The double co-host dinner

This dinner marked the eighth time that a group of Entrepicureans gathered at my place, and the first time that the dinner featured two co-hosts! Both Mary and Carrie have been co-hosts before, and we had been having some discussions about how to improve this growing dinner series, so it seemed like a good idea to have both co-hosts. And in fact, it was - there were absolutely no lapses in conversations, with many interesting topics.

Tonight's line-up, shown in the picture counterclockwise from the lower right, included Ajeet Bagga, Carrie Stalder (co-host), Sandy Missakian, Dave Waller, Carolyn Potter, Mary Chiochios (co-host) and yours truly.

There were a couple of unusual "categories" in the crowd: first, two of the diners (Carrie and Sandy) both have had and currently have some involvement with restaurants or businesses related to restaurants. This was reflected in some of the conversations. Also, several people (Mary, Dave, Sandy) have extensive experience with the film industry, and that was also a recurrent theme throughout the evening, with discussions about selection of actors, movies, production, distribution and much more.

At one point I recall a conversation about Las Vegas, a city that seemed to elicit diametrically opposed views and opinions from some of the Entrepicureans. We also learned about Dave's recent family vacation to New Zealand, a place we would all love to visit it if weren't so far away. Many other conversations swirled around the room, touching on topics as varied as baby sweaters and neon signs. People must have been having a good time because nobody left until after midnight!

The food had a definite maritime slant. The appetizers included smoked salmon tartines, bluefish paté, trout paté and a few other items. The first course was a seafood risotto that I had recently "invented" by borrowing ideas from a mixture of other recipes. The risotto was topped with bottarga, a substance made from the roe of the grey mullet, typical of certain southern Italian regions. It is similar to caviar, but comes as a hard reddish lump that was used during cooking and also grated on top of the risotto.

For a second course we had sole filet mugnaia style with a white wine and lemon reduction, accompanied by asparagus and roasted vegetables. Dessert included a taste test: Carrie had bought vanilla ice cream from two Cambridge favorites, Toscanini's and Christina's. We used these ice creams to make two types of affogato (ice cream with espresso) for each guest, and asked everyone which they preferred. People's decisions seemed to switch, and at one point it was suspected that the server (yours truly) got the two brands mixed up, so the results were inconclusive - though quite tasty.

Dinner was washed down with a great variety of specialty beers and wines. You can see a selection of what we consumed in the picture. In addition I am happy to report that my collection now includes a couple of delicious bottles that I am saving for the next good opportunity to enjoy some great wine with great company.

The resilient biking undergarment dinner

After a two-month summer hiatus, the Entrepicurean series resumed in full force on August 7. Thankfully the weather was not as hot as it had been for the previous several days, which is a good thing given that my A/C is not working. Nonetheless, for the first time in this series I decided to do the cooking the night before to keep things cool. One side effect of this choice was that I was able to participate in more conversations than I am used to, especially in the early part of the evening. This was great as I feel that I had an opportunity to have at least some time to chat with all the diners before we sat down to eat.

The guest list included (counterclockwise from the lower right) Marina Hatsopoulos of Windy Street, Scott Kirsner of the Boston Globe, Barbara McGovern of Incentive Targeting, Mike Bukhin of Tendril, Mary Chiochios of Chiochios Studio (the co-host), Amit Bansil of WireOver.com, Mona Vernon of Thomson Reuters and yours truly.

The title of this dinner reflects three of the many discussion topics that buzzed around the dining table. In a slight departure from past Entrepicurean dinners, at one point everyone was asked to say a few things about themselves, and to make suggestions for a title for the dinner. Mona suggested the resilient label because there had been several conversations about resilience, from children who grow up in different countries, to entrepreneurs, to women in Iran who are not allowed to do many things that we take for granted. Biking is a thread that was repeated several times, and in fact at one point we realized that seven of the eight diners consider themselves bikers (of the pedal variety); in fact, I believe at least two of the guests biked to the dinner. As to the undergarment... no, the dinner was not that exciting. As it turns out, Marina has recently made investments in a couple of different start-ups that have to do with undergarments, and Mona has a friend who also started an undergarment-related company, which made for lively and amusing conversations at our end of the table (much to the envy of some of friends at the other end of the table who were talking bikes while we were talking bras).

The food and drinks

The entire menu was designed for a warm summer evening, with nothing hot being served at any point during the meal. Appetizers included a variety of choices from hummus to artichoke dip and chips and salsa. The main course included a room-temperature risotto alle verdure, i.e., a risotto with mixed vegetables (bell peppers, eggplant, carrot, tomato, zucchini, onion), accompanied by a tomato salad made with yummy Campari tomatoes and mozzarella. Dessert also stayed on the cool side with a tropical fruit salad heavy on the pineapple and kiwi. The fruit salad was complemented by some delicious elephant ears that Mary brought from a bakery in East Boston.

