https://erica_jacobs.typepad.com > Dinner for California Guests

When Joan Sills told me her friend Gail and daughter Lily were visiting colleges from Walnut Creek, California, I knew I had to show them some Eastern hospitality. Joan, Mary, and the visitors dined well after viewing Brown, Yale, Amherst, and other colleges. The menu: smoked salmon, spinach balls, parsnip soup, crab cakes with avocado puree, salad, fingerling potatoes, racks of lamb with mustard glaze, Chocolate temptation cake.

My favorite soup: parsnip soup with curry spices from the Greens cookbook

My favorite soup: parsnip soup with curry spices from the Greens cookbook


Folding egg whites into the cake batter

Folding egg whites into the cake batter


Help! Who's going to do the cake-making dishes?

Help! Who's going to do the cake-making dishes?


The chocolate layers are flourless

The chocolate layers are flourless


The secret ingredient: Scharffenberger 70% chocolate

The secret ingredient: Scharffenberger 70% chocolate


Hazelnut ganache for another cake filling

Hazelnut ganache for another cake filling


Raspberries drying

Raspberries drying


Raspberry puree for inside the cake, and on the plate

Raspberry puree for inside the cake, and on the plate


Crab cake mixture before becoming patties

Crab cake mixture before becoming patties


Chocolate ganache ready to spread on the cake

Chocolate ganache ready to spread on the cake


Desaulniers' Chocolate Temptation cake

Desaulniers' Chocolate Temptation cake


The table is ready

The table is ready


Copeland Spode plates, Orrefors crystal

Copeland Spode plates, Orrefors crystal


Racks of lamb marinading with Julia Child's mustard coating

Racks of lamb marinading with Julia Child's mustard coating


Fingerling potatoes with rosemary, ready for roasting

Fingerling potatoes with rosemary, ready for roasting


Spinach balls for appetizers, and salad ingredients (golden beets, goat cheese, greens, pine nuts)

Spinach balls for appetizers, and salad ingredients (golden beets, goat cheese, greens, pine nuts)


Zephyr offers a gimlet eye to the proceedings

Zephyr offers a gimlet eye to the proceedings


Mary brought smoked salmon from the Northwest

Mary brought smoked salmon from the Northwest


After dinner, the dishes are stacked and ready to put away

After dinner, the dishes are stacked and ready to put away