Tag: menu

I have never had an easy relationship with sleep.  Even when I was young, in high school, I had trouble falling asleep and later in life it translated into trouble staying asleep.  And now that I am chronically sleep-deprived (a combination of having small children who are up early and sometimes in the middle of the night and of habitually staying up too late) I almost always fall asleep easily.  The waking up in the night is another matter – the slightest sound from one of my children and I am wide awake but I can sleep through Jim getting in and out of bed, having a reading light on, or even writing on the computer.  And my constant, deep, life-long abiding love for sleep has only deepened.  Lying down in the bed after a long day is delicious and sleeping past 5:30am makes me profoundly happy.  And like a part-time lover blessed sleep is mine only for a limited time each week so I like to make the most of it.  I usually have vivid, often strange dreams.  Sometimes I dream about food and lately about my hair (anyone want to interpret that?)  Here is a meal that came to me in that hazy state just between sleeping and awake.

• amuse bouche of tiny savory mustard dill shortbread with dot of creme fraiche and sliver of citrus gravlax
• liquid gold soup of rich browned onion broth with tiny perfect butter dumplings
• salad of baby greens with snipped herbs, spiced toasted walnuts, crispy browned goat cheese quenelles, shaved red onion, perfectly ripe grape tomatoes, simple vinaigrette
• halibut cooked in white wine with capers, olives, grape tomatoes, garlic on a bed of wilted spinach
• standing rib roast with a dry crust of rosemary, garlic, black pepper, kosher salt – cooked medium rare
• crisp and brown on the outside, mealy and soft on the inside roasted baby potatoes
• tender crisp fresh haricots verts served simply with brown butter and lemon zest
• cheese plate with something goaty, something creamy, and something sharp served with
• fresh figs, ripe strawberries, thin slices of fresh ripe pineapple, raw almonds
• individual tarts filled with rhubarb curd and topped with whipped cream
• tiny cups of strong mint tea or very dark coffee

There are some issues of kashrut with this meal but it does sound nice, doesn’t it?  Anyone else have fantasy/dream meals?