MY ACCOUNT

August 13

Hi mum,
 

Yesterday was the potluck… and how do I even begin to tell you what it was like?? If I had to sum it up in a word, it would be: incredible.

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First, Jenna and Jerry had arranged to help with the part of hosting that I had been dreading: the social part. Jenna stood with me to welcome guests as they came in, and handed off the incoming dishes to Nora and Lou, who’d also kindly offered her help.

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Second, the outdoor setup that Nora, Jenna, and Jerry had created was spectacular. There were beautiful, rustic picnic benches set up around a center square that was designated for dancing. There was a stand-up table/bar set up around the fence, with the gazebo transformed into a full cocktail station, with a prime spot to feature our dessert cocktail (more on that later!).

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Nora had had the idea to string twinkle lights across the entire outdoor set up, so it looked like a canopy of glittering fireflies dancing above us the whole evening.

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Jerry lent his booming voice to make announcements when the food and the dance floor were open, and ended up becoming the official emcee for the rest of the event.

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And the indoors portion was meticulously organized by Jenna and Nora. They knew which station should go where, how to flow the traffic to buffet the potluck dishes, how to lay everything out on the tables from appetizer to dessert and have it all fit! But they didn’t let me help with the indoor set up, and the reason became apparent once the party started. Yes, it had to do with their surprise for me, but I’ll get to that in a bit, too. Let me tell you about the food!

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We had 67 people at the potluck – or, I should say 67 adults, because I didn’t count the kids. But those 67 adults brought a total of 45 dishes! Most were within theme, and thanks to Jenna and Nora’s menu organization, it was a good assortment of courses. For appetizers we had a blue crab hash, spicy shrimp puff pastries, salmon mousse on crackers, chicken kebabs, tuna and cucumber sandwich bites, grilled scallops, gazpacho dip, and a few others I can’t remember right now. I tried to taste a little of everything, though!

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In the main course dishes there was a beautiful lobster bisque, a salmon tarte, pork tenderloin, Lou’s salmon croquettes (boy, those were a hit!), a stuffed trout, fish and chips, a masala-fried halibut with curried potatoes (an Indian version of fish and chips, if you will!), crab cakes, grilled octopus, seafood gumbo, lobster linguine, a homemade sushi platter, and another several I can’t remember. I definitely ate WAY too much, even just from my tastings.

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For dessert there was an assortment of pies: chocolate cream, lemon meringue, key lime, along with a strawberry shortcake trifle, bananas foster, walnut pralines, cream puffs, fresh sorbets, and the gelato station that Jenna and Nora had planned.

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And here’s where their surprise for me came in: another table was set up with salts from around the world. They had asked everyone to bring an unusual type of salt, either from somewhere they’d travelled, or one with a unique crystal profile, or from one of the less popular harvesting methods.

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So on that table were at least 50 different types of salt. One person alone had brought at least 10 different salts, all from Japan! Then there was a variety of French salts, some infused salts (including a WINE-infused salt!), and even a salt that was a type of crushed seaweed. Jenna and Nora had collected and set out little bowls of the salts, each with a label of the type and origin, as well as who had brought it, and it was just incredible. Their purpose in setting this up as a surprise for me was to both boost my creativity for the cookbook, and to get the guests interested in salts and the book. What they didn’t anticipate was the bigger gift they gave me: an icebreaker.

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The salt gave me a comfortable talking point to interact with people at the potluck. Even those who hadn’t brought any salt made their way over to ask me about it. I know it sounds like a crutch, but it got me out of my head a bit to talk about something I’m comfortable with. I’ve mentioned before that I feel like I don’t know what to talk about with people, and this event gave me two insights: one, it helps to talk about a subject you’re comfortable with; and two, if someone isn’t very talkative, ask them questions about a subject they *are* comfortable with! Me at the potluck is a prime example of both.

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The salt table ended up being a great source of entertainment, too. The guests had a blast trying out all the different types of salt – some were (foolishly) brave and attempted to try them straight, but the more sensible guests learned the pleasure of salt-tasting with the gelato that Nora and Jenna had ordered. Some salts - like the black salt, of course - did not work well with that tasting method, but it was really fun to watch people’s expressions when they tried it on the gelato and realized the black salt has a sulfuric flavor. Egg-flavored salt is never a good pairing choice with a sweet cream dessert!

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It did pique interest in the cookbook, though. Especially since the recipes revolve mostly around sweet eats, people were intrigued as to how a focus on salt could interact with those flavors. Jenna and Nora had also prepared little packets of all the types of salt as take-home favors for the guests, and Jerry as emcee made a toast to introduce me and celebrate my cookbook project and theatrically presented our dessert cocktail creation.

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And wow, was that a hit. We ended up making some of our favorites from the trials as well, like the pineapple ginger margarita, and another that was a watermelon jalapeno mint margarita, but the star was definitely a simpler flavor profile: a sweet cream lime whip (one with and one without tequila, for the kids), topped with an almond praline tuille, and a chunky salt and graham-cracker shortbread crumble rim. It was decadent, sweet, tart, and salty, and was a smash with everyone who tried it.

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When people flocked over to ask for the recipe, and Jenna tutted them away with a laugh, saying they’d have to wait until the book release. Nora was enjoying my mix of reactions to it all, and I can’t say I blame her. My face must have been a comedy: looks of abject terror turning to relief, then polite smiles, then a deer in the headlights, then comfort and ease. It was a range of emotions going through me that day, but overall, I’m glad that I did it.

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Not only because it was a huge step forward in being more social, but also in terms of understanding myself better, too. I can recall the moments that I felt that panic rising up, and I can understand what calmed me down. I can see what holds me back and remind myself to be more aware of what it is I want. And while that changes, I’m finding that it’s easier to assess in each moment by recognizing what I don’t want. Why is that easier, I wonder? Is it a survival mechanism to know immediately what we don’t want? Or is that just me?

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Well, if it is just me, I’m glad that I had the opportunity to do something that scares me, because it showed me that it’s not all terrifying – just parts of it. And when I was in those parts, I could see that there’s nothing actually scary about it – it’s just in my head.

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And I haven’t told anyone yet, not Nora, not Jenna, not anyone… but I’m working on a little something special. For them.

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I’ll share with you soon.

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Love,

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Beatrix