows while I was helping Laurie prepare the meal for her book group that is meeting at our house tomorrow night.  On the menu is potted shrimp on toast with celery-radish salad, spice-rubbed roast beef tenderloin with red wine sauce, mashed potato and rutabaga gratin, braised fennel with orange, and gingerbread-brandy trifle for desert.  All the dishes are best prepared one to 3 days before the meal so the flavors can blend.  We’ve been working on the various dishes all day, while doing other chores in between.

I’m letting the filling for the trifle cool while I write the blog. It’s fairly complicated to prepare and a lot of work whisking egg yokes with ginger-brandy syrup, sugar and sparkling wine over a baño de Maria (double boiler, I believe it is called in English) until it turned to pudding. The recipe said about 8 minutes. At 5000 feet above sea level it took 30 minutes of vigorous whisking before the mixture cooked into a smooth, airy pudding. Now I have to whip cream and mascarpone together, then add the pudding to complete the filling. Laurie just finished baking the ginger cake.