Early Autumn

I’m beginning to reach for a jacket as I head out the door, and suddenly the idea of a Fall Dinner didn’t seem as forced as it did a couple of weeks ago.

• bourbon pecans ☙ apple madeleines ☙ gougères
  • Last Word cocktail
• duck confit ☙ squash, roasted over a garlic clove and a sprig of thyme
  • Trimbach pinot grigio
• grilled beef tenderloin ☙ honey-glazed shallots ☙ sauce champignons ☙ buttermilk dinner rolls
  • St. Emilion, Fleur de Barbeyron 2005
• local Asian pears, St. Augur
• fresh fig clafouti ☙ smoked Marcona almond brittle ☙ Clotilde’s very chocolate biscuits
  • Eiswein (memorable but notes misplaced)

Lesson of the night: grilling the third course is far harder than grilling the first. Grill at the start of the night and it’s a general entertainment, watching the fire and sipping drinks. Grill in them middle and it’s one more thing to track.

I really like the Pinot Grigio with the duck. I’ve been reaching for grenache and shiraz for confit, but this makes a lot of sense.

I did try to avoid the food coma effect this time, sticking two the four course formula of Sunday Suppers and Lucques, a seldom-mentioned book from which I’ve learned a lot. Still too much food, I fear. But feasting is seasonal for autumn, right?