37th birthday dinner

"On the downward slope toward 40." So says my profile, and the slope is now steeper.

37 as of Friday past, and we celebrated it with our friends Gil and Rakhael at Yoshi's.Of course at Yoshi's. Where else would we have fine food in such comfortable, friendly surroundings.

It was a lovely evening, and I'm very pleased we went there.

I had to run 14 miles quite early the next morning (ugh, not a great run, but not horrible), so I kept my dinner moderate. A little wine, not too much. Plenty of water. Fish for dinner as I find that's a good thing to eat the night before a big run.

Conrad and I shared some tuna tartare to start with. No photos, sorry. We had lapsed and forgotten we even had a camera with us. No matter. Rakhael hadn't yet arrived, so it was something to hold us until she did.

We followed one fish with another: king salmon in this case. Good and fatty under the skin, and put with some mango and cucumber salad, heirloom tomatoes, couscous, fresh herbs, and a mustard sauce.All of it blended marvellously with each forkful. I enjoyed a glass of a Sauvignon Blanc (yes, again), and ate up every bit. Gil was taking photos throughout the evening, as were we, so the dinner is well documented!

But Yoshi and Nobuko were not done there. Out came a lovely cake that we were able to share and even offer to some of the others at the bar and in the restaurant. A white cake with some lovely fresh raspberries between the layers. A fine traditional thing to have.







And finally there was a bit of champagne. I took only a little, mindful of my training run. It was generous of Yoshi and Nobuko, though, and a good cap to an utterly fine evening there.



But gee, now I'm 37. Well, life's not going too badly so far, is it?