and Ms. Ackermann...
and to celebrate the fact that this fact has been in existence for one year now, we whisked ourselves on down to Portlandia. The highlights included:
amyo/tinyrage at the T:B:A festival was an hour of intense dance, image and sound. Amy's commitment and creativity are an inspiration. John especially loved the Japanese schoolgirl outfits, big shocker!
The Saturday Market was filled with music, food and art, some great, some horrible.
Lastly, our Anniversary dinner at Beast. The ladies of Beast presented us with a six course meal based loosely on Julia Child's first days in Paris.
Oh, heavens.
We started with a late summer gazpacho with shaved Chorizo, followed by a fantastic charcuterie plate which led us to the main course. We affectionately nicknamed it "ground meat, mixed with ground meat, wrapped in pounded out meat, wrapped in meat", which essentially describes the dish. Ground veal and lamb are wrapped in pounded out veal, then wrapped in pancetta, served with a reduction sauce, chanterelle mushrooms and sauteed greens.
The first bite was like a teeny, tiny moment of rapture.
I will say, it was almost too heavy. The strength of the flavors did not balance well with the amount of food in the dish, leaving you slightly overwhelmed. Lucky for us, the following course of Frisee Salad with Poached Egg was a nice reprive. The cheese course came next, with lovely small amounts of rich, deep flavored goodness accompanied by the sweetest grapes I've ever tasted.
And then, of course, dessert.
Dessert was a brown butter crepe filled with house made chocolate-hazelnut filling, topped with both house made ice cream and creme fraiche. John adored this sweet thing, but I was only whelmed.
Overall the dinner, with mouth-satifying wine pairings, was a winner. It was the greatest meal of my life, so far.
To think, this was only year one. So many adventures, and meals, to come.
xoxo taw
