Birthday Fun

This past weekend was packed. Thursday was my birthday and Friday we drove to Charlottesville, VA for my friend's wedding.


Backing up to the important stuff - my birthday - ha, j/k. Kevin came home from work and brought a delicious pizza from Dipasquales.He also brought me a sweet card and red roses. (check out the funny shadow on his forehead from the light above)
Did I mention that he also got me a print by my favorite local artist - Robert McClintock?Looks exactly like my favorite dog in the world and fits nicely on my "picture wall" that I have been working on filling up.
Now onto my birthday dinner at The Dogwood in Baltimore.
If you like red wine or are starting to - definitely try this Malbec. I am still a newbie with red wines, but I loved this one.
I started with the Carrot/Lemongrass Bisque that was topped with a drizzle of red chili oil. Extremely flavorful and a huge portion.
For my main meal, I ordered the Seared Halibut Fillet which came with potato gateau, roasted eggplant caviar, preserved tomato crema, and a panzanella crust. It was perfection on a plate.Some other great dishes at our table were the Roasted Mushroom Risotto with Local Asparagus which had black garlic, lemon zest, and parmigiano reggiano, topped with an organic pastured chicken egg.
Golden Baked Moussaka with Moroccan Spices which had roasted vegetables, plum tomato & chick peas, golden phyllo dough, lemony tabouleh with a rosemary-orange sauce.
Whew - now those are some creative dishes. I liked everything I tried. Everyone in my family likes to share and try bites of everything, so it is great.


We were stuffed with no room for dessert, but the waiter said that since it was my birthday - they wanted to give us a dessert on the house. How can we resist that?
We chose the Miniature Buttermilk Donuts which were served warm, dusted with sugar and Raz El Hanout, caramel ice cream, and apricot jam.The bite or two I had was delicious.
Had to get the standard couple shot. Kevin came from work, hence the tie. Dogwood doesn't require fancy attire - just nice casual. They were also great to create custom kids meals for my niece and nephew. The mac and cheese and grilled cheese they ordered were both incredible. Seriously - does this place have a bad dish?


Happy Hump Day!