An Enterprising Meal

I realize I'm revealing my true nerdiness early on in this blog, but it was bound to come out sooner or later, and I had to post about the dinner part my friends and I had for the premiere of the new Star Trek film.

I have long been a Trekkie (yes, even allowing myself to be labeled as such), which is why one of my good friends gave me this bottle of wine for my 21st birthday - it's vintage 2267, and from Chateau Picard.

I realize I may have just completely confused many of you, but for the other Trek fans reading this, you can appreciate my excitement upon receiving such a gift. I knew immediately that I had to save such a special bottle for a special occasion indeed. A couple months after my birthday (this was a little over two years ago, mind you) they announced there would be a new Star Trek film coming out. And that's when I knew what I was saving it for...

Warp ahead two and a half years, and it's finally time to uncork that bottle of wine. But what to have with it? I knew there had to be a menu that would not pale in comparison to the accompanying wine, and so this is what I planned:

For the appetizer, Hasperat, a Bajoran dish that's supposed to "cause the eyes water and sear the tongue." Then, Vulcan Plomeek Soup (perfect, since Vulcans are vegetarians, too). And of course, no Star Trek meal would be complete without Qagh (or Gagh), a Klingon delicacy consisting of worms (it's best served live). Finally, for dessert I planned a simple chocolate sunday, one of Counselor Troi's favorites (and, being chocolate, one of mine, too).

You can click on the links below to see the recipes for each dish. They were truly fun to come up with. We had a wonderful night of playing Star Trek SceneIt and then going to the Arclight theater in Hollywood for the midnight showing. My roommate was happy, because she got to see some people in costume. I was happy because the movie was, in my opinion, a pretty good "reboot" for the series. So, all in all, "Ka'plah!"

Hasperat - Traditional Bajoran Dish

Plomeek Soup

Qagh

Oh yes, and I also had synthehol (a non-intoxicating version of alcohol served in Star Trek) as an option. I wanted to get dry-ice to make a Warp Core Breach, but alas, concern for my guests' safety (as you may have guessed, dry-ice is not good to swallow and they recommend serving drinks that use it out of a punch bowl rather than individual glasses, which did not fit in with the look I was going for) won out. But that's okay, because I love how all of the other synthehol drinks in Ten Forward (from The Next Generation) and even in Quark's (DS9) are always so brightly colored and seem to glow from within. So, for my version I simply combined various mixers (mojito and green apple, in the picture below) with Sprite, and voilá! Twenty-fourth century drinks.

Synthehol