Wild and fresh is how I like 'em

It's strange cooking in someone else's kitchen but a bit of an adventure too. You never know what you'll find. Last night, there were scallops (wild and fresh was how they were described), lots of apparently good and fancy cheese (I didn't have any so I don't really know), spinach, pesto, artichoke hearts, and a very large mushroom, among other things.

After hunting around the refrigerator for a bit, consulting cookbooks, and researching online for the name of the mysteriously large mushroom, my friend and I decided to make a spinach salad topped with sauteed scallops, mushrooms, a dallop of pesto, and a balsamic vinegrette. It sounded quite impressive and it actually was. We first started with sauteed mushroom appetizers. Slices of mushroom cooked in butter with a touch of salt, garnished with capers. The real show then began with minced garlic cooking in olive oil, then came the mushroom, and finally the scallops to brown. Sizzling glory abounded. It was all topped off with a touch of dry sherry.

The scallop mixture then went atop a bed of spinach and drizzled with the vinegrette. I had to keep stirring the vinegrette as I poured since it wasn't staying together. I'm such a bad emulsifier.