Our Latest Event - The "Minutes"
The 2003 Dinner - Let's Tie Juan On! |
Wines and Goodies |
| Well,
who among us would have predicted that only a month after this spendid
dinner, we would be throwing food away, or preparing an entire meal on a
gas barbecue in an effort to avoid spoilage? Yes Juan has come and
gone, and we really need to thank the Powers that Be that all of us are
still alive, unhurt, and housed in the manner required by our
climate. Yes, Halifax has changed, but the Funis go on
forever! The power disturbances have played havoc with the
preparation of these minutes (or at least, that's the story I'm sticking
to), but those have also passed and now it's time to reminisce...
* * * 23/24 August 2003 Hosts: Mr. & Mrs. GillisToastmaster: Mr. Macleod Regrets: No regrets (Thanks to Tom Paxton for the use of that line). For the first time since 1999, all parties were in attendance. Guests: Sadie and Sarge (or, "Love among the Lilly-pads") The assembly were (for the most part) dressed in their finery and gathered at pool for tipples and pix circa 6:50 pm. This assembly and posing exercise had to be repeated several times before Jody and dogs could be corralled for an all-inclusive picture. Even so, it was noted that some gentlemen were tieless, while others wore something that only barely resembled a jacket. Donald & Sean claimed that we were running short on white wine already, as they had thought they were purchasing two large bottles of wine for “openers” and yet only ended up with one. Or at least, the Funis only ended up with one… It should be noted that Orcas were present at the pre-prandial poolside party, for the first time since their untimely demise (see the minutes of 1999). Perhaps there is some connection between the presence of Orca and the presence of the complete collection of Funis? Subject matter here that bears further discourse in a scientific paper, perhaps. At 7:15 the party moved inside to be seated for
dinner by Mr. Macleod, which was accomplished with only minor placement
confusion – can boy/girl alternating seating be achieved with even
numbers? Only after a couple
of shuffles. Or at least
it’s easier that way than with surgery. Once seated, hot hors d’oeuvres were served at
table by Sean & Jody- chanterelles in cream/ butter/ sherry sauce
served on pasta. Jody did a
lovely job “assisting” Chef Sean in the preparation of this course.
We only could wonder why she felt she had to remain hidden in the
kitchen while Sean and the rest gathered at the pool for drinks. Just being humble, we suppose… The soup course was served next by Mr. Lemon and Ms.
Whitman, a chilled tomato vegetable soup garnished with crabmeat.
For this occasion, no soup was used to garnish any diners. Mr. Flute and Ms. Murphy provided the fish course,
“nouveau” planked salmon (prepared on the gas barbie) with Thai glaze,
garnished with cilantro and champagne grapes (Thai? Tie?
Is this the fate of the missing neckwear?). Evidently all that is needed for this gastronomic wonder is
two short planks – of cedar, that is; the thickness of said planks was
not specified. The source of the "nouveau" was somewhat a
mystery, as the dish produced reasonably hearty portions - "Nouveau
Cuisine" did not appear to be an overriding concern.
To complement this dish, Mr. Perina and Ms. Caverzan prepared
Piperade (a “slightly adjusted Basque dish”) of different colours of
peppers, tomato, onion, garlic and pumpkinseed oil. Next up was the Salad, prepared and served by Mr.
Bagg and Ms. Conrad – green & red lettuce, yellow pepper, shrimp, 2
types of basil, red onion, croutons, parmesan, extra virgin olive oil, and
cherry tomatoes from Bruce’s Cherry Tomato Garden (Bruce: “I grow
the herbs, Debbie grows the big stuff.”
Debbie: “Bruce sticks it in the ground, I do everything else.”) During salad, Biggles rose to talk about the wines, “very reasonable in price, averaging well below $15” from Vin Art in Bayer’s Lake (362 Lacewood Drive, fine wines and building materials cheek by jowl. “Experience wine”… and renovate your porch at the same time!) Sean and Donald discussed the merits of private wine stores – especially the tastings. Yet to be determined is whether these “tastings” are available to the common man, or only when the President of the Australian Wine Society walks in the door arm-in-arm and exchanging cryptic mutterings with the wine critic of the Chronicle-Herald/Mail-Star. Sean claimed that he was “so dehydrated” he couldn’t possibly taste any more wines, leaving that onerous task to the Down Under Plonk Prez. Donald mentioned that Sean and others were expecting great things from the new private wine stores, insights into new offerings, wine-making, and different labels. To illustrate the attraction of “different labels”, at the last meeting of the Oz Wine Society there was discussion of the new offerings from the new Luckett wine store in Bedford, and a blind tasting of new antipodean wines. One of the wines rated fairly highly turned out to be the Fair Dinkum Winery’s “Bruce’s Big Shiraz”. The label, surmounted with a drawing of a gentleman in a hat festooned with corks about the brim, a crocodile under his arm, and “Sheila” tattooed on his bicep, states “Bruce’s Big Shiraz” in large type, with the addendum “although Sheila did interfere (a bit)” in small type below. At the bottom is the (apparently vital) environmental disclaimer that “No crocodiles were harmed in the making of this fine wine.” Mr. Macleod went on to speculate on reasons for the lack of a “No crocodiles harmed” disclaimer on the labels of the finer chateaux of Bordeaux. He noted that the population of crocodiles in the Bordeaux region was virtually nil. “All of the signs are clearly there for a Funi crusade led by Sean Wood, funded by Sean Wood, with Sean Wood acting as the sole spokesperson, denying all connections with his Funi brothers” to encourage the chateaux such as Latour, Margaux, Haut Brion, Petrus and Rieussec to adopt this environmental standard in their wine labels. Mr. Wood deemed that this might be fodder for one of his upcoming columns in “Wood Floating in Wine” or whatever it’s called. During the break there was an excursion outside to observe Mars and “a light” on Robbie’s Rock on South Mountain. Most of the ladies returned after seeing Mars – although the Red Planet may have been a ruse. Gay complained that, using Mars as a distraction, the Two Bobs raided her stock of Happy Hour wine that she had kept in the car. Blame was eventually (and properly) attributed to Donald and Sean, for coming up one bottle short in their purchases. There was also some extensive discussion on the laws
permitting and/or prohibiting Sean’s love affair with (and eventual
marriage to) Mickey, his “budgie”.
