Seriously one of the best meals of my life

I love food. I love to make it, I love to eat it, I love to talk about it. I glory in a perfect meal enjoyed with friends. My hips and thighs will back me up on this point.


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Sometimes I get down on myself about my body but when I think of my shapely legs as the product of burrata and pork belly, I cannot help but feel better about them.

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This past weekend I had one of the best meals of my life, cooked in front of my eyes by one of my dearest friends. Rosey and I have been friends pretty much since the first day of college. We lived on the same floor freshman year and I quickly came to think of him as a friend I would keep forever. Yeeeeears ago he brought this awesome woman to see a show at the theatre company I co-founded and I immediately knew I needed to be friends with her as well. Luckily for me, they got married. Even better, they invited me over to their new house for dinner this past weekend with our friend K. K and I were buddies in college who lost touch until last year but now we're back and deeply in love with each other and our renewed bond. This is all to say that the company certainly enhanced the meal enjoyed - especially since they are all fantastic eaters!

Rosey has an entire bookcase of cookbooks and is one of the only people I know who actually uses them. I can't remember which ones he used for these meals, though I think something came out of Momofuku and something came out of Top Chef. Whatever, let's get on to this meal!

First course was sake marinated salmon with wasabi crème fraiche, served in a martini glass with pickled red onions and fresh tarragon. HOLY SHIT. I don't know where Rosey got this salmon but it was absolutely perfect. This dish was light with just the perfect amount of heat.

Second course was homemade seafood sausages (shrimp, scallop, halibut) served with a spicy jicima slaw and chimichurri sauce. WHAT!? When I arrived at the house, Rosey was poaching the sausages, formed and wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and my head exploded. He made a honey-chili glaze and baked (or broiled... could have been broiled...there was much wine) the glazed sausages right before serving. The slaw was spicy and crunchy and the perfect complement to the delicious seafood sausages.

And then? And then. And then there were chinese-style pork belly buns. PORK BELLY BUNS. Hoisin sauce, scallions, homemade pickles. You know, homemade pickles...like you do. I cannot emphasize enough how delicious these were, how perfectly the pork belly was prepared, how much I love buns. (Insert joke about "unless you got buns hon".) (Now you have Sir Mix-A-Lot in your head.) (You're welcome.)

So, at this point in the evening, we're all dying from the intense deliciousness that is this beautiful meal. Oh, but there are two desserts. TWO. A cold chocolate soup (WHAT!?) with fresh whipped cream and chocolate-covered cocoa puffs. This was amazing, obviously. And then? Oh, you know, just a couple of batches of homemade marshmallows, one half dusted in cinnamon sugar and the other in peanut butter powder. Peanut butter powder, I should add, made by SCIENCE.

There was only one thing left to do after such an incredible meal: collapse on the couch, tell each other how much we love each other, and watch a tv show called Too Cute about adorable puppies being adorable. I hope you all get to have a meal like this sometime soon.