KISD Dinner Party 2010

So, we had another charity dinner party out at my parents' house. It was an auction item for the Kerrville Independent School District. And we went with a 6-course meal, with wines paired by Peter Beeman.

1st Course:
Lobster Bisque with Chive Oil & Fresh Chives


2nd Course:
Spring Salad. Shredded Romaine with a Caramelized Onion Vinaigrette, Grape Tomatoes, Orange Segments, Hears of Palm, Cheve Cheese, and Sugared Pecans.


3rd Course:
Butter Poached Salmon with Risotto, Cream Asparagus & Red Pepper Oil.


4th Course:
Chicken Confit with Roasted Corn, Jalapeno Butter, Roasted Chicken Jus, Chicken Cracklings, and Fine Herbs.


5th Course:
Lamb Loin with a Brown Butter Fennel Puree, Sweet Pea & Mint Puree, and Glazed Carrots.


6th Course:
Bittersweet Chocolate Mouse in Chocolate Bowls with Whip Cream, Fresh Strawberries and a Vanilla Tuile Cookie Spoon.



We had tons of wonderful helpers as always. It was easily one of the most fun parties we have had.

Cowboy Artist Museum Charity Dinner

We had another dinner party on October 24th for the Cowboy Artist Museum. 10 people who had bought it in an auction came out to the camp. We decided to go with 7 courses.

First Course: Ricotta-Mushroom Beggar's Purse with a Brown Butter Sage Sauce


Second Course: Heirloom Tomato-Watermelon Salad with Feta Cheese, a Watermelon Reduction, and Mint


Third Course: Creamy Butternut Squash Soup with Thyme, Chives & Pumpkin Seeds


Fourth Course: Apple Cornish Game Hens with a Soft Blue Cheese Polenta


Fifth Course: Pork & Cabbage Duo. Smoked Pork Tenderloin with Braised Red Cabbage and Fresh Sage Sausages with Butter Cabbage.


Sixth Course: Beef Tenderloin with Parsnip Risotto (Same as the Chamber Dinner).


Seventh Course: Chocolate Coconut Cream Cake with Coconut Ice Cream & Coconut Caramel (Same as the Chamber Dinner but with the Ice Cream Added).


And like the Chamber of Commerce Dinner, my family helped out.


Kathleen helped take pictures and plate.


And she helped with all the prep.


Edward, Mary Liz and Edward Jr. came and helped.






As Well as Britt, Catie, George and Charlie




My sweet Mom who organized everything was, as always, a huge help.


And once again, Peter Beeman supplied and paired the wine.

Chamber of Commerce Charity Dinner

So, for the past several years my mother has been signing me up to do dinner parties for various charities. We usually do one or two sometime after summer. And I have gotten to the point were I really enjoy them.

This weekend we did a dinner party for the Chamber of Commerce. Nine ladies bought the wine tasting in an auction. All proceeds went to the chamber, my parents hosted it & bought the food. Peter Beeman, who owns the Main Liquor store in Kerrville, pairs and supplies all the wine. And I do the cooking.

For Appetizers we did Braised Pork Bellies with a Raspberry Glaze:


1st Course: Pumpkin Beggar's Purse with a Brown Butter Sage Sauce


2nd Course: Peach & Tomato Salad with a Lemon-Infused Olive Oil


3rd Course: Lobster Bisque with Chives


4th Course: Seared Halibut with Zuchinni and Squash Diamonds and a Lemongrass Sauce


5th Course: Tenderloin with a Parsnip Risotto and an Oyster Mushroom Demi


6th Course: Coconut Chocolate Cake with a Coconut Caramel Sauce



I recently did a wedding out here and was upset that I was just too busy to take pictures of the food when it was going out. So, this weekend I enlisted the help of the beautiful, talented, kind, and sassy Kathleen Williams to help me prep a little and take tons of wonderful pictures. Here she is picking a little sage:


My brother James helped with lots of Front of the House duties:


His lovely wife, Lindsay, helped with all the plating:


Edward, Mary Liz, and Edward Jr. showed up for the fun:


Here is a picture of Peter Beeman helping out in the back:


For some reason, I don't have a picture of my sweet sweet mom helping with everything, but she did a large part of the work.

It was, as always a good time.

Edward Gets 30 Points

So, this past Saturday my wonderful nephew & Godson George turned Two. Right now he calls me Uncle Richard, though soon, I will make him call me Godfather.

Catie and Britt planned a wonderful party in an Alamo Heights park. There was much swinging.
George found this bouncing arena thing to be level 10 fun.

There was much bouncing and falling.

Which caused high levels of birthday happiness.

A special visitor was the only thing that took him away from such bliss.

ELMO! Or as the party store who doesn't exactly like to pay royalties called it: "Red Monster."

Now, I don't want to exactly give away the identity of the Red Monster. I think most of the children there and maybe a few of the adults would like to think that it was in fact the real Elmo. Which it may very well have been. But, I would like to point out that James was there.

And of course Britt was there.

I, of course, was manning my 6 megapixal Canon Powershot. Edward however, was nowhere to be found. Hmmm.

Anyway, the Elmo had much hugging to do. Which he gladly did.

A few children, were a little more nervous around this large monster.

I find it interesting that some children are immediately trusting and some are much more cautious. I think I fell into the category of immediately hugging the strange muppet.

Those of you who were scared of clowns as children I think were much more insightful than I was. I loved clowns. Now though, when I look at a clown, I see past the makeup and most of the time see very sad individuals. I think the children who are scared of clowns can sense this. I love the fact that my nephew seems to be one of these people.

But this Elmo was a champ. He worked the crowd and all the children grew to like him. Lots of photos were taken.

Even the Godson had a good swing with Elmo.

The only thing that could take the kids' attention away from swinging, bouncing and Elmo would of course be cake.

OMG look at this cute Belly:

Elmo was, of course, a part of the cake fun.

Now, I'm not saying I know if this was the real Elmo or not. But if it wasn't, then this individual easily deserves 30 points for staying in costume and character for two hours. No way I could of done it. Especially in that heat.

So 30 points and hat tip to whichever individual made turning Two so awesome.