the whole plate.

On Monday night, the family drove a bit further than usual in order to reach a new [to us] dining destination: Kennbunkport’s White Barn Inn.  

Escaping the threatening clouds and high humidity, we settled into our table and didn’t even open our menus for twenty minutes.  Actually, when our appetizers arrived, we noticed the table next to us – who sat down after we did – already being served their second dessert course.  How and why people eat so fast, I just don’t know.

butter and olive oil: too cute to escape the camera.  also, note the bird in the background, which was made from silverware.  my mom is still talking about this centerpiece.

I can’t imagine rushing through a meal such as this one.  We treated it as a time to relax, to soak in the rustic decór, the muffled tones of dining conversations and food presentations, the candlelight on each table, the smells emanating from the plates being carried around the room.  Around our square table, we soaked in each other.  We shared an experience and made a memory around plates of exquisite food.  

amuse bouche: crab salad swimming in mango soup, with a dollop of crème fraîche and a bite of lobster alongside.  

We opened that memory with a bottle of wine.  There is a wonderful union that occurs when everyone is sipping from the same bottle, tasting the same flavor, enjoying the same light buzz.  As my dad perused the wine list, I spotted a cabernet franc out of the corner of my eye and immediately put in my vote.  The choice ended up a hit: we went through two bottles.  It’s always nice when my companions enjoy a recommendation I make [and vice versa].

appetizer: yellowfin tuna three ways.  seared with ponzu salsa; raw with nori, daikon, and sweet egg sauce; poached and topped with coconut and cucumber.

As we ate, my mom and I reminisced about the food we had prepared for my good friend’s bridal shower last month.  We tossed around ideas for our next big home-cooked family spread – Rosh Hashanah.  We discussed the food we would all taste and enjoy.  I thought about the experience my extended family would share around my parents’ dining room table, the way we would all come together over that feast for the new year.

intermezzo: chilled pea soup with lobster crème fraîche and lobster oil.  i must must must learn to make this soup.

There are, of course, other activities aside from eating through which bonds of family and friendship can be forged.  On this vacation, we go on beach walks together, we lay in the sun [or hide in the beach umbrella's shade], we play cards, we see plays, we shop and schmy, we collectively psyche ourselves up to throw our bodies into an icy ocean.  Life goes beyond food, and it is important to partake and enjoy events that don’t involve a fork and knife.

entree: sautéed halibut with braised fennel “risotto,” sweet corn beignets, and chorizo pureé.

But food is a necessity in ways that an evening at the playhouse or afternoon at the J. Crew outlet [some of yesterday's activities] simply aren’t.  I think that is what makes sharing food with others so much more special.  

pre-dessert: cranberry gelee and chantilly cream.

A meal doesn’t have to be an “event” in the way that my family’s gourmet excursions tend to be.  It can be take-out and Netflix, or picnic sandwiches and a park bench, or a homemade soup and candlelight at the kitchen table.  Whatever the atmosphere, the point is: we sit with companions and share in that basic human necessity for nourishment.  

dessert: rhubarb tart with maple poached plums, lemon mascarpone, rhubarb sorbet.

Of course, if you’re a member of my family, you might be a bit more intense.  You might need a seven-course meal.  You might still be talking about that meal 48 hours later.  You might already be planning your next trip back.  You might be a little sad that it outdid Arrows.  

petits fours: blueberry brownie, raspberry dark chocolate truffle, white chocolate coconut fudge, strawberry gelee, pistachio dark chocolate.

Mostly, though, you’ll smile about the wonderful memory: an evening with a mother, a father, and two daughters, reclining around a white tablecloth, enjoying bite upon bite of fascinating flavors and sip upon sip of spiced red.  If there was ever a reason to love food, well: I think this is it.

What are your favorite ways to share time with companions?  

Related posts:

1. dinner 8.10: the lobster pound.
2. dinner 8.10: five-o shore road.
3. the lobster pound.