If anything will inspire me to blog again, it's a fantastic meal...

So it's been ages since I've blogged and I have tons of excuses (dissertation non-procrastination, blah blah blah), but I'll spare my two readers those ramblings and cut to the chase.  I had one of the top five best meals ever this weekend at Brown Trout.  Right up there with homemade black & white pasta with clams sitting next to the ocean in Cinque Terre. Yep, it was that tasty. We started with drinks at the bar while we waited (a LONG time, despite having a reservation).  Although I usually am pretty impatient when it comes to waiting for food (Phil describes this state as "hangry"- so hungry that I get angry), my nerves were calmed with one of the most amazing mixed drinks I've ever had.  Now I'm not a mixed drink kind of girl, but the Cherry Falls (Hendrick's gin, muddled amarena cherries with sage, and a splash of soda water) was delicious- not too sweet and totally refreshing while sitting in the toasty seats by the kitchen. Once we were seated, we devoured steamed mussels cooked to perfection with white wine, garlic, and butter.  We didn't want to miss out on the truffle and wild mushroom risotto that our buddy the bartender recommended, so we went ahead and ordered some of that too while we were at it (that Cherry Falls really loosened my grip on the ol' wallet- maybe that's why they make you wait so long).  It was delicious and paired perfectly with a rather affordable wine that I plan to hunt down at Binny's, a crisp, dry white from Chateau La Freynelle that is a blend of Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, and Muscadelle.  Otherwise known as delicious and I'll kick you if you say it isn't.  For our main entrees, I had walleye cooked to perfection with a buerre blanc sauce and roasted veggies (including jerusalem artichoke, an overlooked but delicious veg!).  Phil had a smoky piece of steelhead with what he described as "the best beans ever," which I take direct offense at because I thought my beans were "the best beans ever."  But I digress. So overall...awesome food, awesome waitstaff, awesome philosophy regarding sustainable food.  Just awesome.  We'll be back.

On the home cooking front, we've made some pretty tasty stuff in the last two months. One example was tonight's feast (Braised Chicken with Dates), featured below (not the best pic, but trust me, it was awesome):

This was an Everyday Food recipe from Martha's PBS show.  Damnit, Martha, how are you always so good at everything?  This was really delicious- it's the first time I've cooked with medjool dates.  They don't specify that type of date in the written recipe, but it was recommended on the show.  Use them.  They have sort-of a slightly sweet roasted onion quality to them that adds a lot to the sauce.  Phil cooked up some fresh chard with olive oil, garlic, and lemon that paired perfectly with the chicken sauce.  We had a cheap, jammy cabernet with it that complimented it surprisingly well.  One day I'll blog about my love of Tisdale, the world's cheapest wine that for some reason I still kinda like, despite no longer being grad school poor.  Maybe it's nostalgic, or maybe I permanently ruined my taste buds during my many years of cheap wine drinking. 

As I'm sitting hear, my mind is spinning with all of the blog posts that I could have made over the last two months.  I'll try to do a little review of some of those topics this week, or at least hit the highlights- a pretty darn good carrot cake recipe I found, some tasty casual pub food in our neighborhood, and some amazing crafty pieces I found at the Renegade Craft Fair (now that it's almost time for the Holiday Renegade Craft Fair). 

Zero to report on the crafting front. I stink.  But hopefully that will change this week.  To be continued...