Happy Birthday, Dear Guest

One of my favorite steady guests (OK, they are all favorites, right?) hails from Australia. She loves to take care of various family members with orders from our soul food kitchen. Her default order is the bbq baby back ribs. This time she ordered up a vegan feast to celebrate her mom’s birthday.

My guests writes: “Just seeing [my parents’] excitement and being able to make them happy after being locked in the house for so long is priceless to me>’ Now how could you not want to do your very best in a situation like that for such a guest?

As it turned out the culinary gods truly conspired to help with the program. Usually, the green tomatoes in Israel are these wimpy ass things, little sorry green pips unworthy of the name tomatoes. But it just so happened I stumbled upon a cache of meaty bright green tomatoes, the kind you dream about finding here. (Well, at least I do.)

The vegan, crustless quiche I have been tinkering with for some time (that word “tinkering” I am borrowing from my daughter btw), just set perfectly, with the right blend of onion confit and tomato confit. I bopped my typical southern coleslaw up a notch with some picante toasted cashews for the topping. Good thing I made bunch because I scarfed down at least half before I realized what I was doing. Our beluga lentil salad got an upgrade, mixed with a saffron-infused rice. The peanut soup was perhaps a bit on the salty side, but still outrageous. And then the pecan pie with a touch of bourbon, fresh mint, and a generous side of whipped cream.

Happy birthday mum, as my Australian guest said. Mum indeed’s the word.