Happy Birthday Carol!

We had yet another amazing dinner at 20.21 last night, to celebrate Carol Mack's birthday. Her husband Aaron put together our little party, including their kids Ethan and Hannah, as well as Andrew Zimmern and his father Bob, visiting from Maine. And ohhh, I'm still full from our literal feast. I did do my best to take ONE bite of each of the 16 (!) different items we sampled, in the name of moderation and also to pace myself so I really could try everything, since it's always incredible (I confess, I had an extra bite of foie gras, and several bites of the stunning cake the pastry chef created for Carol):

crispy green beans with walnuts
creamy pumpkin soup
beef tartare on toast
salmon tartare in a sesame cone
salmon sashimi
hamachi (yellowtail)
seared foie gras
crispy butterfish
roasted salmon
glazed beef short ribs
slow-roasted pork shank
pureed taro root
grilled lamb chops
lobster curry risotto
assorted homemade sorbets
chocolate cake with white buttercream icing

Am I forgetting anything? I actually could be...! It was a beautiful meal, incredible service, fab setting - we had the table, overlooking downtown Minneapolis. And it's always great fun to hang with the Zimmerns and Macks! Actually, this was the second day in row we'd seen them, which never happens. On Friday John and I, plus the kids, attended an open house at the Zimmern's home, in honor of Bob's visit (all of Andrew's 200 or so close friends know Bob!). Andrew and Rishia had food brought in from the lovely I Nonni...again, I attempted small tasties of just a few scrumptious things - trying for moderation! - but was particularly blown away by a deboned-then-stuffed whole chicken, filled with porcini mushrooms and roasted until crispy. Killicious.

Nice weekend of food, huh? Sheesh! I walked my butt off yesterday and today in an attempt to counter all the loveliness. Today? Lots of green tea, steamed swiss chard, and light soup! Except for Nathan - tonight he gets to indulge, in pizza (of course!) with Stacey, Bowen, Baby Cooper, and my mom. He'll be as happy as I was eating foie gras, mmmm...

Hope you're enjoying this beautiful day - October has seriously sucked weather-wise, at least here in Minnesota, but today, we scored a beauty.