Captain's Galley - a Christmas Party

On the lead up to this year's Christmas party, there was much discussion about last year's party and the infamous inside-out cooked egg yolk and herring broth with haggis foam.  

I spent some time thinking about what to do and I made plans and changed them no less than 3 times, but finally I was settled on the Captain's Galley, and I was so excited when I realized it was available, our group would fit and we'd have the whole place to ourselves.  The dining room used to be the ice house, and it sits right on Scrabster harbor.  

The chef and I agreed it would a chef's choice tasting menu.  I did some not so subtle reminders of what we all like: me-spoots; Jason-scallops; and Bo-turbot/monk fish/chicken (this is a joke as Bo has been known to think chicken was monk fish and vice versa).

Christine suggested we all dress up and that's what we did.  Jason wore his tux - second wearing in two weeks and Bo rented a kilt.

The menu started with a crab sandwich, which looked exactly like a crab sandwich on white bread, but it was absolutely incredible.  I cannot tell you why - they serviced this was a gorgeous glass of prosecco.

The next course was in house cured salmon with smoked haddock.  It was all thinly sliced and rolled together with a parmesan crisp - served with a lovely crisp pinot grigio.

Next course - mussel and razor clams (spoots) tossed with creamy herb and vegetable vermouth. Wow, wow, wow: is all I could say.  You know it's good when a rowdy group of 16 all of a sudden becomes quite quiet.

Next course - Scallops with watercress, rocket, creme fraiche, and sweet chili sauce served with a Sauvignon Blanc.  This was the most fragrant of the courses; there were large and small scallops.  It was a taste sensation.

The final savory, and it was turbot with oxtail chinese style and noodles.  As usual everything was perfectly cooked, and it was served with a Pinot.  We had a couple of eaters with us that are standard meat and potatoes - no fish, no sauce, (no flavor).  Not only did they eat everything, but they really enjoyed it.

It was time for us to clean our palate, and the chef is always really good at this here.  Tonight, it was lime sorbet with coconut snow.  

Action shot - watch Jim clean that palate!

Dessert was a hazelnut tasting with praline chocolate tart, kumquats and hazelnut ice cream.  I had a special dessert as a non-chocolate eater.

creme brulee with candied oranges and donuts

Four hours from when we started, we all hugged and kissed, wished each other a very happy holiday with a side of travel luck and then went back into the night.  

It has been a hard, but good year, and these people are very special.