happy birthday to me!

yesterday was my birthday and one of my very dear friends sent me this bouquet at work!  what a nice surprise!  sadly, shortly after this photo was taken, the stargazer lilies were banished to the backyard because lilies are poisonous to kitties and these give mr. happy stuff and i headaches.  but they made the muck in our backyard look pretty!

other happy things on my birthday included lots of well-wishers via facebook and e-mail, birthday cards (real and virtual) from grandma and sister (and my life insurance company), photography books and very. delicious. chocolates. from mr. happy stuff as well as a fancy dinner out.  we went to harvest and here’s what we ate:

“amuse-bouche”–that mysterious pre-appetizer appetizer–a teeny tiny tureen of a celeriac topped with truffle oil which we were encouraged to pick up and drink rather than trying to fit our spoons into the tureen.  very rich and delicious!  [i’d just like to point out that my spell-check doesn’t even recognize celeriac as a real word.]
1st course:

me–Sformato of Stravecchio, Mushrooms, Celery and Arugula

[i had to ask the waiter.  i was mystified by two of the first three words.  ends up, it was a very rich custard on top of a bed of arugula and the most thinly sliced mushrooms and celery i’ve ever eaten, topped with a very yummy peppery vinaigrette]

mr. h-s–winter minestrone soup [a large bowlful!]

2nd course:

me– Braised Beef Short Ribs, White Corn Polenta, Apple and Celeriac Remoulade

[there’s that celeriac again!  choosing a main course was a challenge.  i ended up choosing this one because i’d just heard about short ribs on the audiobook “heat” (about cooking in mario batali’s kitchen) and i’d never eaten them.  interestingly, i asked the waiter if they were easy to eat (i’m trying to imagine myself picking up a rack of ribs and knawing on the bones in this fancy restaurant) and he said, “oh yes.  the meat falls off the bone and melts in your mouth!”  i’d like to set the record straight.  there are no bones in short ribs.  either that, or the bones melted in my mouth too.  this meat was so flavorful, it was almost too much.  i was glad i had the polenta (and warm dinner rolls) to help cut the saltiness.  big giant party in my mouth.]

mr. h-sРGrilled Hanger Steak, potato Pur̩e, Swiss Chard, Salsa Verde

[he generously gave me a bite of this steak and i have to say that despite the amazing meat-fest that we ate at samba last week, nothing there was as delicious as the steak at harvest.  oh. baby.  it was… well, really quite good.   really.]

dessert (of course!):

me–coconut and blood orange sorbet with a vanilla biscotti

[this one was hard to choose too.  i ended up with the sorbet because i needed to clear my palate.  the waiter had said that the second sorbet was mandarin orange, but it was so red and not really mandarin-y, so i think perhaps it was really blood orange.  anyway, it was orangy.  and refreshing.]

mr. hs—italian almond cake with bourbon ice cream

[i had a bite of this.  very almondy, but good if you like that sort of thing.]

we left the restaurant very satisfied and happy.  thanks for a lovely meal, mr. happy stuff! we really should try some of these fancy restaurants in seasons where they have a little more than root vegetables to work with.  i’m sure it would be a completely different (but still delicious) meal.