A Most Memorable Meal

Here comes the first of a series of posts that are ridiculously long overdue ... but, better late than never! This summer was filled with many memorable meals, and I've been holding off on properly documenting most until this new blog was set up. I'll start with the one that was, without question, the best!This particular meal was homemade - and homemade for me; my only participation, thanks to strict instruction, was to eat and enjoy - and I wasn't about to argue with that :)! And, did I ever enjoy it. Delicious, perfectly cooked, wonderful, tasty, satisfying, memorable, special... just a few of the words that come to mind when I try and describe this dinner, yet none come close to doing it justice. Peter was visiting, and I knew he had spent the afternoon gathering ingredients for a dinner creation he was plotting. That evening I walked in the door from work to: Dogfish Head Red & White, sliced peppers, goat cheese, prosciutto, mixed olives and my favorite "crack" crackers (seriously, try and stop yourself after eating just one), and beautiful roses. And then came the main dish. Wow - what a cook: Baked chicken breast that was wrapped in prosciutto and stuffed with goat cheese, habanero, and rosemary, along with flash-pan-fried and steamed brussel sprouts and roasted rosemary potatoes, peppers, cipollini onions and mushrooms. Topped with a sprinkle of truffle salt.AMAZING. A perfect balance and combination of flavors and spice. The rosemary was an incredible common thread to tie the various main components together, and the heat from the habanero added a delicious kick.I unfortunately did not capture a photo of dessert, which was very dark chocolate with fresh figs - a lovely end to an incredibly lovely meal.I'm a firm believer that while you can have fantastic meals at great restaurants, nothing is better than a homemade, heartfelt meal. And this was by far the most belly- and heart-warming meal that's been made for me, and I couldn't have felt luckier to be the recipient. It still makes me smile when I think about it.A most special meal that I will never forget!