Quail and a little smoke

First off, remember how when Brad first moved in and I said 1+1 makes things easier? This is still true. However, if I didn't sleep during the day, I could have helped him on the quail hunt by telling him when I wasn't half asleep to check the Asian supermarket. Instead, this is how tracking down quail went.
First, I tell Brad to go to a meat market 19 miles away (on the freeway) because they said they had 10 for $2.99 a lb. So Brad goes on Friday, and they don't have any. So he comes back on Saturday and they say they have 2 and really they're cornish game hens, and they say it right on the package. So Brad calls a couple more places who don't have quail, and Albertson's and Albertson's distributor who sells them in packages of 100!! But even the 100 can't get to us before Tuesday. So he asks the distributor for a couple ideas and the guy says, "Maybe you could try the Chinese Cultural Center."
When I woke up Saturday afternoon, Brad was still in a state of shock from this place: the crowded fish tanks, the rattlesnake meat, the live eels. Totally crazy. But turns out you could buy 6 frozen quail for $10 and he bought 12. And I was a little bit scared to eat them but they were great.
So we had to get ready in kind of a hurry today because there was a baptism after chuch so we had about an hour. I was ripping apart a pomegranate for a grapefruit-pomegranate salad (I've always wanted to buy champagne vinegar because it comes in the prettiest bottles, but I never had a good reason (ok, any reason). Turns out this recipe calls for it. Which I found out too late. So we used raspberry white wine vinegar. So sad.) and Brad was tying little quail legs together (for some reason I know Jessica does not like this part..) Well, we made 14 quail (we found 2 expensive ones a month ago) and Brad had stacked them all up on a cutting board that he placed on a burner on the stove and then accidentally turned that burner on. Dinner was a little late 'cause it took a while for all the smoke to clear. I ran the salad into the living room so it didn't absorb the taste. So crazy.
Funny, though. It was the only catastrophe we've had so far..
We also had some figs that I had frozen last month (figs are a pain in the butt to find...have I already written that?...)
Anyways, Brad did an awesome job of sauteeing all the quail and the figs before finishing them off in the oven (doesn't that sound fancy?) He was really nervous, but they turned out perfect. And beautiful. We served white and green asparagus on the side. Turns out quail are totally messy to eat and you basically pick the whole bird apart and eat it with your fingers and feel quite carnivorous, but there really aren't any good options. It made everybody really comfortable and casual, though, and that was fun. We had Pear and Oatmeal "cobbler" for dessert. Brad forgot to get ice cream, though, but our friend Ariana brought over Toffee caramel ice cream, and most people wanted that. I put french vanilla yogurt on mine, and it was good. At 9 we all watched the rebroadcast of the CES fireside that we missed because of dinner. It was Elder Oaks, and it was really very good. It was a very fun time today. Lots of laughing, and, really, that's what it's all about...