French Laundry Tasting Party

One day, I was feeling ambitious and without much thought, invited a few friends to showcase my newly-found skills for gourmet cooking, thanks to the French Laundry cookbook. As I was planning the canapés I will be making, I felt even more ambitious and decided to go all out for a sit-down tasting dinner instead.

Seven courses, 42 platings, 2 full days of slaving in the kitchen -- all for an evening of fun with some of our closest friends. It was worth it.

Here's all the plates we used.

Our friend, an avid wine collector, took care of the wine pairings.

The table setting.




I made personalized laundry clips and printed menu.




Second Course: Cream of Walnut Soup, 3 Ways




Third course: Gruyere Cheese Gougeres




Forth Course: Surprise Dish
(Roasted Pork Belly in Maple-Soy Reduction)
We paired it with a bottle of 2006 LLyton Springs, savoring
each sip knowing this is on the wine list at the FL restaurant itself -- a list which btw, is 104 pages long!




Course 4.2: Parmigiano-Reggiano Crisps with Goat Cheese Mousse




Fifth Course: Gazpacho



Sixth Course: Wheat Penne with Sweet Potato & Sage Cream Sauce



Seventh Course: Cappuccino Semifreddo with Custard Quenelle




The custard quenelle is my my own take on the all-time Filipino favorite, Brazo de Mercedes.
I designed it myself, one afternoon while waiting for the hubz to pick me up at work.







And now for my outfits...

This is what I wore the first time we hosted.


-- F21 kimono dress -- black bead necklace, gifted -- Ann Taylor headband, gifted --



For the second time, a friend helped me with all the prep so I wasn't as tired and nervous as the first. In fact, I was feeling more confident in the kitchen and got the timing down so that guests were not waiting longer than 5 minutes between courses. Even made some simple fun games to get them more involved like naming the main ingredient, or the herbs & spices used for the dish, or guessing the number of ingredients for the Gazpacho. There's 15, btw!!





-- dress from Manila -- Kors by Michael Kors braided belt -- F21 necklace --

Bon Appetit!!