Labour Day Celebration at Elizabeth's

Monday September 1

Despite the fact that she'd only recently returned from her dig in Turkey, our colleague Liz had the energy to put on a dinner for us and Fanny. Her house has a long corridor down the center, and at the end is the kitchen and a broad, open deck, shaded by a horse chestnut tree. That's where we sat, in a green shade, to eat a variety of tasty appetizers: creamy onions caramelized with olive oil and pancetta, and the grilled bruschette to put them on; sautéed cauliflower with Indian spices; cherry tomatoes, red and yellow, with basil; and black olives.

Then Liz fired up the Weber, and grilled a toothsome set of veal chops, pounded and breaded in the Italian manner. She served them with those tiny, couscous-like pasta balls, acini di pepe, tossed with kalamata olives, and a salad with radicchio and bright lemon dressing.

Dessert was fresh local strawberries with whipped ricotta cheese - Holt licked his up quickly and got seconds. So thanks, Liz, for a perfect end-of-summer meal.