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.
