birthday dinner at home restaurant

brought to you (me) by michael gaertner.

michael designed a menu for my birthday, and i got to pick which dishes i wanted! i chose:

garlic and goat cheese flatbread
endive and herb salad
squid ink pasta with braised octopus
blood orange sorbet

i chose the main course almost as a dare: could he do it?? YES. HE. COULD.

here is the beautiful squid ink pasta. as delicious as the octopus was (and oh so tender!) it doesn't photograph quite as nicely.

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flatbread-- i made the dough for michael and he did the rest! this was delicious.


the salad was awesome... sadly, we forgot to take any more pictures after the above. it was curly endive, and all sorts of herbs: mint, parsley, marjoram, dill, tarragon... maybe more. everything tasted so interesting and exciting out of context. mint and marjoram especially! i made a buttermilk herb dressing to go with it. the dressing was easy and so so so good. in fact, i'm a little worried that i know how to make such a delicious creamy dressing at home-- i'm going to want it ALL THE TIME. whisk together buttermilk, mayonnaise, vinegar, and seasonings to taste (and until you have a consistency you like.) i used dill, tarragon, and a whole lot of mashed garlic. awesome.

there is not much to say about the blood orange sorbet, except that it was very simple and very delicious. and that it's especially good mixed with a little lime sherbert.