Superbowl party XII

Chez Angela

9 February 2010. Back in 1999 a group of us assembled in Twain Harte for a combination housewarming and Superbowl party. And thus was born a tradition that has continued for now twelve years (Superbowl Weekend XII)! The cast of characters changes slightly from time to time, but the hard-core remain.

This year we met Chez Angela in San Carlos. She has been renovating a 1918 Dutch Colonial Revival and has made the kitchen a marvel of design and technology. Since it was deemed "functional" (which is not the same as "finished") we gave it a rigorous shake-down test.

• The stove has an electric induction cooktop. Somehow it cooks things with whirling magnets without heating the ceramic top itself, but it requires pans made of steel — no copper, no glass, no non-stick aluminum. Its most interesting feature is a "Sabbath lock" which disables the burners on the stove top and switches on the oven at midnight in order to observe the orthodox prohibition of work on the Sabbath. The logic is: kindling of fire is work; electricity is a form of fire; therefore, switching on electricity is work. We certainly were not Orthodox.
• The oven works as either a standard oven or a convection oven. It cleverly recalculates baking temperature for you when in convection mode.
• The refrigerator is from Spain and is the tallest refrigerator I have ever seen, compensating with height for a reduced footprint on the floor.
• The sink is from England. Of course. Americans just can't make a good sink.
• The butcher-block countertop has a little trap door through which recyclables drop into a bin under the counter. Naturally there is a door in the outside wall so the bin can be retrieved from outside.
• Drawers under the counters pull out … and out … and out forever, or so it seems.

On Saturday, Carolyn, Hal, and sons Ben and William, joined us for lunch, and a bunch of other people dropped in as well. It was Ben's 14th birthday, in observance of which, Doritos and rootbeer were served as snacks.

As usual, the main event was the preparation and consumption of copious amounts of food, beginning with Friday dinner at Pilita Mediterranean Turkish Grill in downtown San Carlos where we enjoyed supremely delicious dishes of our choice. We were joined by Don & Cindy, who attended the Pageant of the Masters with us several years ago, and Brent, who was in town for one of his gigs at the library.

We followed our usual practice of taking turns as chef de cuisine with the able assistance of sous-chefs. The result was a virtual smorgasbord of treats for the palate. (See right.)

Oh — almost forgot — the Saints beat the Colts to win the Super Bowl.