I facetiously called this event "Norway's Szechuan Province", since the main dish is an interesting mashup of Atlantic salmon and East Asian flavors (both Sichuan and Japanese). Throw in boiled potatoes, an Asian-inspired stir-fry salad and traditional Norwegian desserts, and you've got a whole lot of tasty confusion.

Around 4:00 pm, Kris suggested that I make a checklist again, and I realized a couple of steps in that I would have some previously unanticipated resource issues - not enough burners on the stove (I needed two simultaneous pans going for salmon for nine). I quickly rearranged the order of things, making the potatoes first, the salmon second, and the stir-fry salad last. Since the sauce for the salmon is made in the pans, I could plate the salmon and then make the sauces and stir-fry salad at the same time. It worked great, actually, with the potatoes staying nice and warm in their pan.

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The guests had the same kind of reaction Kris and I did when we first had this salmon dish at Tour de France so long ago - what a great combination of flavors.

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Rosettes and Almond Cake both came out well (the second time around - I guess that's why I'm practicing).

The only thing I'd change about this meal is to somehow get the pistachios to adhere better to the salmon. I recall a lovely, delicate and crunchy crust at Tour de France. Maybe next time I'll do an egg white wash to see if that could take the pistachio texture to the next level.