September 11th, 2005 was the long anticipated 2nd annual Fatted Calf picnic. Mama and I attended last year’s picnic. A beatiful day filled with beaches, grassy knolls, sausage and vast quantities of cool refreshing beverages all within view of Tomales Bay. This year was like that, only there was more …

Unlike last year, this was a later in the morning start. We didn’t leave home until a tad after 11am and arrived in the Pt. Reyes area by 12:30, just in time. The invite said 12:00 noon, I wanted to get there as soon as possible. This way I was assured front and center of the goodies unfolding from the coolers. Sit back for a moment and stare in to that image, pretend you get to be there for 6 hours and not have to do anything but talk to friends and eat the best food in the region, it staggered my little hillbilly mind.

One of the things I noticed right off is that we took up about 3 times the room over last year. I rambled off to another area and found the picnic tables all set up with grapes, different kinds of mustard, pretty flowers stuck in to balls (flower balls!) and cured meats, pate & & & … my vision is blurring. Right here we find a plate of pate, country style. It went pretty darned quick, even though it was early and I was 1 of 5 people hovering.

I wandered over to my left and found another table similarly adorned. However, this one was sportin’ some rabbit rillettes! YEAH !!! The bread was a nice local crusty that was buttered then grilled over mesquite, Fatted Calf Rabbit Rillettes over buttered bread toasted over mesquite. Yes, it was good. I moved over to table number three to find a plate with extremely paper thin slices of dried beef with an olive oil and little herbies on. That went down just fine. At this point the white & pink type wine had been flowing for maybe an hour or so, you have to wash your meat down with something you know.

All the while more and more people were showing up, all in good moods. They talked about the drive up or the wrong turn they took, I think Steve had been driving around up there for quite some time. Well, if you’re going to go for a drive, the Pt. Reyes seashore area is the place to do it. Sean showed up and brought along two long slender cylinders filled with his home-brew. Sean hooked everything up and got them packed in ice. He and I hung out for a bit, testing the pressure in this one, then in that one. Explained the one on the right had some wheat in the ale, made it a bit cloudy and the other was a little milder ale. Still looked cloudy to me and tasted smooth and finished clean (yeah I dunno man, I’m not a beer knowitall). Now armed with a cool refreshing cup of brew, I noticed Toponia heading over to the Meat Area with a plate of Mortadella, I was off.
As I was looking around at the picnic tables and what they had to offer, I looked to my far right and what did I spy?

An oyster bar filled to the brim with ice, sliced lemons/limes and yes, oysters. In fact, here is where Kate ended up later on in the afternoon.

I hope she stays warm.
While all this was going on, I noticed the large charcoal grill (maybe 5 feet by 3 feet) was completely filled with orange and red bell peppers, I wonder what those are for.

I feel so bad, I didn’t get her name, so for this post today, the two wonderful assistants to Fatted Calf will remain anonymous.

Oh, it’ll be a side dish for the Paella! AHAHHAHHA, we’re getting PAELLA !!! Fresh mussels, chorizo, savory sausage, veggies and saffron and a wonderful rich sauce. Steve was smart enough to ask and it’s a duck & Guinea Hen sauce, yum.

This is all being done over a real mesquite fire with steel pans. No electric non-stick crap ever.

Here we see the last of the chorizo being laid carefully in. It’ll be stirred and simmered until just right. Then, apparently you pull it and let it rest for 5 minutes. Everyone was pretty darned hungry at this point and there were 3 of these huge pans plus another filled with fresh mussels steaming in wine and broff.
Everyone was heaping their plates full, then headed off to their respective corners to eat. The paella was rich and flavorful and each mouthful had some flavors to play with. The grilled peppers were a perfect sweet match and it all went down pretty darned quickly.

I believe this is the way to eat paella, don’t you think so?

It wasn’t long before the food was down and everyone was talking, smiling, and/or resting bloated. We rubbed our tummies and poured some more beer. Looked around for anything else that needed tending to, such as meat platters, fresh oysters, grapes or fresh bread.
The conversations continued and Kate was explaining to me how she’d quit smoking a few weeks ago.

Well, at least J. Lee was able to get Kate’s nicotine patch OFF before she lit up.
After a few more beers I looked back up and over to the cooking area, there were large plumes of white smoke coming from the grill. Hmmm, I’m thinking. There’s only 1 thing that can cause plumes like that, CREPINETTES !!!
Sure enough, I ran over to find Taylor filling up the grill with crepinettes. A nice light snack treat.

This right here is the stuff dreams are made of. Think about it, when you arrive home with your package of crepinettes, it’s as though you have gold. A kind of magic, enchanted gold nobody else has, makes you giggle. But to see this many laid out over a large grill all sizzlin’ away? It takes the breath away. As they browned, more and more people stood around. Some wanted to give verbal help, “flip this one, no this one” and some people were asking, “how can you tell when they’re done?” People were now 2 and 3 deep around the grill, all peering and shuffling in anticipation.
It was at this point I was informally introduced to Sante, executive chef of Slow Club in S.F. Taylor and him go aways back, I get snippets of stories, one that makes Taylor mad. Something about habaneros in a hamburger. In any case, at one point Sante asked to see the tongs for a moment. The look on Taylor’s face was priceless and I sawr it coming. He handed the tongs over and beat a hasty retreat, TAG you’re it! Hah! That was funny. Taylor was off for a beer and some fresh oysters. Sante stepped up and got the job done. And done it was, the little sausage patties flew off that grill in no time. I grabbed one with my fingers and ran away. Crepinettes for desert, perfection.

Sausage patties wrapped in Caul fat. Caul fat is our friend.

If you’ve read this far, you probably have a good idea as to the mind set most of us are in. Relaxation and rambling conversations interrupted by occastional glances around just to make sure we’re not missing anything. It was at this point Sante and I were able to talk to each other, turns out he’s a fan of the ‘henge. Too cool. He and his wife are lovers of the hot & flavorful chile peppers, mostly the habanero and the scotch bonnet. In fact, he brought some home made sauce for Taylor as a gift. I disapeared with some and I was very impressed. It wasn’t crazy hot, had some vinegar bite to it and a flavor I recognize from other sauces, but don’t know what it is. We talked about cooking, grease traps and visiting farmers markets, blah blah blah. He invited Mama and I over some time and I’m making a point of going. No more ditching San Francisco, this red bearded fool is heading out and going to have fun.
It’s tough to sit here as I write this down, I can’t believe the picnic has come and gone already. The year sped along at an alarming rate and took my picnic day with it, all in the past now. At least Sunday tasted really good and I smile when I remember it. The pictures help, but the tastes that come to my mouth are even better. Thank you Taylor, Toponia, Assistants and Team Fatted Calf for Sunday, it was the best ever.
Biggles
RANDOM IMAGES TO SHARE
I wonder where the flower balls got to?

Hubba Hubba!

A good time was had by everyone.

Fin