The drinks selection was also quite summery, including a wonderful variety of fruit sodas and juices, some specialty beers, and a full complement of wines: red, white and rosé. Marina added a splash of Italian summer by bringing a bottle of Campari and a bottle of soda, with which she prepared one of my favorite apéritifs - with a glass of Campari & Soda in hand I felt like I was back in Piazza Navona. And when I got up the next morning I was reminded that Campari is stronger than it seems, especially when mixed with other drinks...

The delayed response entrepicurean

The title of this post is a reflection of the time it has taken me to create the blog entry, rather than having anything to do with the dinner itself, which took place ten days ago! As usual, we took a picture of all guests seated around the dinner table, as shown above. Moving clockwise from the lower left, you can see yours truly, Mary Chiochios (co-host), Emily Green, Ed Lafferty and Daniel Pereira.

Emily, who was CEO of the Yankee Group when I met her at a conference in Madrid two years ago, is now running a really interesting company called Smart Lunches that meets two important needs: providing a nutritious lunch for your child at school, and relieving the busy parent from having to prepare a lunch everyday.

Ed is CFO and partner at Saturn Partners, a Boston-based VC firm that invests in a very interesting variety of companies. It is also interesting that Ed's background is in accounting and finance, somewhat unusual for a VC. Daniel is a digital media professional with several movies under his belt and an impressive career that has included positions at MIT's Convergence Culture Consortium and IBM's Digital Media Laboratory. I am always in awe of people like Daniel who have such creative energy and productivity! Mary was back at the co-hosting spot, and in addition to her usual excellent job as a co-host, she brought some delicious fresh pastries from an excellent bakery in East Boston. You can see the pastries in the picture - yum!

I must confess that the details of the conversation are a bit blurry as I write this post ten days later. I remember discussing Emily's company, and her stories of learning about the complexity of parents' concerns about their children's meals. It was also fascinating to hear about Ed's involvement with The Ride, a company that organizes tours through New York, with actors planted at various locations providing live interactive performances as the company's high-tech motor coaches drive by. At one point the discussion moved to the quality of life in various parts of Boston, spurred by the fact that Daniel is looking for a place through the summer, as he is pursuing some new activities and trying to decide whether he will stay here or end up back in LA. I also really enjoyed an exchange with Emily in which she asked a lot of great questions about how we run the business at Icosystem. In spite of the wine and beer I think I was able to give some coherent responses to what sometimes seems like our incoherent behavior...

The Food

For this dinner I decided to go back to basics. After the usual spread of mixed appetizers (some of which you can see in the picture), we served gnocchi with a very plain homemade tomato sauce. This was accompanied by chicken scaloppine in Marsala sauce (I have found that veal is unreliable), accompanied by a salad of mixed greens with goat cheese and dried cranberries. The dessert consisted of the aforementioned (and "aforepictured") pastries.

The meal was washed down with a nice selection of red and white wines brought by the guests, including a Mouton Cadet white Bordeaux, Elena Walch Chardonnay, Layer Cake Shiraz and a Montepulciano d'Abruzzo by Cantina Zaccagnini.

The entrepreneurial entrepicurean

Last night's Entrepicurean dinner was the most entrepreneurial to date: every single one of the eight diners has had some entrepreneurial experience -- and this was reflected by the sheer number of different conversation topics that surfaced during the course of the evening.

The list of Entrepicureans, shown in the photo clockwise from the lower left, included Andrew Moss, Vicki Godfrey, Tara Cousineau, yours truly, Carrie Stalder (the evening's co-host), Rod Brooks, Rich Ramirez and Vaughn Tan. I won't even try to list all the companies with which this combined group has been involved, but let's just say that in one way or another this group has probably touched more industry sectors and application areas than your typical VC firm. Another interesting facet of last night's group is that for the first time there were two people that I had never met before (Andrew and Vaughn). This is something that I hope will happen more frequently as the Entrepicurean community expands.

Interestingly, I find myself having a hard time remembering what we all talked about, which is a bit surprising given that we talked about so many things. My fuzziness may have to do with a combination of factors: being pretty involved with the cooking, which distracted me from the conversation; the fact that there were several conversations going all at the same time; or perhaps the consumption of a fair amount of alcohol? Whatever the case, the conversations must have been good, because people seemed to be enjoying themselves and some stayed as late as midnight. I have vague memories of snippets of conversations involving healthcare, teens, Zeppelins, robots, TiVo, coffee makers, travel nightmares and numerous other topics. Rod's story of having a 3pm flight from DC delayed and finally canceled at midnight - forcing him to rent a car drive back - probably took the prize.

