Scenes From Friday Night

Friday night starts with a well deserved beer after a long week at the office. This is an organic pale ale from Thomas Creek Brewery right here in South Carolina. I can't describe beer to save my life, so I'll just say it's very good. If you want to read a bunch of beer-geek talk, check this out.


Cats are notoriously difficult to photograph.


Tonight's wine is Domaine du Vieux Chêne Viognier VDP de Vaucluse 2007 ($9.99, Green's). This is wonderful stuff. Inexpensive California viogniers can be overblown and almosy syrupy. French viognier is rarely inexpenisve. The Vieux Chêne is very balanced with restrained flavors of peach and apricot. The finish is very tight and focused with good acidity and a hint of slate. (How's that for wine-geek talk?)


Here's part of dinner sizzling on my beloved flat-top skillet. The recipe for my crab cakes is in this post.


Sorry mom, no vegetables. But...wine is made from grapes. Does that count as a serving of fruit? I really should have added some color to this very brown meal, but I got lazy.


Uh, excuse me. Where's my plate?


I've been using quite a bit of Hoisin sauce lately. It makes an fast, tasty, dipping sauce for seafood. Just mix it with soy sauce, lemon juice and ginger. For the crab cakes, I've been adding some yogurt which makes for nice, creamy texture. It's worth seeking out a really quality brand from an Asian grocery store. The flavor is worlds apart from the cheap commercial stuff.

Here's to Friday night, y'all.