Yesterday was my birthday. Since that was a Monday, in my circle of friends and family that means a weekend of dining out, drinks and celebrating in all ways possible.
This was Sunday at one of my favorite places on the planet, Domaine Carneros, with some of my favorite ladies on the planet.
On my birthday night my friend Tom took me to NOPA in San Francisco for one of the best meals I've had in a long time (but anytime someone else cooks for me and does the dishes, I'm a happy girl!)....I wish I had taken pictures of our food, but it was so dang good that I forgot! But here's a look from our birds-eye view... best table in the place because it overlooked the kitchen, so we got to watch all the action.
We started with a grilled flatbread with bacon, mission figs, bell peppers, crescenza (an Italian cheese), and arugula. Sooo good. Tom got the rabbit over the creamiest polenta I've ever tasted and haricots vert. I was torn between the rotisserie chicken with grilled bread, avocado, blue cheese, walnuts & sherry onions (come on!) or the Moroccan Vegetable Tagine with toasted almonds and lemon yogurt. Tom said, "You know what the chicken's gonna taste like, right?" Well yeah, chicken. "But do you know what the tagine will taste like?" To some people that might make them order the chicken, because it's kind of a sure thing, but I realize an adventure when I see one. And a culinary adventure is my favorite kind. Good chioce (good advice, Thomas)....spicy, creamy, perfectly blended flavors and textures. I was full. But then came the "birthday dessert," house made peach ice cream with a cinnamon-sugar shortbread cookie. Now, I'm really done!
I woke up this morning still full. My friend Dana made me a fantastic minestrone soup for lunch that was the perfect little amount of food. Then came dinner time, still not really hungry. I was supposed to be testing my sweet corn bisque and panzanella salad, so I can scale them for my Farm to Table dinner on the 22nd. I bought all the ingredients, but when I came home and discovered that the lovely Chris had left a basket of fresh tomatoes (among other veggies fresh from the garden) on my front porch, I decided on a decidedly simpler evening bite.
Tom surprised me with the gift of two ceramic knives last night, and there'so better way to check out the sharpness (is that a word?) of your knife than seeing how it cuts through a tomato. These cut through them like a hot knife through butter! (I highly recommend these Kyocera knives). I took a bit of my baguette (reserved for my panzanella salad test.....ooops) drizzled it with a little olive oil, topped it with chopped tomatoes (red and yellow sprinkled with sea salt), freshly picked basil leaves from my garden, and smoked mozzarella. Bake it at 350 for about 10 minutes until bread is crispy and mozz melts, then drizzle with balsamic. I thought after days of not cooking that I would go bigger than this, but this was perfect. Sometimes simple is all you need. Sometimes simple is perfect.... especially when you're using fresh, in-season ingredients. Don't stress; think simple.
Yum it up!
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