This Monday follows right on the heels of our two performances of Berlioz’s L’enfance du Christ. The show was a bit unconventional, but in a good way. Instead of the traditional stand and deliver oratorio style we are used to, we had more movement, unstructured seating arrangements, dancers and a lighting designer. We also had a dream team of soloists and brilliant orchestra. I know that Steph was concerned whether all the bits would come together. Based on the comments from the audience, I think it hit the mark very well, as we sang to two packed houses. I have to give kudos to the York Dance Ensemble. They had a lot of choreography, and moved beautifully. The soloists gave moving performances, Olivier Laquerre, looked quite insane as king Herod. Nathalie Paulin and Matthew Zadow brought people to tears with their touching duet as Mary and Joseph fleeing their home as refugees. The ever solid, and lyrical Sean Clark, as the narrator and Alain Coulombe, welcoming the weary travelers, as the father, rounded out the cast in style. We were also joined by our angelic chorus from Havergal College, singing from the rafters. Unconventional yes, but with Steph there to lead us, it gives us the confidence to branch out.
This week’s dinner was a little unconventional too…. Steph had a turkey in the freezer and since we generally spend Canadian Thanksgiving apart, we were going to do an homage to the American Thanksgiving, but with rehearsals for L’Enfance Du Christ, we settled on this Monday to have our MondayNightDiningThanksgiving. This is also the week, that we would have an optional rehearsal for our annual Children’s Messiah. As an aside, if you have a family, or even if you don’t, this is a great introduction to Handel’s Messiah, with orchestra, amazing soloists and a big chorus (including us). You should go…
So the question becomes, whether to have our Monday night dining, or have rehearsal? Why not do both? So this week’s special Monday Night Dining/Rehearsal took flight. Since we were BBQing a whole turkey, we needed time to cook it. Dinner would need to start a little later and also we needed to adjust the rehearsal time, but that is half the fun….
I headed over early, to start the charcoal and get the turkey on the grill. Shawn brined the turkey for a day and a half and we cut out the backbone, so we could butterfly it. We added a few bricks wrapped in foil, for brined, bricked turkey. Steph also bought the most amazing patio heater, so MacGyver and I assembled that, while the coals were getting going.
For guests tonight, we gathered with Bonnie, Janet and Diane. I just want to give Kudos to Diane for fearlessness, in finding her own accessible way into the house, without missing a beat.
We gathered and Steph broke out some bubbly, to welcome our guests. We had a good chance to chat, while the turkey was taking its time on the BBQ. We then sat down to one of my favorite first courses to date, acorn squash soup, with button mushrooms and herbed croutons, served in roasted peppercorn squash bowls.
I had the chance to sample the soup, prior to Monday, and it was lovely, but when served in the roasted squash, it added a certain sweetness and flavor to the soup. This dish was lovely on the plate, but the flavor surprised even me…. Our dear friend Lois arrived, but Shawn had an extra squash ready and warmed for her to enjoy the soup, as well.
The turkey was resting, while we had our soup, and by the time I had cleared the last bowl, Shawn was almost done carving. Our main was BBQed brined turkey with sage vinaigrette, porcini mushroom risotto and braised beans.
Brining the turkey keeps it moist and adds flavor. By taking out the backbone and butterflying it, it cooks faster, and the bricks on top, give it a good sear and also speeds up the cooking. A bit of a smokey flavor adds depth. Shawn’s now famous risotto, and my favorite braised beans, and this was a lovely dish. The sage vinaigrette, adds not only a splash of colour, but a brightness to the flavours.
Our timing was delayed slightly, while waiting for the turkey to finish, so guests were arriving for our Messiah mini rehearsal, and some brought treats, so we delayed dessert until our break.
It was fun singing through selections of Handel’s Messiah and Christmas carols, with this group. We crammed at least 20 singers into the living room and expanded out into the dining room, with Steph accompanying us. I was concerned that I would be the only bass, but we ended up with a nice little group in each voice part.
When the singing was over, we started in on our treats. There were lots of nibbleys, but the official MondayNightDining dessert (and the only one we got pictures of) was a pumpkin spice cake with caramel cream cheese frosting.
Strangely enough even though Christmas is approaching, we had trouble finding candied orange peel, so Shawn whipped some up, while I was singing and this was so much better than the chewy stuff we usually find at the store. We also got to play guess the spices with some of the singers (the secret is cardamom).
For an unconventional MND experience, this was fun. We had our quiet dinner, but ended the evening with a large chorus and dessert among friends. You can guess what I’m thankful for this week….
