food & the city

Yasmine organized a lady's night out for my birthday & simply because we haven't done one since she had her baby. It was lovely. I haven't really gotten into downtown outside of tourist traps, which don't count, and the airport, which counts even less. Ramona's a wonderful town--unpretentious, practical, yet spunky, but I do love the city. It rejuvenates a part of my soul that lies quietly (and quite contentedly so) most of the time. But every so often, I need to put on some shoes that click when I walk down the sidewalk and get some food that I can't make myself. Add in some dear friends, subtract the kids, make someone else drive, & it's a great night.

And the food was fantastic! When I entered Extraordinary Desserts, it was like stepping into some of my sharpest culinary memories; I remembered the first "tarte aux framboise" I ate in France; I thought of Shara's stint at Chic, and eating a cake she'd made and brought back to the family one Wednesday night, breaking all kinds of school rules; I heard the footsteps of Evan & I echoing on a concrete floor when we browsed an indoor market in Colmar, ogling the glass cases of desserts not dissimilar from this display; I remembered a day in Columbus with one of my dear friends, splitting a "Suiss Chocolate Bombe" after an especially grueling class. And now I've got another foodie memory to add. Ricotta lemon cake with blackberries; the creamiest feta I've ever had; this chocolate pastry with an unidentified gooey center that was like cookie dough, but hardly plebian enough to actually be that; toasted hazelnuts on my salad...I'm going to have to recreate it. 

After food, we went to the mall where I hit up anthropologie, which was just the icing on the cake. That store...just going in it makes me happy (which is a good thing, because I rarely walk out with anything). And it was so nice to look at lamps & cut-glass knobs & yellow sherbet dishes & think, "This could go in my house. My house. What a strange & wonderful thought!" (Btw, we do not have a house yet. Before you ask.) 

I ended the night by polishing off my leftover Ricotta lemon cake in bed. I am blessed. 

fruited salad with toasted hazelnuts...just doing my job to support a certain Oregon farm. 

Ricotta lemon cake with blackberries...I've always loved berries, but now, I can't seem to order or eat anything else. It's actually quite embarrassing. An OCD thing, I suspect.