Anniversaire 38!

I love that Kandinsky on the wall. I love the memory it evokes of our night in Milan after Tommy got his wallet picked in Grand Central Station, and we fought the victim blues to go out on the town and have an amazing dinner at that wonderful ristorante with the antipasti buffet. And afterwards, we walked out to see crowds of people entering the Palazzo Reale for a nighttime exhibit. We could have spent the night sulking in our tiny room watching tv, but we are not two to be kept down for long.
Saturday night, Tommy spoiled me with a ridiculous dinner at Jake's Famous Crawfish. We started with heavenly martinis, this time with our dirt on the side. Good idea, Boo! We then moved on to amazing giant prawns in a zesty cocktail sauce, followed by fresh bread and delicious chunky clam chowder. Then came the behemoth. A six-ounce filet mignon accompanied by two, TWO, six-ounce lobster tails. Incidentals included a buttery mound of mashed potatoes and some crisp, steamed green beans and julienned carrots. Absolutely decadent. The pinot I had was from a local winery called Erath, and it was the perfect complement to my perfectly-cooked medium rare filet.
Somehow, we had the stomach after all this to stop at Cool Moon on our walk home for ice cream. They have the creamiest, most flavorful ice cream, and they are our neighbors so, you know, we had to. Why should they be deprived of celebrating my birth?
All in all, my birthday was a huge success. I spent much of the day chatting with people on the phone who called to wish me a happy happy. Thanks, Mom, Dad, Janna and Steve, Megan, Audrey, David, Greg and Mary, and Tom, Sr.
We started the day with breakfast at Bread & Ink (http://www.breadandinkcafe.com/) and some fun shopping on Hawthorne. Our Belgian waffle with fresh berries, peaches, whipped cream and cardamom syrup was an oral Disneyland, and the eggs Benedict were perfect. We love the shops on Hawthorne and spent a good deal of time (and money) at Presents Of Mind. The whole neighborhood was darling and had a fun, hip vibe. After that, we went to the Saturday Farmers Market at PSU which was recently named by Delta's inflight magazine the best farmers market on the planet. And it is! And, apparently, everyone else read the same article because it was PACKED! But we will gladly brave the crowds to stock up every Saturday because it has everything. From produce to pate, artisan cheeses and breads, seafood, all kinds of meat, pretty much everything you need for your kitchen. Plus they have live music (as opposed to dead music?) and lots of other fun products.
I love the way the community here supports their local growers. I am a convert. Where I used to balk at spending $40-50 at a farmers market, I now see the benefits, and I aspire to start spending less at the supermarket than I spend on the local growers from now on.
One of the fabulous gifts I received for my birthday was Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. I dove into it yesterday, and it just feeds my soul. Her idea to start requiring an agricultural education for our kids is not far off base. I wasted a lot of time in school on algebra, but couldn't tell you where my food came from. It is a little scary that today's kids are even more in the dark. I hope that movies like Fast Food Nation, Food, Inc. and Super Size Me are visible enough to encourage people to become more aware.
As if I wasn't inconsistent enough about blogging, it is about to become even more of a challenge to keep it up. I have suddenly become a voracious reader again, and I could seriously spend hours with my nose in a book. I am currently reading three, count them-three, books. I am determined to complete the Victor Fleming biography, epic as it is. I have one chapter to go plus an afterword, filmography, and pages and pages of notes. Good lord, Michael Sragow did a number for Mr. Fleming! Then, for my soul, I have Kingsolver's AVM; and for my soul's dessert, I have Groucho's letters. It's a really good literary diet, I must say. But, just know, if you don't see anything new from me for a while, I am probably nestled in some pages, going cross-eyed.