Cooking with Wine

Weird. I wrote this, but never posted. Also, no pictures of the boeuf bourguignon. But, I make it fairly often, so I'll add the pics from next time :)


Last night, I "accidentally" had a trial run of my main dish for my first Friday Night at Ted's at Gretchen's. One of the books I found with my Uncle Ted's things, is a nearly pristine copy of Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. It's winter here in MN and it's cold. No better time for boeuf bourguignon. Throughout the course of the day, I had a conversation with my best friend, with whom I don't get to spend nearly enough time, and she and her daughter had no plans for the evening. No better way to test out a recipe than with my best friend!

So, I began cooking. My husband came in and told me I was doing it wrong, then handed me a glass of beaujolais. "Much better," he said. "Julia and Ted would be proud."

Fortunately, I did the "hard" part of the recipe before I'd finished my first glass of wine.

Boeuf bourguignon takes a long time to cook. During which time, there is little to do except continue to drink wine with my best friend. Right before it was time to serve it, I made noodles. Turns out, making noodles after 4 hours of simmering boeuf bourguignon and drinking wine with my best friend, is a very difficult task for me. So, we had delicious boeuf bourguignon served over congealed, sticky noodles that would have been excellent for hanging new wallpaper or perhaps a child's craft project. Good thing the boeuf bourguignon was so good.

I've decided on the following menu for the first Friday Night at Ted's at Gretchen's - the recipes for this round are a combination of Ted's handwritten recipes and recipes I've found in his cookbooks. I'll post the actual recipes in the coming days. I'm still debating about the dessert. Pictures won't come until AFTER the dinner on Friday, February 3.

mixed greens salad

Julia Child's boeuf bourguignon

buttered potatoes

Louis Jadot 2009 Beaujolias

Beginnings -

I decided to start this page to attempt to continue the legacy of my Uncle Ted. That's not quite true. I decided to start this page because people wanted copies of his recipes and photos. And I'm good at saying things like, "Yeah! I can do that! I'll just find them, type them up and make a little book to share with everyone!" But I'm not good at actually doing it.

So, I figured I can try this. I am good at typing up a recipe or two, maybe scanning in a picture or two. I'm good at looking through Uncle Ted's things and finding photos of his brilliant decorating, party, and food ideas and stealing them. I'm good at hearing and telling stories about my Uncle Ted. And I'm REALLY good at having friends over to try things out.

I can think of no better way to remember my amazing uncle, than to continue his tradition of Friday Night at Ted's. My uncle had a group of very dear, beloved friends in Virginia, where he lived. Every Friday (or nearly every Friday), he would cook for them. I was never fortunate enough to attend a Friday Night at Ted's event, but I am hoping some of his friends who were there, can share their memories, stories, and recipes here, too. I have all of his recipes, but, like many things about my dear uncle, they are somewhat disorganized and haphazard. I did attend "Friday Night at Ted's at Skip's" when I was out visiting. Some of the original Friday Night friends were there, but the tradition had changed, as many things in life do. I did talk to him many times after that, but that was the last time I ate, drank, and was merry with him. At the time, I was a vegetarian and I have the recipe for the vegetarian dish that we ate, but I have no idea what else was served.

So, now I'm rambling. I'll try not to ramble much, but I make no promises. Here's the plan: about once a month we'll have Friday Night at Ted's at Gretchen's. I'll invite my friends, I'll post the recipes, we'll take and post pictures, and see what happens next. Feel free to join us anytime - either at my house or have your own Friday Night at Ted's!