Olympic Party

This all started when someone said to Corinna that nobody from Kansas was ever going to the Olympics, or something like that.

Corinna was on the women's Judo team for the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, of course, where there was more than a bombing. Corinna might not technically be quite 'from Kansas,' she could as easily be described as coming from a Gypsie caravan, but her answer was, 'Would you like to meet some of the five people I know from around here who've already been?'

She roasted a turkey for the dinner party, and I got to 'cheferize' (her term for when I cook).

I made my Papa Legba's Black Bean Soup, about four gallons of it, and about two gallons of Baked Potato Soup.

Papa Legba's is my name for a recipe that started when the artist formerly known as Frau Lobster and I were first married and decided to try a recipe we saw Caprial do on her cooking show.

It's evolved quite a bit over time, this recipe. Usually I add chipotle peppers to the mix, but the sausage was bringing enough heat and I've gotten a little bored with chipotle as a flavor, honestly.

Papa Legba's 

4 lbs Fritz's Andouille Sausage
4 lbs Black Beans
1 Smoked Pork Shank (sectioned in five pieces)
3 lbs White Onions (chopped)
1/4 cup Minced Garlic
1/4 cup Balsamic Vinegar
Generous amount of freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup Grapeseed Oil
1 lb Tomatoes (fresh, frozen or canned, it really doesn't matter)
Water


Soak the beans overnight while starting the stock. Stock: sautee onions in the oil until translucent; add garlic, vinegar, tomatoes, pork shank pieces and cover with about three gallons of water. Bring to a boil and simmer about eight hours while the beans soak.

Using a colander, strain the stock into the rinsed, soaked beans, picking out the bones with tongs. After you've deboned the mixture of onions and pork shank meat, add that to the pot, slice the sausage into one-inch pieces and add it to the pot, topping up with water. Bring to a boil then simmer for a couple of hours.

The baked potato soup was a first for me, though the aforementioned ex-wife used to make something like this when I made the black bean soup for New Year's.

Lobsterland Baked Potato Soup

8 lbs Baking Potatoes (I used Yukon Gold this time, but it would work with almost any variety)
1 lb Bacon
1 gallon Whole Milk
2 sticks Butter
12 oz. shredded White Cheddar Cheese 2 bunches Green Onions, chopped
2 tbsp Minced Garlic
1/4 cup Flour


Bake potatoes until done. Cut bacon into 1/2" pieces and cook until crispy, drain on paper towels. Melt butter in stock pot, whisk in flour until incorporated. Add milk, garlic and about half the onions. Cube the potatoes, your choice whether to skin them (I baked mine too long and held back some skins because they were leathery and tough). Bring to a simmer, add about half the bacon and cheese, reserving the rest of it along with the remaining onions for people to top their bowls with.

Bring to a simmer and serve.

As far as the party itself, I think we only had one other Olympian show up, Nigerian boxer Olanrewaju Durodola, who has since turned pro. Actually, I think his coach, Lawrence Abdalla may have been an Olympian, too, and he was there. But we had lots of interesting people come, including Wyatt Ohle, who has Olympic ambitions in Judo.

One of our guests commented that you always meet interesting people at our parties, and I realized this was no accident. It would never occur to me or Corinna to invite people we didn't find interesting. Rent liberated Cuban immigrant, roller derby girl,

And of course we made them all sign the 'guest book.' Whenever someone comes to our house for the first time, we measure them against the pantry door jamb and put their name and date on it so a future owner of the house might wonder if a hundred and fifty people grew up here all at once.

Em didn't want to come down at first, so I started sending people up to her room, figuring by the time ten or twelve people were up there she'd be flushed out.

The next day, Em asked me who the weird guy with the beard taking all the pictures was, and I was like, "That was me." She meant our friend Aaron, who I admit has a much beardier beard than mine. I'm not sure he's actually any weirder than me.