*Haiku - According to Google: a form of Japanese poetry, consisting of 17 moras (I think that means syllables), in three metrical phrases of 5, 7, and 5 moras respectively. (Don't count mine. . I'm a little off, moras-wise.)









MUSINGS BY JOAN #31

I have never written a haiku* in my life, but I was moved to write one in honor of last Friday night’s dinner. I’m not sure if haikus are allowed to have titles, but mine does. My apologies to any haiku purists in the group.

THE SAGA OF BENARD’S
BOEUF ALA BOURGUIGNONNE

Julia’s recipe
Three hours on feet in kitchen
Beef stew

We never should have gone to see that movie. Ever since, Chef Benardo, aka the significant other, has been determined to make this very fancy dish whose recipe actually takes four pages in Julia Child’s “Art of French Cooking”. I admit the results were totally delicious. It’s the first beef stew I ever ate that could give you a buzz due to the entire bottle of Merlot wine that went into the pot along with the longest list of ingredients you can possibly imagine, including a few items I never heard of before.

The recipe requirements for this “simple but delicious French dish” ( can’t you just hear Julia warbling that sentence?) are so extensive that Benard decided to make it the day before the scheduled dinner party. It was a good thing he did. He was so exhausted when it was finally done that he was forced to take a long nap immediately afterward.

For the actual dinner, he donned his authentic white chef’s jacket with his name embroidered over the pocket. It was a gift some time back from our friend Pamela and the dinner party was in honor of her birthday. I grabbed my camera to memorialize the moment as he ceremoniously tasted his simmering culinary creation. I’m pretty sure he’s not planning to make it again. Not in this lifetime, at least.

For the foodies out there, we started out with champagne and crudités before moving to the dining table where Chef Benardo served his triumph accompanied by buttered noodles and fresh asparagus. Does anyone know how to say yummy in French???

I set the table, of course. The napkins looked truly elegant. I’ll send you my recipe if you’re interested.
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Photo caption: Chef Benardo taste-testing his Boeuf ala Bourguignonne.