Charles Town Chatter: Blake's Birthday Bash

Last weekend we had the pleasure of arranging some fun meals for our youngest grandson, Blake, who was turning eight. Blake and his parents Megan and David flew in for a long weekend, first spending a day in DC touring the museums and monuments and then coming to our house for two nights. Now you might think that all we had to do was grill some hot dogs and hamburgers; I mean the kid is only eight years old. However, Blake is simply not like any eight-year-old that you, or we, have ever met.

He was very specific in his meal requests: He wanted Angulas (baby eels) and he wanted Escargot. That was it, no cake or sweet anything, just a big plate of angulas with an eight on it, and a big helping of snails. Luckily we knew his requests early enough to be able to shop for his favorite foods, which wasn’t easy - but hey, he’s a grandkid. Since there were adults who would be eating, we also had some normal food. I had deboned a nice leg of lamb and it was in the fridge smothered in Greek yogurt, garlic and mint and Cindy had made her special Tart Tatin, so we would not go hungry.

The day of the birthday dinner I made escargot po’boys. Megan had purchased some really fresh Italian bread and I cut the entire loaf in half the long way. Using my fingers I scooped out the bread from the lower half and put it aside. I then filled the cavity with a mixture of garlicky mayo, spicy mustard and Cindy’s famous coleslaw. On top of that I heaped mounds of escargot that I had just cooked with lots of butter, garlic and chopped parsley. I then covered that with the bread that I had scooped out and pressed it all down nicely before adding even more escargot and then topping it with the other half of the loaf. I cut it all into five pieces and we had at it. The little darling did me proud and not only finished his piece but helped with others that couldn’t finish. It was a messy, drippy, tasty lunch washed down with copious amounts of French white.

Hours later Blake was ready for his party so we got things organized for the angulas, which really only requires olive oil, garlic, hot chili peppers and the angulas. I heated a cast iron skillet until it was almost glowing and added the olive oil, pepper and garlic. Just as the garlic started to brown I turned off the heat, added the angulas and almost immediately transferred them to a terra cotta bowl and presented it to Blake with a wooden fork (traditional) and a big “eight” candle. The kid was in heaven and we were all just delighted to see him enjoy something so very much.

The rest of the meal seemed a bit anticlimactic since the party was over, but we did enjoy roasting that big slab of lamb, which we served with browned potatoes, a big salad, and Cypriot eggplant. Cindy’s tart was delicious, especially served with our own homemade crème fraiche. Just another weekend at Casa Embee.

We are off on Sunday for two weeks in Europe. One in the lake county of Italy then to Athens for a cruise. If we have fun, I’ll write. Ciao, Wm