Even as a child, MARY AU was an unabashed lover of music as well as of food. Her mission is to make classical music part of the fabric of everyday life, in settings where both audience and artist can share in the joy of live music.

Feel free to view Mary's music biography, performance schedule, and repertoire lists.



 

Victory Celebration

Victory Celebration

Victory Celebration (plan for 60 people)

I have always wanted to perform in a recital where the food complements the music. Recently, Ruslan and I did just that. On November 3, 2007 many of our supporters, friends and colleagues joined us at Salon d’Or for a Vodka Tasting Victory Celebration. In addition to performing Soviet music (Tchaikovsky Rococo Variations and Shostakovich Sonata for cello and piano), we toasted Ruslan’s success in the Mu Phi Epsilon International Competition with vodka, the traditional Russian way. Our host supplied us with 9 different types of vodka for tasting. That was accompanied by a post-concert reception with Russian food. Our guests loved it and are asking for an ENCORE.

Here is the menu for the evening:

Zakuski

Vegetables

  • Pickles (use kosher pickles and cornichon)
  • Nature sweet grape tomato
  • Cucumber slices

Cheese

  • Cheese platter with crackers (sliced & chunked):
    • 1 small chunk Manchego (this was almost gone)
    • 1 large slab of Brie cheese (small piece left)
    • 1 chunk of Apricot Stilton (all gone)
    • 1 chunk Jarlsburg (all gone)
    • 2 boxes TJ Pepper and poppy seed water crackers
    • 2 boxes TJ multigrain water crackers
    • 1 box assorted crackers (used 1/2)
  • Russian cheese with spices (like ricotta cheese)

Salad

Smoked fish and cold cuts

  • Smoked Salmon
  • Russian Sausages
    (sliced Cervalet, Rastovskaya with garlic and Russian Salami)

Main Course

Bread
  • Russian bread, olive bread and sour dough bread
    from Whole Foods for Life

The Recipes

Crab salad:
Ingredients:
one can of lump crab meat from Costco, drained and put into bowl.
1.5 cups cooked jasmine rice (cooled)
7 eggs (hard boiled, cooled and peeled)
1 bag frozen corn (cooked and drained)
1 bag frozen peas (cooked and drained)
1 onion (diced, sautéed and cooled)
fresh dill, optional (chopped)
4-6 tsp. mayo
salt and pepper to taste
TJ roasted garlic

Method:

  • Put 1.5 cups of cooked jasmine rice into a bowl.
  • Add drained lump crab meat, hard boiled eggs, frozen corn and peas, sautéed onion, fresh dill, TJ roasted garlic and mayo
  • Season to taste with salt and pepper
  • Mix well, chill and serve

Salat Olivier:
Ingredients:
2 large potatoes
4 Hard boiled eggs (diced)
2 Green apples (peeled, cord and diced)
3 medium carrots (cook and diced)
1 english cucumber (peeled, diced, salted and drained)
1 bag Frozen peas (Blanched for one minute to bring out color, drain and cool)
2 boneless chicken breast (cooked cubed chicken) – you can also use ham or other preserved meat
2 large dill pickles (chopped)
Dill and parsley (washed, dried and chopped)
1/2 - 1 cup Mayonnaise from TJ
1/3 cup Russian sour cream
1 tsp. White wine vinegar
1 Lemon (juice and zest)
Fresh ground black or white pepper

Method:

  • Season chicken breast with salt and pepper, roast in preheated 350 degree oven for approximately 30 minutes until juices run clear. Cool and cube and put into large bowl.
  • Peel and boil potatoes until tender. Cool, cube and put into bowl.
  • Hard boil eggs. Let cool, cube and add to potatoes
  • Cook carrots, cube and add to mixture
  • Cook frozen peas, drain and add to potatoes mixture.
  • Peel, dice salt and drain English cucumber and add to mixture (be sure to squeeze all moisture from cucumber before adding to mixture)
  • Dice pickles and add to potato mixture
  • Add and mix chopped up fresh dill and parsley,
  • Season with mayo, Russian sour cream, white wine vinegar, black pepper

Chicken Salad (Chicken, apples, walnuts, mayonnaise, salt & pepper etc)

Vinegret (Beet, red potato, carrots, peas, copped red onion, hardboiled eggs, dill pickle, red wine vinegar, dry mustard, sugar, oil, salt & pepper to taste, minced dill, minced parsley)

Beet salad (3 Beets, 1 potatoe, 1 carrot, 1 hardboiled egg, Russian sour cream, mayo, salt and pepper)

Mayonnaise Chicken (Chicken legs, mayonnaise, salt and pepper to taste, paprika for coloring)

Enjoy!

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