Bourbon

Gropius and I went to The Grange in the Citizen Hotel last night for dinner as a celebration of turning in my tenure file.  They were having a bourbon tasting dinner with 5 courses each accompanied by a separate bourbon cocktail.  Yeah.



Per my mother-in-law's request, here is a blow-by-blow of our meal.
First Course:

Woodford Bourbon served neat with hand-cut ice

Smoked Butternut Squash Bisque with Pumpkin Ragout and Duck Ham
(is Duck Ham an oxymoron?)

Bread basket interlude:

salted, rosemary buttah

Second Course:

bourbon, grapefruit juice, and black pepper honey syrup

(apologies--we dug in before I remembered to take a picture!)
Bourbon-glazed Pork Belly with Celery Root and Brussel Sprouts

Third Course:

bourbon appletini-type thing with a poached pear (very tasty!)

sous vide salmon over braised, bacon-y greens

Fourth Course:

Ta-Dah!  The Mint Julep.

Hanger (hangar?) steak with fingerling potatoes and baby carrots

Dessert Course:

bourbon, walnut liqueur with pecan/pepita brittle garnish

poached pear with cranberry sauce and blue cheese gougere-type thingie
(I didn't like the blue cheese part)

We had a wonderful meal meanwhile Lulu had a great time at home with her favorite teacher from Merryhill, Miranda. It was really bittersweet because 'Randa is leaving next week to move back home to Fresno to finish up her teaching credentialing program and I don't know what we're going to do without her. Seriously. No idea. But that's another post entirely.