Father's Day

Father's day, more than anything, meant a day full of FOOD. My brother and I gave my father some cook books, which he loved. However, since our tradition was to always give an egg-related item, I thought I had to make up for this loss by trying a new egg recipe for breakfast. I thought, "heck, I've never made eggs benedict before, why not today!"

So I did just that: I found that is it much easier to keep the egg together if you first crack it onto a small platter, and then slide it onto the simmering water. I kept it on there for about 3 minutes, and then covered with a plate for about 20 seconds- just so the top will get steamed a little. And what's eggs benedict without the hollandaise sauce??? The sauce was the definition of a cholesterol attack: just yolks and butter. YIKES. But sometimes you gotta sacrifice something... and it WAS father's day!

Served it on some french bread and topped with cayenne pepper and some rosmary (just to add some color to the plate) and voila!

Later that day, we went to a friend's house for "lunch" (can we really call it just lunch if it lasts 6 hours?) and ate our hearts out. My father made some pickled cow tongue for the occasion- an Argentinian delicase- and the host put together a truly beautiful table.

Lots of salads, cheeses, and home-made breads YUM!

When we finally got home, I immediately set out to make a tiramisu to surprise my mother with. My favorite recipes are the most simple ones: I don't like adding any kind of cream, gelatine, or flavoring to the mix. I changed only a few things from this recipe: Instead of using only the egg yolks, I beat the whites as well until soft peaks formed, and folded them into the yolk/mascarpone mixture- this makes the tiramisu much less heavy and more fluffy. Next, I lined the bottom of my container with chocolate covered graham crackers instead of lady fingers- I think that gives it a yummy little kick (I kept the lady fingers for the middle layer!). I also switched the rum for coffee liquor- I felt it was a much better match. It's probably futile to mention that my mom LOVED IT!

Doesn't quite do it justice