Sara's Cleanse Diary, Day 10: The Dinner Party
Sara Dickerman is not only the mastermind behind the Food Lover’s Cleanse—she’s also participating in it! Follow along with her every day as she files her Cleanse Diary, and ask her questions on Twitter (@saradickerman)**.
The Food Lover’s Cleanse is a celebration of good food—something so tasty that you can show it off. To put this principle into action, I invited some friends to my Seattle home last night, and we celebrated with last night’s Cleanse menu.
[#### See the menu for Day 10 of the Food Lover's Cleanse
](http://weightloss-tricks.today/recipes/healthy/slideshow/menu-jan-11-day-10-food-lovers-cleanse-2014 "Menu for Jan. 11, Day 10 of the Food Lover’s Cleanse 2014")
[#### See the full 2014 Food Lover's Cleanse Plan
](http://weightloss-tricks.today/recipes/healthy/article/complete-one-page-menu-plan-food-lovers-cleanse-2014%29%3C/p%3E%3Cnative-ad position="sponsor-product" shouldDisplayLabel="true">
Follow along with Sara's Diary:
Sarah Flotard1/13In the afternoon, I got some prep out of the way. Our main dish was coconut curried mussels with leeks. Since leeks can be quite sandy. I like to slice them first and then give them a bath in a large bowl of water. I push them down, and loosen up the rings with a little swish. Then, I lift them up out of the water, letting the debris fall to the bottom of the bowl.
Sarah Flotard2/13Mussels are easy to cook, but you want to take a moment to get them prepped before hand. First rinse them well in cold water. Then, check to make sure that they’re alive and feisty by squeezing any open mussels shut. If they pop back open after a little pinch, toss them; also toss any cracked mussels. Mussels also have a little clump of fibers, known as a beard, which help them cling to rocks. To remove the beard, pinch it and pull. Do this close to cooking time, as the mussels can’t for long without their beards.
3/13The chocolate bark starts as a pool of melted bittersweet chocolate, and then gets its crunch from a shower of pistachios, coconut, and cacao nibs (bits of the pod from which chocolate is processed).
Sarah Flotard4/13Our friend Eric Fredericksen took a tiny pause from his dry January to make one of Marissa’s low-alcohol cocktails, Rubies and Thorns, with blood orange juice, lemon thyme, and just a splash of gin.
Sarah Flotard5/13We sat in the living room for cocktails, which tasted wildly fruity and bracing after a week without drinking. I put out some not-too indulgent snacks: marcona almonds, olives and walnuts in their shells. My squirrel nutcracker doesn’t work too well, but it’s cute!
Sarah Flotard6/13In the afternoon, I cooked the potatoes in water until just tender. Come dinnertime, I put them in hot pan with a bit of oil to brown. They key to a good, even browning is to let the potatoes cook undisturbed for several minutes before turning—or tossing—them.
Sarah Flotard7/13After warming some garlic and oil in the pan, I put in mounds of spinach—it shrinks tremendously. I covered for a minute or two before stirring the glossy spinach and finishing it with some lemon zest.
Sarah Flotard8/13I’d cooked the leeks until soft in the afternoon, so at dinnertime they took almost no time to cook. I heated the leeks, added in the mussels and stirred. Next, a bit of coconut milk and water, and then covered again. In a few minutes, the mussels were yawning open and ready to eat.
9/13A bit of cilantro and red pepper finished the mussel dish.
Sarah Flotard10/13We sat down in high spirits. Though I skipped the bread, many of my guests were glad to have a little bread on the table to sop up the fragrant curried broth. Don’t forget to put an extra bowl on the table for mussel shells.
Sarah Flotard11/13Dessert plays an extra function when you’re entertaining: it gives everyone a reason to linger a little longer over conversation. I decided to supplement the crunchy chocolate bark with some modest extras: Satsuma mandarins, Medjool dates, and a little mint tisane (which is just boiling water poured over fresh mint).
Sarah Flotard12/13One of my guests, Robin Wehl Martin, owns a brand new cookie shop, called Hello Robin! with her husband Clay Martin. She came bearing some of her ridiculously good chocolate chip cookies spiked with a tingly touch of habanero chilies. Though the cookies are definitely not part of the cleanse, they were quickly gobbled up by everyone else.
Sarah Flotard13/13The dirty-dish damage wasn’t too great from this meal, and well worth the company.
