Kate & Silas

Matt’s 28th birthday was on Thursday. We celebrated by going to Woodfire Grill last night. And since 28 is a milestone (not really, but still), we decided to do it up right with the chef’s five course tasting menu and wine pairings.

The first wine was incredible, so at the end of the meal Matt asked if we could get a list of the wines we were served. The server did us one better and had already printed up a list of courses and wines.

Amuse: “kir royale”

First Course: charred nantucket bay scallops. soft cooked eggs. roughage. 2009 Girard Chardonnay, Russian River Valley, Sonoma.

Second Course: poached quinault river steelhead. fire roasted local green tomatoes. smoked chanterelles. 2010 Chateau Cantelaudette, Graves de Vayres AOC, France.

Taste: white truffle potato soup. foie gras emulsion. Veuve Clicquot. 

Third Course: wood grilled local quail. roasted buttnet squash. creamed greens. picked king trumpet mushrooms. natural jus. 2009 Domaine DuBreuil-Fontaine  Pere & Fils Bourgogne AOC, France. 

Fourth Course: wood smoked berkshire pork loin and belly. baby beet “mole.” charred fennel pico de gallo. hibiscus gastrique. 2005 Finca Allende Rioja DOC Spain.

Dessert: “twix.” valrhona jivara milk chocolate gel. buttermilk ice cream. salted caramel. shortbread crumble. walnut tuile. Quady Black Muscat, Madera, California. 

I’ve been bad this past month about posting about things that are happening in my life. Here are the highlights:

Matt and I went on a week long cruise with his parents. We flew into Puerto Rico, cruised down to Barbados, and worked our way up, hitting St. Lucia, Antigua, St. Maartens, and St. Croix. St. Lucia was my favorite. I felt like I was on The Deadliest Catch while we were on our little boat in the rain to a cove to snorkel, but it was so beautiful that I was grinning anyway. I was sold on St. Lucia as soon as I found out it was the setting for the original Dr. Dolittle. Sometimes I sing “If I Could Talk to the Animals” to Silas at bedtime. 

Matt and I threw a Halloween party featuring Silas in his dino costume. It was a small but fun party with friends from all the different friend groups. (Or some of them, anyway. Amanda was greatly missed.) We all played beer pong on the back patio but had failed to take into account that the patio’s a story up and there’s nothing to keep the balls from rolling off. Silas took on the role of ball boy. It was, objectively, disgusting to pull a ping pong ball out of Silas’ mouth, dip it in a cup of water, and keep on playing. However, as I pointed out, it was no less disgusting than picking a ping pong ball off a frat house floor, and we’ve all done that. Silas’ mouth is almost certainly cleaner than any sticky basement floor.

This weekend, Katy was in town for the UGA game, so we had a beer Friday night. I like when my friends find excuses to come down. I wrapped up a big project on Saturday, got in bed at 1:30pm, and spent the next 22 hours in bed, 17 of those sleeping. It was perfect. Today, Matt and I went to the Falcons/Saints game and watched the Falcons lose 20-23 in overtime. At least I got to have Dippin’ Dots.