Well, the artichoke soup was a bust. Much better as a wall color. Seriously, we all took one bite of it and pushed it to the side. I told Callum that it was fine that he didn't like it, really, but we didn't need to dwell on it. He only mentioned about ten more times how awful it was. And once more in the car on the way home today too. I redeemed myself with Heirloom tomatoes and home made blue cheese dressing from The Barefoot Contessa at Home Oh the sweet deliciousness...man those tomatoes were like candy.

We should probably take a closer look:

Neel asked me what it is about recipes that sometimes they just don't work. And sometimes they just don't. I don't consider myself a phenomenal chef, but it's rare that I have a disaster in the kitchen. Still, I'm always ready to assume that the fault is mine, not the recipe's. Hard to say with this one, the artichoke soup was that bad.

Lunch today was a different story...Happy Birthday to me from Tracy (not Traci) and Megan. The restaurant we went to today is perfect for celebration lunches. Kind of formal looking with dim lighting and cozy booths. You feel fancy, but can get out of there with an entree around seven bucks. Not too shabby.

Here's lunch:

And then our server, who had watched me open presents, brought us each a glass of champagne.

What's better than a champagne lunch with the ladies? Dessert!

Cinnamon doughnuts with coffee ice cream.

And here's Tracy with no more Creme Brulee.

All in all it was a lovely afternoon. Kind of hard to come back down to the ho-hum of work and driving home and painting shutters and cooking my own meals. (Hey Megan, thumbs up on the Contessa's Tuna Salad, by the way!) Maybe I can trick someone into taking me out for lunch tomorrow.