Eating like kings (or queens)

There's something special about having dinner with friends, especially when they serve food like that! That picture is just the overview of what we had for dinner, I will break it down in a moment. Much to my delight John and Craig unexpectedly invited me over for dinner last night. I was really excited because it had been a little while since the last time I saw them, and I was also pleased that we would be eating at their house since we've gone out to eat the last few times we got together. Of course, I actually love going out with them too because it seems like they know all the best places to go, and I rarely go to nice or new restaurants in town unless I'm with them. So, their positive influence in my Atlanta dining experiences can't be underestimated. However, I find eating at their house to be equally enjoyable because it seems like they also know all the best things to cook. And, as I told them before, I think they eat like kings because they make such delicious meals with plenty of variety, and just good food in general. So, without further ado let me review what we had last night.
First of all, there was this very impressive fish. Here it is being marinated:

I wish I could tell you what all was in the marinade (Craig jokingly said everything but the kitchen sink) but I don't have these recipes. Anyway, Craig improvised a marinade based on a glaze recipe that came with the plank and a sort of Asian mix. There was dijon mustard, maple syrup, honey, soy sauce, lemon juice, lemon slices, and other things I'm sure. I think I got ahead of myself though. This is "plank salmon" (which I'd never had before) which means that lovely pieces of salmon was placed on a heated cedar plank on the grill and cooked to smoky perfection. Cooking it on the plank meant that it tasted like it was cooked in the wood-burning oven at One or something, it was really good, great flavor. The finished piece that you see in the next picture shows the plank and the way it was finished off with toasted sesame seeds and chives. Doesn't it look great? I was really impressed, and they'd never even made this before. I'll be a test subject any time, it was fun watching this come together.

One of our side dishes was this spinach with sauteed onions and red peppers (I think, there could have been other things - clearly I'm failing to accurately report the contents of these dishes, but I was really enjoying it all). I actually need to figure out what all made the spinach, because I loved it. I love spinach anyway, but my spinach never tastes like that!

The other side dish was scalloped potatoes. Craig was mysteriously paranoid that he didn't put enough potatoes in to soak up the sauce, but I thought it was great. I even determined that this sauce would have been a good pasta cream sauce the other night when I made the lemon vodka sauce (not that there was anything wrong with that, but this sauce was good, and it made a good amount for coating pasta - or potatoes). Again, I have to find out where Craig got his recipe, because I liked the potatoes, and I've never made any scalloped potatoes before. I loved the presentation here though with the cheese and parsley on top, it looks good enough to eat!

Now that I've explained everything else, let me tell you what I thought was really cool. I know it sounds silly, but these figs are a perfect example of why I like eating at Craig and John's house. As far as I could gather these figs were added to the meal 'just because' but to me it was a special treat. We had the three nice flavors and textures from the salmon and two sides, but every now and then I got to pop half a fig in my mouth and enjoy the soft, sweet flavor that seemed to complement everything really well. It was completely simple, but really fresh and delicious, and I don't think I would have ever thought to include something like that. I think elements like that give the meal that something extra, I would have certainly enjoyed my meal without them, but having them there made it somehow more special (I told you it would sound silly).

So, I know I gave everything glowing reviews, but it is faithful reporting, I always eat well with Craig and John. They're very reliable that way. I thought it was all delicious though, I was even using my bread to collect scraps and sauce off my plate because I didn't want to miss anything (very lady-like, I know). It's all part of my dangerous "no food left behind" policy that comes into play when the meal is good.
Finally, there is something I made (thank god I wasn't a complete slacker after all!) Of course, this is a dessert since that is my designated weakness. Technically these were called Double Delicious Cookie Bars, but Dad and I both individually named them "killer bars" both because they were tasty and because they probably lead directly to death. They are a little indulgent, but the good ones always are, so what can you do? Everything in moderation... I got the recipe off an old can of sweetened condensed milk (coincidentally, I didn't use the product in the can; there was a fresh can employed in the making of these bars). The recipe called for chocolate chips and peanut butter chips, and I didn't have all that, so I used some spare semi-sweet, milk chocolate, and white chocolate chips that I had from some cookies I made before. Those worked out just fine, I didn't miss the peanut butter chips at all.

For dessert we had ours with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and some type of orange pepper sauce/syrup. I'm not sure if that was part of the ice cream, or something extra that was added on, but it was good whatever it was.
I'll stop now, but my thanks to John and Craig for making such an inspiring meal and for sharing their evening with me. It's always a pleasure.