Valentines Day sure was Cozy!

Is it really already Sunday? What happened to the week? It was a crazy one as usual but at least it started out really nicely on Monday with that holiday filled with hearts and cupids and lots of love!

Usually we plan V day together and prepare some wonderful dinner at home to avoid the restaurant rucus. But this year, being in a new more manageable city, Marc told me he had a surprise in store for the 14th and all he would say me is that I should be ready to go by 7:30 and that I could dress up. And when I mentioned a few days earlier that I saw a topiary at the Metropolitan Market that I kinda loved (in lieu of flowers) he told me to get it myself as flowers would be showing up on the doorstep! Wow, seems romance was truly in the air!

But when we arrived home together and alas, no sign of flowers. A little sleuthing later and Marc discovered the box of roses had been placed on a spot on the porch which had allowed the wind (and there was plenty that night) to blow them right over the ledge. Easily retrievable thank goodness and no harm done to my beautiful bouquet! We exchanged cards over a glass of wine and inside mine was answer to where we were going that night. A tiny copy of the night’s menu for a Queen Anne landmark restaurant- Seattle celebrity chef Ethan Stowell’s How to Cook a Wolf!

What an amazing experience! Each course seemed more delicious than the next! Starting out with an Amuse Bouche of a perfect oyster with shaved red radish and meyer lemon we went on to the first course – I had a roasted beet salad (yellow and pink) with mandarin orange, pistachio and pecorino cheese. Marc had Painted Hills beef Tartar with capers, black pepper and egg with tiny crunchy toasts. The second course was the pasta course – so hard to choose but mine was the absolute winner – Tagliarini with Mediterranean mussels and salsa verde. This salsa verde I would be Sooooo happy to find the recipe in my Ethan Stowell’s New Italian Kitchen cookbook – made with Italian parsley, it was an incredible accompainment to the mussels! I discovered a new kind of amazing olive – Taggiasca in Marc’s dish of potato gnocchi with cauliflower and anchovy. Smaller than Kalamata and milder too, absolutely delicious and I will try and fine these to cook with!

Finally the main course, we saved room but these were not tiny portions we had been having. Still when my Pork Belly with brussel sprouts, celery root and thyme arrived I was in heaven. So delicious! And Marc’s Veal short rib agrodolce with soft polenta was just what the doctor ordered.

Did we really need dessert? Who said anything about need, this was Valentine’s and chocolate was just a given and in this case, it was a subtle piece of dense cake with the freshest orange ice cream and vanilla sauce. Yes, an espresso had to be by its side. Luckily the delicious bottle of red we had made sure that we slept well and cozily that night!