So on Monday I'm having my book club over for dinner--first time, I've been in the group less than a year. I chose July to take advantage of the opportunity to dine outdoors, and it looks like the weather will cooperate nicely if smoke doesn't blow us inside.
The book is Mink River by Brian Doyle, an Oregonian better known for wine writing than fiction. The book is about a sweet, tiny fictional town on the Oregon coast that includes magical realism in seamlessly weaving the styles of Irish folklore and Native imagery and superstitions. There are paragraphs you have to read twice, just because the words are so beautiful. Characters include a protective crow named Moses and a Public Works Dept (employees: 2) that gives haircuts.
Guests will arrive to a plaque on my front door that warns that trained crows patrol this premesis (you can actually buy this on Amazon). They will sit down to a table covered with a black and white checked tablecloth with napkins that have crows on them. The table's centerpiece is a large cement crow. The meal I have planned:
Appetizer:
wonton cups filled with an Oregon Shrimp salad
Main:
Roasted whole filet of salmon with wine and mustard sauce*
Pesto green beans*
Roasted beets with horseradish
Herb salad with hazelnuts
Dessert:
cheesecake with marionberry syrup and a tiny crow figurine will be on each serving
boxes of Black Crows black licorice drops will be on the table
Oregon wines, of course.
*salmon described that way is in the book, so were pole beans. Food is otherwise not mentioned much at all. I really wanted to fit in some Tillamook cheese but it didn't work out, though I may grate some Tillamook white cheddar over the green beans.
This is the kind of dinner I used to do all the time; these days, alone, not so much. It's nice to be excited about something again.
Can you tell I really like crows?