Carrie was great as co-host, helping with last minute errands, making a yummy salad, and doing an excellent job ensuring that everyone was having a good time even when I was completely distracted with the cooking. She also brought a couple of special treats, including a piece of some lovely Italian truffle cheese that I selfishly hid in the fridge rather than adding it to the appetizers platter (sorry, everyone!).

Tara had a good idea: before the dinner she contacted everyone on the list and connected with them on LinkedIn. I had created an Entrepicurean group on LinkedIn but did not set up any members. I will see if I can get that done today, and then we'll figure out how best to use it. Also, the subject was brought up once again about having two or three events per year at a larger venue, where everyone on the list is invited. There should be some venues that would be happy to sponsor a gathering of this sort.

The Food

Thanks to Carrie (who had done her homework and read the previous blog entry), I remembered to take a few pictures of the food. After the usual complement of appetizers, the first course consisted of gnocchi with a very simple butter and sage sauce, sprinkled with Parmesan. The second course consisted of saltimbocca: thinly sliced veal with sage and a slice of prosciutto, sauteed with white wine. A side salad made by Carrie featured a wonderful vinaigrette kindly made by a friend of hers who is chef at Garden at the Cellar (thank you!). Dessert consisted of a tropical fruit salad. I am learning that cooking for a large crowd requires a more careful selection of ingredients and timing. I thought the gnocchi was good, but it was a large enough batch that trying to stir the entire pot threatened to make them stick together, so the sauce was not distributed as evenly as I would have liked.

I was not particularly happy with the veal: the flavor was good, but some of the slices were tough and dry. Next time I will be more aggressive in tenderizing them (or start going to a proper butchery instead of the local grocery store). The salad was great, and the fruit salad I thought was delicious - Whole Foods has some great mangoes and kiwis. As to timing, I realized as I dumped the gnocchi in the boiling water before I started the veal that I lost my opportunity to do a single main course -- so instead I opted to do it the Italian way and serve the first course, then take a healthy break as I cooked the second course. This was actually fine, though it made it harder to interact with the guests, which in this case was fine given the larger crowd.

The drinks

We all enjoyed a great selection of libations. Everyone started by sipping some lovely Bonal Gentiane-Quina, a traditional apéritif best enjoyed with a bit of ice. Between appetizers and dinner we enjoyed three bottles of red and one of white, including a 2010 Owen Roe Kilmore Pinot Noir, a 2007 Sartori Valpolicella, a 2006 Veramonte Primus and a 2009 Glen Carlou Chardonnay. The fruit salad was accompanied by a bottle of Il Prosecco. The dinner ended with a few cappuccinos, espressos and a bit of limoncello. I also now have a nice bottle of Red Giant by Element brewery that perhaps I will enjoy with the truffle cheese and a bag of Lindor chocolates - all gifts from the guests that I stashed away...

Good things in small sizes

Owing to some last-minute changes and my crazy travel schedule, this episode of the Entrepicurean dinner featured the smallest crowd to date, with a total of five diners. Not surprisingly, the tone of the evening was different from previous dinners, with most of the time spent on a single conversation thread. This made for a more relaxed, intimate evening, with many topics being covered and people naturally taking turns during conversations.

The list of Entrepicureans, shown in the photo clockwise from the lower left, included yours truly, Maryellen Towle of KaiZen Coaching, Mary Chiochios of Chiochios Studios pitching in again as co-host, Claire Spofford of J. Jill and Walter Carl of ChatThreads.

As already mention, this seemed like a small crowd compared to some of the previous dinners, but that in no way reduced the amount or energy of the conversations. In fact, nobody left until around 11! Along the way we covered a wide variety of topics, both personal and professional. Perhaps my favorite aspect of the evening was that, without any prompting or plan, we naturally fell into a pattern whereby at some point or another each of us gave a summary of our own work and experience. In a larger crowd this might have seemed affected, but with the smaller crowd it was a very spontaneous. Maryellen was at the center of some fascinating reflections about the value of coaching, and when in a professional's career (or in a company's life span) executive coaching can be most useful and beneficial. Claire entertained us with stories from past and present experiences, which included her involvement with Timberland as it went from a predominantly domestic brand, to one with unique cachet around the globe. Walter's description of the genesis of ChatThreads and the way it is used by a variety of brands was quite fascinating and led to a lot of questions.

