Today I had a terrific Mother’s Day with family and friends, featuring an inspired meal prepared by our resident chef, Bonnie. Here she is with her signature popovers.
While I’ve written about Bonnie’s artistic talents before (Thanksgiving Bonnie-Style, Bonnie’s Thanksgiving Feast), I never completely figured out why I’m so intrigued by Bonnie’s skillful meal preparation. Until today.
What I watched last night and this morning (and participated in) is a unique kind performance art that goes on for hours. It’s like a carefully orchestrated ballet of flavors, with Bonnie at the helm as the producer, choreographer, conductor and prima ballerina all rolled into one.
With careful planning, somehow all the moving parts come together into an elegant whole. It’s hard to describe how she coordinates everything, making it look effortless. Bonnie moves gracefully around the kitchen juggling multiple dishes, moving from one recipe to another and then back again – while orchestrating the rest of us.
I find the process extremely compelling, and was having flashbacks to foodie movies such as Burnt, Chef and No Reservations. Maybe I should start taking videos, but as a backstage assistant I was too busy much of the time.
Here’s the final production featuring 12+ recipes.
The menu included crudite with a homemade spinach dip, cucumber soup with a mango and tomato garnish, nicoise salad, salmon with dill, turkey meatballs on spiraled sweet potatoes with a parsley cauliflower sauce, lentil salad, acorn square creations, my favorite butternut squash/leek/green apple side dish, and potato leek goat cheese tart in a pistachio crust made especially for my brother-in-law Bill.
Ah yes, I forgot dessert – the brownie dessert and the cranberry loaf. My mouth is watering…
Bonnie’s vision somehow morphed an ordinary acorn squash into an artistic looking platter with quinoa, mushrooms, and brussel sprouts.
Her appetizing nicoise salad is always a hit.
So is the lentil salad with vegetables.
Recently Bonnie re-discovered the glory of spiralizing on inspiralized.com which translated into this sweet potato dish.
Then there was the watermelon with mint, which everyone raved about. I skipped it at lunch because I thought it couldn’t be anything special. But I was mistaken as I found out at dinner.
Another way to think about this is as piece of installation art involving food that is transitory and ephemeral by nature. The concept goes beyond a ballet of flavors, to shapes, colors, and textures that appeal to all our senses. In short, all the elements of great art.
Act I consists of Bonnie and the food. Act 2 begins with Bonnie explaining her dishes and ends with us at the dining room table demolishing her creations.
Here’s our friend Alissa, from Philadelphia, who joined the crew. She was put to work as soon as she walked in and certainly earned her meal.
My sister-in-law Pam, from Kansas City, also joined the ensemble, as did Jay with several trips to the grocery store and hours of clean up.
Pam and I had a great Mother’s Day! We hope yours was as great as ours.
The best part is the performance isn’t truly over. The encore continues as we enjoy magnificent leftovers (too good to be called leftovers; do you have a better name?). No need to cook for a long time. What a finale!
