Back out to the balcony

99 Fahrenheit degrees. Suzanne Vega CD, or actual temperature in Chicago earlier this week? The latter, though the first guess is close. Too bloody hot to do much of anything outside, including dine on the balcony. Wednesday's storms that slightly disrupted Project Runway were a breaking point, though, and today has been warm. Happily, that meant dinner out on the balcony with Francis and Kim.

Relax, I didn't cook up a dinner party. Conrad and I resorted to Ping Pong for some delivery: chicken spring rolls, lettuce cups, chilled tofu with crispy fried garlic, sesame beef, cashew chicken, peapods with shrimp, and basil chicken. Also known as far too much food - there's lunch for both of us - at the very least - in the fridge now.

What a lovely evening to be outside, though. Kim came by at about 6:30, the food followed 20 minutes later, and Francis was hot on its tail. Conrad opened a few wines: an Argentinian white, a sweeter Hawaiian white, a 1999 pinot noir that was on its way to becoming madeira and met a fate down the drain, a Chilean cabernet, and a more successful pinot noir. I toasted and sipped a little of the too-sweet Hawaiian stuff - a toast to getting through the appendix thing and to our trip to Maui together in October - but otherwise stuck with water.

The food? Not bad. Takeaway is never quite as hot and fresh as one might like, and I found the basil chicken a bit sweet and stodgy. I liked the peapods, and though the beef was sweet as well, the broccoli in it was a good, crunchy texture. I kind of wish we'd ordered something spicy, but as I picked out the items, I have only myself to blame.

But still, the sun went down, we were treated to the glow of sunset on the highrise windows around us, the night air was a very comfortable temperature, we had our friends there. A good time.

Dessert. Oh, I got a bit fancy here. Not entirely a success, but fun to do. I made us some blackberry/raspberry souffles. In truth, it was too sweet. I used fewer berries (I was a little short) and too much jam (I think I was trying to compensate for the berries). It needed some lemon juice to cut it, or less sugar. Kim even noticed the texture of the sugar grains in the finished dessert. IT did rise well, though. I was pleased with that.

The other part was the OTT thing: tuile cookies rolled into cones and filled with some fresh raspberries and blackberries. Simple recipe, but I really need practice at timing the cookies and manipulating them. I have made ice cream bowls with a different recipe that involves honey. I also hate to say it, but in the case of both recipes, I like the taste of the batter more than that of the baked coookie!

Anyway, making the cones was a pain. The first few attempts were too well cooked and brittle. Snacktime! So I baked them less and was able to manipulate them a bit better, but they didn't then dry/harden into a nice crunchy cone. I smartly made extra, though, so there was enough to make four attractive plates.

It's almost midnight, the dishes are done, and I should be off to bed. No swimming yet again tomorrow, so a walk will be in order to work off the very big meal tonight!