I’ve had a few people look at me confused or even better, they read the name  of our dinner party and call me to ask “What’s Chez Boogie?”

Chez Bougie (bou·gie - Prounounced bū‘zhē) is a play on the term Bougie which is a word I’ve heard since I was a child. You see, I’m a black dude from the hood (Bed-Stuy SON!) and bougie is a slang term for when someone might have been doing something that the people around them might consider above their station.

Example. My mother was/is impeccably dressed at ALL times. My mom could go to a Cookout and still look like she’s going to deliver a keynote speech somewhere. This could have (and did) get her labeled bougie.  She just thought she had pride in her appearance. I had a little outburst about a year ago when I desperately wanted a Brie and Granny Apple sandwich but my ghetto supermarket had none. I was immediately called bougie because why do I “need” brie? Just get some regular old cheese and be done with it.

Ordering brie is the equivelent of riding on horses and making people walk along beside you holding umbrellas.

The term Bougie is, of course, a play off of the word bourgeoisie. Some take offense to the term. Most times when you are called it, its not a compliment.  “I” on the other hand wear it as a badge of honor. To me, bougie just means that someone ELSE thinks i’m being uppity. To me, I’m just not sucking like most people do (News Flash. Most people, places, and things suck. Just deal with it) Yeah, I expect some brie at my super market. I live in a first world country damnit. I enjoy 16 year single malt scotch.  Some say “bougie”, I say “You probably haven’t had it and don’t realize how amazing it is.”  So I now stand tall in all my bougie-fied glory. When I hear bougie, THAT means I’m probably livng life awesomely. Someone thinks I’m being all uppity. They should try it because eventually you’ll realize that sometimes, you’re just better.

Oh and in french? Bougie actually means candle or sparkplug.  That takes the wind out of my bougie rant just now doesn’t it?

I saw the idea for this dish some where and decided that the originally delicious and bad for you concept wasn’t delicious and bad for you…er…enough. So I glazed it. Then broke out a ganache son! Who knew dudes from Bed-Stuy had such tight ganache games?

Probably the guys who kicked my ass in when I was in Jr. High.

This was a completely different recipe when I found it, but after being a little bored in the kitchen one day this lovely dish was invented.

The Girlfriend loves Salmon so I took an oft-ignored route on the ceviche road and rocked it with the pink stuff.

1 of the courses from our first dinner party. Maryanne was kind enough to take a picture or 8. I’ll be posting!

So I’m getting old.

Not old in the sense that I’m about to have grand babies or anything of that nature.  I mean old in the sense that I’m not

the spring chicken I once was.  I no longer run around with my boys clubbing trying to grab some girls phone number (and if I did get your phone number and didn’t call you, understand I was probably terrified  you hated me and opted for eternal mystery as opposed to next day confirmation) And with age comes the problem that I don’t see my friends. I don’t hang out! I don’t have any cool adult things to do!

But as of late I’ve started reading about dinner parties.

Of course I know what a dinner party is.  I’ve been to 1 or 2 in my life time but as of recent its more intriguing to me.  My new obsession with the Food Network and various cooking websites has me all a flutter about cooking ridiculous things.  A friend of mine heard about my random cookings and basically demanded I invite him to eat my food.  If I’m going to brag about some awesome thing I just cooked I guess I needed to show and prove.

HENCE, Chez Bougie.

Chez Bougie is my put up or shut up for my friend. I went to my beloved and asked her would she mind if we invited a bunch of people to the house and have them enjoy meals prepared by us. She found this entertaining and okayed this ridiculous venture. We now host a dinner party (That could be at any point of the day) and we tell everyone high tail it over to Brooklyn (cause thats how we do) and we enjoy an afternoon of awesome. Another friend suggested I share the awesome with the world and since I obviously have no issue starting a blog (I have like 90) lo and behold the official “Chez Bougie” Blog. Look around and enjoy the insanity that comes along with running a dinner party and trying to be all spectacular and ‘ish.

- ejw