>M is for monday - off - that's good enough for me>>

Mmmm... it was a yummy weekend! Saturday night was 'ladies' night out' and I met up with Cynthia, Karen and the rest of the crew at Blue Ribbon for a pit stop before heading uptown for some dirty dancing. After we got seated at our usual round table banquette, Cynthia and I decided we wanted to have something we'd never had there before (as usual...). There was a Sea Urchin special (which were live--the oyster shucker was poking it for us with his knife so we could see it move) which we went with, along with the Grilled Sardines which we were both curious about.

The grilled sardines came with a nice anchovy paste for dipping and a pleasant onion and carrot salad (the carrots were the best!). The Sea Urchin, with a wasabi-ginger dressing, was quite nice as well. 2 bottles of cava later, 4:30 surreptitiously rolled around; there was no dancing to be done that night..

Sunday, Valentine's Day, David returned home from from a 2-day trip to Denver for a lecture-recital he was giving at the Metropolitan State College of Denver. I, unfortunately, had to work that night, but made up for it with a yummy dinner I brought home for him which I warmed up in our stove.

Our first course was a steamed shrimp salad with avacado and champagne vinaigrette dressing plus a black olive pizza topped with arugula and freshly shaved parmesan cheese. For our main course we had salmon with shredded brussel sprouts and truffle mashed potatoes plus red snapper in an aromatic spice broth along with sweet potato ravilolis.

David supplied the dessert and wine for our dinner which was an assortment of chocolates from Mondel, and 2 different kinds of wine. From Mondel there were: Chocolate Covered (both milk and dark) Green Marzipan sprinkled with coconut flakes, Espresso Truffles, Champagne Truffles and the classic: Cocoa Almonds. As always, they were all divine. It was my first time trying the Espresso Truffles and they were by far my favorite! If you've never been to Mondel's before, do yourself a favor and make the trip uptown on the 1 train to 116th Street. In a memior, Kate Remembered, about Katherine Hepburn, her fond memories of Mondel Chocolates are quoted.

"The time we shared, ...intimate conversation, and lots of dark chocolate (the best in the world) came from a small shop on Upper Broadway called Mondel's - turtles, almond bark and breakup..."

For our wine, the first one we had was a Foreau Sparkling Vouvray. Very nice. It had a bouquet that seemed to bloom in your mouth and nice, creamy bubbles. David told me he had had this one once before at a wine tasting in France and it was one of his favorites.

For our second wine, we had the Spago Nero Prosecco. Now usually when I'm at a restaurant and having some cava or prosecco by the glass I'm not very happy about it (aside from the $10 savings per glass compared to champagne). But this prosecco was not 1 smidgen short of being divine! (For a prosecco at least.) On the nose: very yeasty and very fruity--what a lovely combination. And at just $13 a bottle, a definite steal!>>