Perhaps I was in the mood to be on the coast, or I was subconsciously preparing Eric for his San Diego trip the next day. Likely it was simply that I was standing in the grocery slobbering over the freshly dead fish wishing I could eat them all. Regardless of the motivation, Eric's birthday dinner was of an oceanic variety.Starting off Cherrystone clams, I basked in the glory of what smells garlic, butter, and clams make. I tried to stay in the moment, but looking at the lovely trout just waiting for the grill, it was difficult to control my excitement. Poor Eric. At least this started out for him, but nobody can deny that he benefits.
The wine simply added an entirely new level of complexity. Gewurztraminer from the Alsace region particularly is Eric's favourite varietal, but I wanted something a little more special. This is when the big decision moment came. Should we? Do we dare? Is this the moment? The cherished 2008 Jean-Claude Belland Corton-Charlemagne?????? We collected this little jewel when we bought out a local wine shoppes higher priced bottles at half off when it was going out of business, but just the fact that we paid $85 instead of $170 didn't lessen our appreciation of it's value. Money rarely indicates quality wine except on a larger scale. For example, the best ever $15 bottle of wine really isn't likely going to knock out the average $150 bottle of wine, but it might well beat out a $30 bottle of a wine. As such, we were guessing that we could rely on this being better than our own average $50-60 bottles of wine. Enough wine geeking. Yes, we did indeed make the plunge. It was WELL worth it. The rich complex nose had a buttery edge to it that your average oaked Chardonnay wished it could have. With an touch of acidity on the palate, there was shocking flavours of caramel that were delightful. Now, for all those who snort at Chardonnay....seriously, give this a shot some day ...and this wasn't even fully matured like the 8-10 years of cellaring it demands. OK. Done geeking. I promise.
Dinner was indeed a success with my al dente angel hair pasta that was tossed into the skillet with the clams, garlic, and butter. The whole trout was frankly unbelievable. Please don't be grossed out, but you simply must keep the heads on when you cook fish. The difference is insane. Buttery, juicy, and tender trout very lightly salted made for such a perfect match with the Corton-Charlemagne that it was difficult to even consider that the moment must pass.
It would be with sadness that these two delicious courses ended. However, it wasn't with total sadness because we transitioned to a an absurdly amazing citrus cake. Now, I can't take credit for this as I'm really not a baker. My skills in the baking department is limited to recognising a good cake .... and those skills were in full throttle when I saw this one.
To all of those who visit our home, yes, that is our decaf espresso .... one of Eric's gifts was a separate grinder for decaf, so I suspect his blood will be transforming into coffee beans any day. Happy birthday sweetie!