Jody seemed to be at a loss to explain this sudden passion, as she
has seen Sean apparently beating his “budgie” (to be honest, her
description was “thrashing his little pink bird”) on several
occasions. Several brothers
seemed to be sympathetic to the Bigglesian dilemma, and stated that they
would be more than happy to “give Sean the bird”.
Mickey was (unfortunately?) not produced for comment.
Some speculated that Mickey was a “budget budgie” hired solely
for cheep thrills. All of this excitement and badinage was too much for
one of the distaff members who retired to bed before the main course could
be served. The reason given
was that her husband had worn her out on the golf course earlier in the
day. Speculation and puns
about “balls”, “cups” and “shafts” can be submitted to the
Funis Dirty Jokes web page (once this has been completed). After some delay, Mr. Smith and Ms. MacIntosh served
the meat course – Clare’s Pork Tenderloin Normand, consisting of
medallions of pork tenderloin sautéed with wine and garnished with sliced
apples sautéed in butter, apple jelly and Crème de Cassis.
For this dish, Mr. Perina and Ms. Caverzan prepared asparagus,
French beans with capers, patty pan squash, and pan roasted small Yukon
Gold potatoes. The Dessert, served by Mr. and Mrs. Macleod, was a
Fruit Mascarpone Cream Tart, including raspberries, blueberries, and white
peaches. This was presented
for inspection and admiration before serving, as “it won’t look the
same once it’s sliced up”. True,
but it still tasted just as good! The infamous “cheese versus dessert” debate was at last resolved (in part) when Bruce was served no dessert. It was also noted that this was, in fact, a dessert that incorporated cheese, making the argument an academic one, at best. Still, the cheese plate did arrive, garnished with fruit and various crackers, courtesy of Mr. And Mrs. Gillis. Breakfast, provided the following morning by Mr. Mitchell and Ms. Martin, consisted of the usual endless pots of hot coffee, along with Frittata, honey & garlic sausages, toast, orange juice and 2 bottles Casetellblanch Brut Zero (Spain) Cava Sant Sadurni d’anoia.
|
Wines selected by Brother Mitchell and Brother Wood.
2 bottles 1999 Chateau Guidon Graves Bordeaux (France) 2 crocks 2002 Cookoothama Shiraz (Australia) 2 magnums Sartori Villa Mura Soave (Italy) 4 cartons 2002 Domaine Vigné Lourac Sauvignon Côtes du Tarm (France) 1 barrel 2002 Fiorile Greciano (Sicily) 2002 1 hogshead 2001 Fiorile Rosso (Sicily) 1 carafe 2000 Jindalee Shiraz (Australia) 1 can Casa Girelli Canaletto Nero d’Avola Merlot (Sicily) 1 jereboam 1999 Hardy’s Nottage Hill Cabernet Sauvignon/Shiraz (Australia) 2 nebuchadnezzars 1999 Mondavi Woodbridge Cabernet Sauvignon (California) 2 jars 2002 Salento Chardonnay (Italy)
Images Images courtesy of Debbie Gillis and Gay Conrad. Strangely, after previous occasions, there were no pictures taken of boozed-up Funis at the dinner table.
Click to see a picture of the complete group of dinner attendees
(and guests) beside the
pool
Click to see a picture of a part of the group
Funettes abounding Funis frolic, Orcas observe Brother Macleod in deep conversation
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily...
Life is but a dream ...and if I blow out, it sounds like a Humpback! Oops! Was that a frog? Trying not to laugh at the canine antics
What's he laughing at? So if you just kick him like I did, he
shouldn't give you any more trouble... |
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