Family Dinner--12/8

Som had lamb chops and requested a lesson in how to cook them. We considered grilling, but had no fresh mint for a sauce so decided to pan sear and then make a pan sauce with the drippings. Chris mentioned moutarde, so that was our direction. Here was the base recipe https://juliasalbum.com/lamb-chops-with-mustard-thyme-sauce/ only we had no Dijon, only French's yellow. Nor cream. Nor thyme. Not working. Time to improvise. Som had seasoned the chops with salt and pepper and I mashed up a few cloves of garlic into some olive oil and pressed that into them as well. More oil in a large skillet then seared them on each side and removed to a baking tray. Added one cup of red wine to the pan and deglazed. Som pulverized some yellow mustard seeds in her mortar and pestle and I added some dried rosemary, coriander, cumin and mashed it all up. Hmm, no cream. I tossed in a handful of pinenuts and crushed them into the dry mix. The sauce was shaping up nicely but needed something--butter! Added 4 tablespoons and whisked it in. Seasoned with salt. Tasted pretty good--then a very big CRASH as Rom John pulled down the bottle of French cabernet Sauvignon and we had a tsunami of red wine mixed with glass shards all over the white tile floor. Ram John wailed! we all did. Ba'Om, the nanny, was about to leave but swept up the broken glass that had gotten all over the floor and even underneath my feet. Time out. But it was the last bottle of red wine! Som jumped on their motor bike and sped off to get more. The lamb chops rested nicely, the children circled, hungry, Ba'Om left for her time off, John continued setting the table outside, Chris consulted his crystal ball, I fretted about the chops getting overcooked. John saved the day by giving Eileen and Ram John presents from his sister Eileen and the kids loved the farm book and other gifts. Both were wearing their Irish shirts that we brought them. No worries. When Som returned it was all good and the kids loved the chops, the sauce was good, the meat was perfectly medium, and Som's roasted peppers and asparagus went so nicely with her big green salad. The red wine flowed until it turned white and Som put the kids to bed and we didn't watch the Simpsons and everyone was ready to start in on Monday morning--whatever that means in Thailand. A final disaster occurred when John gave Ram John, who was happily passing out little pouches of peanuts, a nut that was covered in wasabi. He wailed! John felt terrible. End of night--except for the puppies outside who were happily gnawing on their bones.