The Food

Usually we remember to take pictures of at least some of the food, but this time we forgot until everything had been cleaned off the plates! And with the late hour and my traveling the next morning, I also forgot to write down the wines we had with dinner. In fact, perhaps the wine itself was the reason why we forgot to do these things... Whatever the case, at least I have a clear memory of the dinner, which had an overall seafood theme. In addition to the usual selection of cheeses, tonight's appetizers included salmon pâté, smoked salmon tartines, shrimp cocktail and sliced bread with butter and anchovy filets. The main course was Farfalle alla Puttanesca, a tomato-based sauce with capers, tuna. The second course was anchored (pun intended) by Filetti di Tilapia alla Mugnaia, lightly floured and pan-sauteed (note: I am aware that tilapia is a fresh-water fish and thus not seafood, technically speaking; however, I was not able to find Filets of Sole, which is what I was planning to use!). The tilapia was accompanied by two vegetables: sautéed kale and a grilled mix of radicchio and endives. All of this was washed down by what I vaguely recall as a combination of a variety of red and white wines - including a sparkling Lambrusco. The dinner was capped off with apple pie à la mode.

Warm food on a rainy night

Once again, the Entrepicurean dinner took place on a rainy night, which made traffic a pain, but everyone seemed to forget the weather once they joined the party. I was a bit concerned because I had been awake for almost 36 hours, catching a red-eye from San Francisco the night before, but the lively company and stimulating conversations managed to overcome my sleep deprivation and the large amount of wine and Limoncello that I consumed.

Last night's Entrepicureans, shown in the photo clockwise from the lower left, included yours truly, my daughter Elena Gaudiano (who is back at Northeastern University full time after a 6-month stint at New England Pension Consultants), Mary Chiochios, Greta Meszoely, Pamela Goldberg, Fred Destin and Rachel Bellow. Once again Mary was invaluable as co-host, helping in many ways and doing photographer duty.

I am starting to think that I should drop the "Entr" part of the Entrepicurean: we had so much fun having conversations on a wide range of topics that the subject of enterpreneurship - or the entrepreneurial context - barely came up. On the other hand, I feel that the entrepreneurial spirit that is shared by all participants is part of what makes these dinners so enjoyable. Be that as it may, the evening was great. The details of the conversations are slightly blurry, no doubt owing in part to my own fuzziness. I distinctly recall some lively conversations about living abroad, about fashion, about New York, and some extended reflections about relationships and the impact of divorce on children. Fred made some very interesting observations about the relative immaturity of American men in their 20s and early 30s, in the context of how they relate to women. Fred, like me, was born and raised in Europe, where boys and girls spend time together in all age brackets. I remember as my children were growing up here, being shocked that pretty much as soon as elementary school starts, there begins to be a sharp gender segregation, with boys' parties, girls' parties, but little in the way of mixed-gender activities. Anyhow, Fred pointed out that this may be part of the reason why so many American men until the age of 30 do not seem very comfortable interacting with women.

Speaking of gender differences, I noticed one other interesting phenomenon last night: coincidentally, there ended up being five women and two men, and the two men can safely be described as European metrosexuals. The dynamics of the conversations seemed very different than in previous dinners: much more "chatty," very balanced flow, with clusters forming and dissolving as people floated in and out of various conversations. This was a very different dynamic, especially from the first dinner, when typically there was a single thread going at any time and it seemed that the guys were dominating much of the conversation.

The food

After the usual complement of appetizers, I took advantage of the cold weather to make a favorite winter dish: polenta. For those not familiar with it, polenta is a corn meal "mush," it has a consistency similar to cream of wheat but not as runny and a bit more gritty as the proper polenta cornmeal is of medium coarseness. My favorite way to eat polenta is to serve it on a plate along with a variety of sides and sauces. Last night I prepared five different condiments: tomato sauce, gorgonzola cream sauce, peperonata (a sautee of peppers and onions), sauteed mushrooms (a blend of chanterelles, oyster mushrooms, shiitake, and champignons), and two varieties of sausage. For dessert, Mary brought some Greek delights, including Baklava and some delicious home-made cookies.

There was also an interesting difference in the drinking pattern: the only thing people drank last night was red wine. We consumed four bottles: a 2008 Châteauneuf-du-Pape (Domaine Pontifical), a 2005 Angove's McLaren Vale Shiraz, a 2009 Blackstone Pinot Noir, and a 2010 Rosemount Shiraz. Some of us capped off the meal with Limoncello and espresso.