Birthday Food

My birthday was yesterday and I spent the whole weekend eating! Dinner on Saturday was with a group of 10 at Al Tiramisu in Dupont. Tom used to live down the street from there so I'm not sure how we never tried it before. I'll definitely be back though! Prices are extremely reasonable (most pastas under $20 and entrees in the low $20s) and everything was fresh and tasty. We were a bit disappointed with dessert but the rest of our meal was fantastic.

Lobster pasta


Unbelievable butternut squash tortellini

Pappardelle with wild mushroom ragu

The next day, Tom and I tried the new brunch at Co Co. Sala downtown. $22 fixed price menu for a small amuse bouche (a chocolate fritter), a choice of 4 different main dishes, and dessert. Yummy and very unique but maybe only worth trying once.

Chocolate fritter

Yummy ricotta pancakes


Lukewarm but still good breakfast scramble on flatbread

Decadent desserts! My favorite was the pb banana mousse (lower left corner)

For dinner on my actual birthday, Tom and I cooked up a delicious meal. Originally we had planned on having some kind of breaded and baked white fish with lemon garlic butter but the fish at Harris Teeter wasn't very attractive. We were also going to roast up some asparagus and top it with shaved Parm, but for some reason, my HT only stocks the very thin asparagus which is not so good for roasting. We played with the idea of a rack of lamb but HT only had one rack for almost $30!

Exhausted by the (lack of) possibilities, we settled on thick-cut pork chops in a rosemary white wine sauce, corn on the cob, and red-skinned potatoes with balsamic shallot butter. Turned out pretty tasty if I do say so myself: