The making of Destination Dinner

T minus three days: loading up on raw materials

We moved into the Zervas Elementary district 18 months ago and have been so happy with the school and community we have found here. The school is really crunched for space and resources but is led by an amazing principal, Steve Griffin, who has helped bring the community together to support many great initiatives that create a very cohesive atmosphere for the families and staff. While we always assumed that living in Newton–long famous for its public schools–almost all families would be delighted to have their kids in the system, we have met a surprising number of people who are opting for private and/or religious schools, pretty often because they do not think the quality is up to snuff in NPS. So we put a high priority on supporting the school and trying to get involved. I played my part by putting out the cones and goals for the Kindergarten Soccer league last year, and also “assistant coached” M’s team, which provided me the priceless opportunity to be addressed as Coach by another adult.

T minus five days: Amy girds for battle

One of the big fundraisers is the annual Destination Dinner, where about 180 parents from the school sign up to enjoy a group cocktail party at one capacious home, then divide into groups of 6-8 to be hosted for dinner at someone’s house (assignments are kept secret, which foiled our desire for placecards and skywriting), then get back together for group dessert. We hosted last year and I did some Thai food (Cambridge Center class from 2000 still paying off!) and we enjoyed meeting some parents from other classrooms. Thinking that our lives have gotten simpler and opened up lots of free time, we decided to do it again this year. Amy and I picked as our source a cookbook we discovered in Portugal, Casa Moro, written by two English chefs who love Spanish and Moroccan cuisine and started a restaurant dedicated to their version of it in London. We planned to add a recipe introduced to us by our brilliant chef and chocolatier friend Elaine, an awesome roasted fennel, white bean and tomato dish, and we hoped to get more of the same rustic feel while taking a brief but definitive break from our recent foray into the China Study-inspired vegan lifestyle.

DD Week: ¡Vamos al Supermercado!

Plan of attack

We planned for some cheeses, a great roasted eggplant dip and other non-cooked things for when people arrived, a salad course and two main dishes, the roasted fennel and beans plus a lamb harira (stew).

Amy swings for the fences with a butternut squash

A lot of this could be bought or prepped prior to DD-day, we hoped, so Amy went big at Russo’s and TJ’s for the produce and I made a lovely visit to Marty’s for some Spanish wine, cheese and almonds. Thursday night we made the eggplant dip (I’m using a special verb tense here…Amy was lead dog on the meal for sure) and Friday night we started roasting the squash for one of the salads. Went to bed around midnight confident that neither two soccer leagues nor the day with three girls would stay us from our appointed hour with destiny…Destination, even.

DD Day: Long Day’s Journey into Night

We got the beet

T minus 13 hours. We awaken and I do some chopping, empty the dishwasher, generally prepare for the day. Take M. to soccer while Amy stays home and gets busy. Get the lamb at WF: Icelandic, fed on highland moss and shredded stock certificates.

T minus 10 hours: the inter-soccer break occurs and we knock off the really yummy smelling roasted fennel, tomato and white bean dish. Beets and potatoes are boiling.

Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble (baa!) as Amy grates nutmeg

Even in the de-animalized state in which we buy meat here (compared to Portugal where it ain’t a chicken if the head and neck are not attached in the shrinkwrap) there is no getting around the reality of…flesh.

Roasted fennel, white beans and tomatoes

Those tender bleating fellers sure are good though. Meanwhile the beets and potatoes are finding their destiny together and the squash is roasted and getting together with the chickpeas.

T minus three hours: Friends, you may have thought that young children of DD hosts went into a sort of suspended animation state during the long preparatory phase. While our children are indeed “terrifying!” (to quote my grandma, Z”L, who would say this upon our daughters’ every precocious insight), they got issues and can’t just put them aside even to benefit the ZPTO. So I took a little break to give a nebulizer treatment to M. Then some combination of videos and drawing brought us through until 6 when the babysitter arrived.

Go time

T plus 5 minutes: table is laid, shoes on, hair dried…but floor not swept! Jackets and shoes littering the floor! Thank goodness the cocktail is running late.

T plus 30 minutes: OK, this respite of lateness is much needed for people like us. We admit that. But where is everyone? Somehow it is revealed that the appointed hour is not 7 but 8. This is actually very shrewd planning on the part of our organizers, who know the innermost secrets of our hearts and have kept us working to an artificially early deadline. Must employ this with the children: “School starts at 8AM!”

T plus 65 minutes: go time! Delightful company, everyone a pal of one sort or another and parents of kids in our younger age range. It was so much fun we actually would look forward to getting this gang back together again for a potluck.

Winning guest with her trophy

While everyone was great, the winning guest has to be Dr. J., our former pediatrician, who is vegetarian and had a sort of satori moment eating the fennel dish and asked for not only seconds but a doggy bag.

T plus six hours: even with babysitter support, we come home from the fun joint dessert party to find many dishes, cheeses, figs and whatnot left to deal with.

Summing up

Miss A. with the cookbook and olives

DD: to host or not to host? If you have that natural inclination to have people over and like to try new things cooking, and are happy to make a substantial donation of your money and (especially) time to the cause, this could be just for you. If DD is the microcosm for us of all the efforts that go into making Zervas a great community year in, year out, then it shows everyone needs to pick their lane and keep that kickboard moving if the three year olds are going to get through fifth grade in good form.

 

 

 

Menu

Appetizers:


Cuatro soldados muertos la proxima mañana

Spanish cheeses, olives, crackers
Eggplant, red pepper, red onion dip
Carrots, pitas and pita chips

Salad course:



Beetroot and potato salad
Turkish chopped salad
Warm pumpkin and chickpea salad with tahini
Rustic bread, lavash, pita breads

Entrees:



Roasted fennel, white beans and tomatoes
Harira with lamb, chard, tomatoes and oregano

Dessert:


Fresh and dried figs
Grapes

2 thoughts on “The making of Destination Dinner

  1. Hey Josh, The PTA at my son’s school (P.S. 10 in Brooklyn) is thinking about doing a similar event…. would love to talk in more detail if we decide to do it…

    I love reading your blog. It feels like I’m reading a letter rather than a blog.

    xx

    dempsey

  2. As a fortunate attendee at the Moroccan Feast I can tell your readers it was truly spectacular. The food was terrific as was the company and I hope we are lucky enough to be placed at your house again next year.
    Amy & Josh – you outdid yourselves. Thank you!

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