Last Night

Brian and I had an absolutely fantastic evening last night -- our 11th anniversary. Around 7pm, we brought the boys over to the Elsmo's, where they were spending the night. Melissa was also hosting a 7-course dinner party for M&M, and invited Brian and me to stay for the beginning. We had a lovely burrata, with figs, a yummy spread, and crostini. Next was a Momofuku-inspired pork bun. Oh my gosh! Delicious. That's what I tried to take a picture of above. Sorry it didn't work. At least you get an idea of the ambiance of the evening. And I can only image how delicious the rest of the courses were. After the second one, it was time to bid our farewells, kiss the boys good night and go on our date.

We had made dinner reservations at Blackbird. It's been around for a long time, but Brian had never been, and I went for lunch about 13 years ago. We were super excited about our night, and it didn't disappoint. We had:

Salad of endives with crispy potatoes, basil, dijon, pancetta and poached egg

Glazed veal sweetbreads with lime onions, tamarind, bee pollen and fried chocolate

Roasted australian sea bass with green papaya, dandelion greens, walnuts and charred beef vinaigrette (Brian)

Grilled berkshire pork loin with caramelized white chocolate, beets, plums and sea beans (Me)

Brown butter cake with red raspberries, borage and goat's milk caramel ice cream

It was perfect! Everything was delicious. We didn't feel too full afterward. In fact, we came home and sat on the deck with another bottle of wine until 1:30 in the morning. Probably not the best idea considering H had soccer bright and early this morning. But it was a great time.

Back to the Elsmo's. I was in such a rush to leave (not that I wasn't enjoying the company -- I was just looking forward to my date), that I had forgotten my camera. When we picked up the boys this morning, Leif handed me the camera back, and right away I turned it on to look at the pictures, because I knew -- I just KNEW there would be some pictures on it that I didn't take. I was right. Here's a sampling of what I found:

And there were some Leif, some of Melissa, and a lot of Matt. I think my favorite was this.

You have to know, that if I leave a camera, and you take photos, they most likely would end up on the blog. Too funny.

We picked up the boys this morning and the first words out of C's mouth was "Hi Mom. I didn't even miss you." They had an absolute blast -- thanks Elsmo's! On the way to soccer, C also had a very important question for us. Here it is: "So, did you guys kiss on the lips?"