Scrumptious!

Best birthday dinner EVER! 

Everyone in my family knows that one of the best gifts they can give me is a yummy meal, and Ron took me out to dinner yesterday for a belated birthday bonanza of food. I had heard about the restaurant called Feast from a man who works at Whole Foods, so it was my first choice. Sure enough…I was in heavenly bliss for the entire meal. My photos aren't the greatest, but you get the idea… :-)

For appetizer, we chose the:
Eggplant Napoleon~ Crisp eggplant chips layered with herbed goat cheese. Served with chunky roasted tomato beurre blanc.

For my dinner, I chose:
Roasted Beet Cake ~ savory cake of roasted beets, caramelized onions and garlic, served over sautéed spinach with braised fennel, red wine syrup and goat cheese lumpia.

Ron chose:
Pan-Roasted Chicken Breast with dukkah marshmallow, sautéed haricots verts and tahini chicken reduction.

We shared an order of:
Roasted Sweet Potatoes with fresh corn, sautéed kale and poblano chili cream sauce.

Our desserts were (shared, though Ron let the Birthday Girl have nearly all the exquisite, melt-in-your-mouth Exploradora):
Lemon-Date Verrine~ Lemon-tequila curd and date cream, layered in a glass with toasted almonds. 
and
Exploradora~ Girl Scout Cookie Shortbread Crust with cayenne caramel custard, salted chocolate ganache and smoked paprika. Candied hazelnut garnish.

I salivate recalling every scrumptious bite! Plus, as an added bonus, the atmosphere was quite, relaxing, and the chef came around greeting customers about the time our dessert was served. Even Ron (who prefers very basic meals without much spice or sauce) said it was an excellent meal!

Overall, a fabulous, decadent experience, and the quality of the food has moved Feast to the very top of my favorite meals list.

Childhood Friends

My favorite thing about Facebook (which I keep threatening to delete! LOL) is the ability to find friends from long ago. This weekend, I found a childhood friend--she had been my BFF throughout grade school--who I lost touch with when my parents moved us out of state halfway through seventh grade. Her name popped into my head, I searched, and…there she was! Imagine my delight! We've now emailed, even talked on the phone, and the next time I drive up to see my mom I will stop and see said friend (she's blessedly right on the way). I wouldn't have recognized her, of course, if I'd bumped right into her because this is how I remember her:

Do you have long-lost friends you'd love to find?

Wordle

In my English class, we were told about this neat little program called WORDLE. Check it out! All you do is put in your bit of writing, and it creates a Word Cloud. Not only is it cool to look at but will also easily tell you the ideograph of your piece…and help point out if you've overused a word. Enjoy!

Cracking Open Structure

Recently, while listening to a Natalie Goldberg audio, I was reminded of how important it can be sometimes to "crack open structure" in our writing. Because I do most of my writing in cursive before transferring it to the computer, here are some examples--from doodling to writing outside the lines of the page--of how I follow her advice.

How do you break away from the limitations of structure during creative writing?