40-something

For Liz's birthday this year, a much mellower gathering than last time, and everyone brought something. My contribution was this multi-layer crêpe tart with mushroom duxelles between the crêpes and truffle butter brushed on top. You can't really tell in the picture, but it was really nice and layery once cut. Other dishes included braised radicchio, ceviche of halibut, baked wild salmon, pastis-flambéed shrimp, salad, and some other things I'm forgetting now. Dessert was an insane vegan chocolate tart with mint-cashew cream and another, more literally insane chocolate cake that had a strong herbal aroma. Wines included a 2003 Peter Michael chard, a 2000 Kistler chard, a 2001 Pignan, and a 2003 Pintia, that even now, days later, is really tannic and has a profoundly port-like nose. I forgot to write down which vineyards the chards were from.