Birthday

Christine gets back on Tuesday, so Milo and I had a pretty mellow birthday; Wednesday night I’m going to cook a hanger steak sous vide and make some decadent accompaniments, but for tonight a puréed soup of leek and celery root (with the very last of the vegetable shepherd’s pie thrown in for depth and efficiency) and then pan-roasted chicken seasoned with ras-el-hanout, sudachi powder, salt & pepper, and garlic with a kale pesto gravy and kimchi. Not elegant at all, but the soup was a big hit and the pesto gravy was one of those “duh” moments when I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of it sooner. I opened a 2001 Leflaive Meursault to compare to the last of the Montagny from the other night; they both did fascinating things with the soup. I got two books: McGee’s On Food And Cooking, and Weiskopf’s Yaje: The New Purgatory. Opposite extremes of the spectrum to be sure, but I’m equally excited by both.