The dinner that I won with author Shani Mootoo was held on Feb. 21, 2009 and it was a magical event. In addition to me and my four guests, the diners included a number of people from The House of Anansi Press including the president of the company who was our gracious host, Shani's partner, and a young journalist from The National Post. The Press has some publicity information posted on their website.
http://www.anansi.ca/anansi_reader.cfm
Shani and her kitchen assistants did a remarkable job, preparing an appetizer of polenta with coriander served with roasted tomatoes and baked kale. There were two main courses with half of the guests dining on seafood, and half on poultry. The poultry dish was baked chicken breast, stuffed with spinach I believe, and coated in baked ground cumin and cinnamon. This came with an apple sauce and a form of glazed carrots seasoned with thyme and bay leaves. The seafood dish was a bouillabaisse or fish stew that contained fresh scallops flown in from Nova Scotia, shrimp, clams, salmon and monk fish. There was a fresh greens salad and the dessert was a true work of art: poached pears with whipped cream and a fresh mint leaf. A Bacci chocolate was served as the finale.
The red and white wines were all very tasty, and the conversations most enjoyable. I probably drank too much, and talked too much but can attest that everyone seemed to have a wonderful time and my guests did not disappoint as they added so nicely to the mix that evening. Shani answered countless questions about her writing, her visual art, her love for a Trinidad that is no more, and of course we enjoyed talking about the characters in her recently published novel Valmiki's Daughter.
I've been asked to submit a book review to the Caribbean literary studies journal
MaComère, and hope my review will meet their standards.
Thank you Shani and House of Anansi Press for making this wonderful dinner happen.
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