Edith and Jay came for dinner tonight. Everything was really good, but the star of the evening was the fabulous chocolate cake. Rich but really light cake, and the cinnamon-chocolate caramel filling really made it stand out.

This was my first time cooking with sorghum grain. I had to order it online because no one locally carried the grain, only the flour. After I had cooked up a batch of the grain, I tried it and didn’t like it. Weird, gummy texture. But after it got cooked into this salad, it ended up being really good. And the flavor of the mushrooms was great, I tried a little but it was too much mushroom for me. Everyone else liked it, though.

• Double-Fennel Pork Chops (Fine Cooking #96, January 2009, p. 114a)
• Sorghum with Cherry Tomatoes & Corn (Whole Grains Every Day, Every Way, p. 221)
• Mushroom Ambrosia with Miso (The Splendid Table’s How to Eat Supper, p. 292)
• Cinnamon-Caramel-Ganache Layer Cake (Fine Cooking #96, January 2009, p. 86)

Wine: Kosta Browne 2005 Rosella’s Vineyard Pinot (Santa Lucia Highlands, California). Amazng wine. I’ve been hoarding it because our stock of Kosta Browne is pretty limited.