Cheese the Day! Vernal Geekquinox 2019

I think we all have a hunger for tradition, for familiar patterns that remind us of good things in the world as well as the challenges we often face. It's hard to believe that, by my estimation, yesterday was Pete's 17th Geekquinox dinner. Pete had his first seasonal soiree in 2011, added a strong theme (Game of Thrones) to the second, and since then his dinner parties have become not one but two of the most anticipated events of the year for most of us.

(I should note that I was also a bit surprised to see that March 19 was the tenth anniversary of my first post to Confessions of a Middle-Aged Adolescent! Time flies when you're having...well, whatever it is this is.)

Pete has let us know earlier in the month that the theme this time around would be cheese, which filled me with a sharp combination of both eager anticipation and wariness. Even taken over several hours, could a cheese-centric meal be safely enjoyed?

The answer appears to be an emphatic "yes," at least, so far!

The first challenge was finding something thematically appropriate to wear, something I enjoy but which Audrey excels at. I settled with wearing an orange t-shirt with a cheesy sentiment on it, but she went one step further. She found a creamy yellow tee at Value Village and got Glory's help designing some iron-on accoutrements. 

Pete's shirt was cheesy in its own way charmingly cheesy in its own way, so it made sense to get a photo of them together.

The menu advised us that we would be enjoying six different cheese-based selections, each accompanied by a counterpoint to round out the meal (and provide an opportunity for both a delicious steak and creative libation). The cheese plate was set out shortly after Audrey and I arrived and featured an assortment that Pete had smoked on his Big Green Egg. 

I was astonished at how much smoke flavour a soft cheese like Camembert could contain, even if a flare-up had caused it to lose much of its shape. My favourite though had to be the garlic Havarti, which balanced out the two types of aromatics without sacrificing either of them. Aged cheddar and two types of blue cheese including a Stilton rounded out the field.

A brie baked in pastry with apple pear compote with was the next course. Sweet and savoury in equal measure, this could have easily been served as a dessert, but it worked immensely well as an appetizer.

Of course, you want to follow up something rich like that with a mouthful that is tart and refreshing. Enter the evening's bespoke beverage, a vodka-based lime-basil cocktail that was not too acidic for Audrey and went down far too easily. Garnished with a fresh basil leaf and served in an elegant Kolsch glass, it was almost as refreshing to look at as to taste.

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These delightful tipples were followed in short order by two plates of Greek pastry pinwheels interlaced with feta cheese, peppers, olives and Greek spice. 

Served fresh from the oven, they were the perfect consistency, the soft, warm dough providing just enough structure to keep the cheese filling intact until it dissolved on your palate. Creamy, spicy, and with just a hint of saltiness, these were one of my favourite dishes of the night. Plus, you know, just look at them - they're delightful!

The next course took a brief respite from cheese with a fascinating salad-style course; lemon vinegar mushrooms with garlic steak spice. I only had a mouthful of these though, as I became distracted by engaging conversation after sampling them, and by the time I wandered back for a proper serving, they had all vanished! My inner hobbit was a bit disappointed to miss out on such a creative mushroom dish, but I bore no ill will.

Next up were the pull-apart garlic knots, generously topped with parmesan cheese and accompanied with a marinara sauce for dipping. Probably the simplest dish of the night, but no less delicious than the rest.

Cheese moved from garnishing to center stage with the next course, gnocchi made from ricotta cheese and served with a delicious and creamy scratch-made pesto sauce. I'm mad for gnocchi under just about any circumstance you can imagine, so having these tender dumplings wrapped around a soft mild cottage-type cheese made them a real winner with me. The pesto was likewise brilliant, and I saw a few people running their fingers along the edge or their bowl to savour as much of the sauce as possible.

It's pretty much a Geekquinox tradition to get to the main course after the witching hour, and tonight was no exception. Pete plated up delicious ribeye steaks, generously seasoned, cooked to a turn and bearing hints of smoke from the Egg. Beside each was a croque monsieur-style Hasselback potato with Havarti and ham stuffed in between each slice. Folks, meat and taters probably does not get any better than this.

There was a brief respite for our host while the plates were cleared away, but before long he was back in the kitchen supervising the assembly of dessert: a maple sugar angel food cake schmeared with generous amounts of cream cheese icing and topped with lemon Chantilly cream. The cake was amazing, moist and dense without being cloying, with discernible maple in every single bite. The sweetness of the icing coupled with the tart whipped cream made this both a decadent and nuanced finish to another brilliant meal by a gifted cook and exemplary host.