SF Strays Thanksgiving 2005

Thank you Michael for hosting such a wonderful Thanksgiving feast! As usual when Michael throws a party, you can always expect high standards. A carefully and elaborately planned menu, consisting of unique combinations, hard hard work put into the details and presentation, and a final result that always tantalizes. I am always impressed and it was no different for Michael's 2005 SF Strays Thanksgiving Dinner Party. On top of Michael's (and Kathryn's) awesome cooking, each of us guests had a role to play, concocting an element of the dinner. Some really great dishes were made...... Thank you all!


First course of the meal is set on the table. What you see here are various creations from the SF Strays gang. Michael made the comforting Carrot Cream soup with Pistachios and Audrey made the fabulous Pear, Cranberry and Blue-cheese Salad. Also pictured is Ellie's rich Red Wine, Pear & Apple sauce, Michael's tangy crack-laden Grand Marnier Cranberry "sauce" and Sarah's spicy Pumpkin Pie. (We were already on the way to being stuffed before the soup and salad came, due to the aperitif nibbles we devoured before-hand)


Mike doing the honors carving the roast. It looked really good, very elaborately created, with fine details such as roasted onions. Pictured is my Butternut Squash Mashed Potatoes, Michael and Kathryn's Brussels Sprout dish, and hiding behind that is my Roasted Sweet Corn. Notice Louisiana in front of the roast, inspecting Mike's every move...


Here is a close up of the soup and salad. Notice Sarah's Cranberry Quince Chutney that was so fabuloso.


Ellie, enjoying her Carrot soup by the fire.


After gobbling up the first course, Ellie and I are goofing off impatiently waiting for the main course to recieve it's final touches!


The turkey is served, we are all gathered round, and feasing away! As usual, Michael cannot hold still in front of the camera!


Michael doesn't cease to impress! A lady-finger based cheese cake with macerated blackberries. This cake was so gooood!


Sarah and Louisiana demonstrate what it feels like to be stuffed by Thanksgiving dinner by plopping on the couch! Sadly Louisiana (the doggie) chooses to demonstrate in a very rude way by being very very sinky...... in a fart-ish sort of way!

Espresso Insanity!

My new little one shot espresso cup, made by hand in the traditional Italian way. Merm made the shot for me with her fabulous espresso machine. I have to say, it was sooo yummy.


Visible in the background is my machinery! A 2 shot moka pot. The best $10 I have ever spent! Makes better espresso than 99.99% of cafés out here in San Francisco.


Ever drank 4 shots of espresso in less than 5 minutes? I hadn't, until that day. Caffé Trieste makes the best in the city, that I have tasted so far.


First time at Caffé Trieste. Not only are their Espressos and Cappuccinos scrumptious, their pizza is sooo delicious!


Merm, letting her Cappuccino Grande wait while on the phone with Jilian. You can see there my Espresso Grande, which consists of 4 shots of espresso.


A somewhat decent espresso from Peet's Coffee.... Had to ask for decaffeinated, since their coffee is way too strong. Ceramic is not the standard at Peet's Coffee, nor at the majority of San Francisco's coffee shops. Usually you get your coffee in a paper cup. To get ceramic, you must ask. When you drink you coffee, you really stand out.....

Ecco Gelato, Santa Fe

This place has to be, BY FAR, the best gelato I have tasted in the world. I have difficulty saying this since an experience I had in Israel led me to say the same thing. Ok, so Ecco Gelato in Santa Fe, NM and Har Zahav in Jerusalem are on my top ranking position, in the gelato department.

Cinco De Michael

The party is in full swing and Michael is preparing ingredients for the lovely quesadillias. The truly unique element will be the Butternut Squash.


He's loving it! Anticipation is in the air, we gather around to smell the yumminess and to help out.




The ingredients are almost ready. In the meantime, the Salmon Ceviche is served! This delightfully tangy appetizer was quite a special treat. It was quickly devoured with nothing to spare!


Ingredients for the quesadillias are finally ready.


The tortillas waiting for the assembly to begin.


Grated cheese and the roasted butternut squash is first up.


The grilled chicken and cilantro are next.


Squished, cooked and sliced, Michael stands proud with the first of the batch. We gobbled it up to make sure it was in fact as tasty as it looked. We were delighted to find that it was more delicious than expected.


Many more were made, in the midst of the goofing off.




The huge pineapples, waiting to be transformed into powerful concoctions!




The tasty food didn't stop us from dancing the night away! With great music to match the food, what could one expect!












Sweet Louise inspecting the cooking. She was quite interested in doing some taste-testing as well!






Filling ready to be used in the Spicy Seared Tuna Tacos.


The big flank of sushi-grade tuna, the key ingredient in the Spicy Seared Tuna Tacos. This flank was succulent. It was lucky we were on tuna slicing duty, since we got to nibble on many pieces and marvel at the freshness of this fish.


Isn't fish the most beautiful thing in the world? We had a hard time resisting from eating the chunks right then and there!!!




This is the spicing step. We covered every chunk with this mixture of spices, making them ready for the searing process.




The Spice covered Tuna, ready for searing.