JONATHAN'S BIRTHDAY BASH
July 6, 2003
We celebrated Jonathan Tolmach's 2003 birthday on a
wonderful, sunny Sunday afternoon in Woodside, California.
Jesper Jensen was busy working on the first course, a home-made pasta using the
Nonna Pierina techniques he learned in Piemonte in 1998.
Jesper has a really good "feel" for working with the pasta.
Breads from the Tolmach Oven were ready and absolutely delicious!
I brought a platter of Prosciutto e Melone, using a nice Prosciutto di Parma and
some Serrano ham.
Amy with her kids, Alanna and Dane.
The Birthday Boy offered everyone a Tolmach beer...a very fine way to start the
festivities!
Meanwhile, Alanna was helping her father "Beppe" (also known as Pepino)
in cranking out the pasta.
Whisper is really good at this pasta business.
Jonathan was obliged to open his birthday presents at this juncture, since the
FitzJensen's gifted him with a whole giant bag of Summer Truffles from
France! These were to be used with Jesper's pasta.
Here's Jonathan's wife, Lucy Tolmach, proudly showing off one of these beauties.
That dawg found a truffle!
Meanwhile, Jesper was busy preparing the first plates of California Tajarin (In
Piemonte, this Tagliatelle is known in Piemontese as "tajarin").
Dane is already a Pasta Eating "machine."
The Vietti Arneis was a nice match for the pasta!
So was a Castello di Ama 2002 Rosato.
The truffles were shaved on top of the pasta...moltissimo buono!
I snuck a peek inside the wood-fired oven to check on the progress of the
chickens and potatoes.
Looking good!
Serving up the main plates was a "Help Yourself" affair.
We had the wonderful chickens, potatoes, shaved fennel salad and a huge bowl of
fresh peas from the garden.
We then took a stroll through the garden on our way to the pool to see how
Jesper and the kids were doing in the pool.
The grounds are in superb condition!
Dane & Dad.
Alanna, meanwhile, jumps into the water.
She's a real mermaiden.
Back at Chateau Tolmach, Jesper assembles the birthday dessert, a berry 'tart'.
Alanna helps her Pop in assembling the desserts.
Voila!
Sierra keeps a sharp eye on Lucy in case any of the dessert becomes subjected to
gravity!
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