Red Snapper for Seven

We visited our friends who have a house in country along a river in Pennsylvania this weekend. Weekends spent with these particular friends, at this particular house, are magical. There's plenty to do in the area, from little antique stores, a candle factory, and quaint little towns all around, but most of the time, we're just content to sit around the wood burning stove reading or playing board games. This time, we went to a little town about 45 minutes away and found a Buffalo farm where we picked up some cubed Bison for stew and kebabs. Bison meat has about 1/2 the calories of chicken, and is leaner than beef. I can't wait to try some. We also picked up a really nice bottle of Cabernet with hints of fig--a wine I'm always on the look out for--which will go nicely with a bison stew.

On the way to PA from the city, we stopped in Chinatown for some fish. We'd been discussing for a few days how to cook it; perusing recipes online and in D's many fish books, but couldn't quite agree on anything. It all kinda came together on Saturday, and we had a lovely meal with our friends, their engaging artist friend who lives down the road, and another fun couple from the city.

We cooked two whole snappers (about 4 lbs each) in a roasting pan, and tossed a mixture of diced tomatoes, lemon, elephant garlic, parsley, cumin, salt, pepper, and few cut up ancho chiles for about an hour, and served it with seasoned couscous, roasted red and yellow peppers and young potatoes, and of course, plenty of red wine.

Nights in the country end early, especially after feasts like that, and we were all tucked in shortly after 11. We woke to a steady snow this morning that covered the koi pond--and the cars--with several inches. I was excited about the prospect of being snowed in, but D definitely has to be back in the city tonite. Snow makes the city beautiful, but only for an hour or two. Out here, the picture-perfect snow-covered trees and ponds last for days.