last working thurs-yay!

thursday was my last full-time day at work. never mind that some work-related fires came up on friday that i had to help put out since i'm still part time. as of thursday night, i was feeling happy as a clam, thanks to clams. and other food. and lots of it.

the last day wasn't as stres-free as i'd hoped it'd be. i had done my best to wrap up loose ends in the days leading up to thursday, but of course despite it being so sloooooow the past few weeks, a couple of clients wanted things NOW. whatevs. i wrapped it up as best i could and handed off as much as i could to rezzie dezzie since she'll have to deal without me from now on. and if i didn't take of it as neatly as i thought, i'll have to deal with it only on a part-time basis from now on.

now onto the good part of last day of work--bosswoman took rezzie dezzie and me out for a farewell lunch. bosswoman gave a few suggestions, and i chose catch at casa del mar as i just love walking through the lobby of that hotel, love the atmosphere and decor of the restaurant, i hadn't been in awhile, and a view of the beach is usually a good thing. no photos, but here's a quickie recap of what we had:

• mini champagne toast--bosswoman and i split a glass. yay for drinks at lunch! even if it was only a few sips.
• appetizer of sushi/sashimi platter--fresh, good fish. light. perfect for boss and me to share. definitely not kosher for rezzie dezzie.
• entrees. food was good. not amazing for the prices.
  
• halibut special for boss with capers and i-forget-what-else on it. good.
• santa barbara striped bass for me. grilled. good but very basic.
• hand made ravioli for rezzie dezzie. the hit. thin skins, really good filling, kind of scary-looking orange, greasy sauce, but it tasted amazing!
• dessert. all of theses were so. amazingly. good.
• fried brioche--brioche formed into donut holes and deep fried. served with two different caramel dipping sauces and the best ever cinnamon ice cream.
  
• twice-baked chocolate souffle--the crushed espresso and chocolate meringue bits that accompanied the souffle were yummy. the souffle was chocolate, texture was good. what more can you ask for?
• warm raspberry custard tart--accompanied by a blueberry sorbet. yum and yum.

---

as if i hadn't feasted enough, boba and me planned a little belated birthday get-together for vase. i made reservations at bld, then we had plans to check out the giant macarons with ice cream at milk afterward. we never made it to milk as we were too stuffed to walk a few blocks to scarf yet more food, but obviously, bld was filling...and good!

the setting was hip, dark, romantic, on the loud side. shades of gray, white, and red. um. love. how did they know that's one of my fave combos? and they were playing meiko at some point in the night!

our waitress was attentive, energetic, and funny. she told us this is the first place she's worked where she's actually very excited about the food and loves the philosophy behind it. she recommended the "siiiiick trout...stoopid, that's s-t-o-o-p-i-d philly steak sandwich..." she sounded like my brother but came off hilarious. i was craving pasta, so i asked her for her favorite out of two i was considering. when she suggested the spicy shrimp linguine, i responded with "great! i love spicy." she promised to ask them to make it extra spicy and tasty, after telling me she liked me already.

they had sleek push-button salt and pepper shakers. too bad they looked a lot better than they functioned.

onto the food. we started with the thursday night flat bread (GIANT flatbread with figs, manchego cheese, sherry onions, serrano ham, wild arugula, fourme d'ambert, purple mustard vinaigrette) and crispy tater tots (with cured meat, raclette cheese, spicy remoulade).

horrible photo.
amazing flatbread.
toppings so yummy.
bites with one of each piece of each topping on it bomb, yo.

5 tater tots--perfect for our table of 5.
charcuterie scraps and raclette cheese tucked inside.
so savory and rich.

overall, everyone seemed to enjoy their entrees.

the birthday girl's grilled flatiron steak salad with mizuna, country croutons, potatoes confit, cherry tomatoes, smoked paprika vinaigrette.

huge salad.
hearty as salads go.
yummy vinaigrette.
bday girl finished everything but all the greens, though.

the lone boy, dru, had a whole trout wrapped in proscuitto then deep-fried. it was served atop mashed something and then topped with some greens.

my bite was good.
wrapping anything in pork product makes it better. duh.
he enjoyed taking the fish apart and eating it cleanly.

both boba and v got the "STOOPID" philly style shaved rib eye sandwich with peppers, onions, mushrooms, provolone cheese, crispy shallots, and french fries. the bread looked deep fried and was supposedly very crunchy crispy. the fries were very fried--like no mushy potato within, just crispy all the way through--just the way vase likes 'em.

see? bread looks like deep-fried chicken.
or something.

i had the spicy shrimp linguine with rapini, garlic, olive oil, parmesan cheese, crushed red chili, fresh basil.

LOTS of garlic. yum.
good heat from the red chile and mustardy rapini (broccoli rabe).
shrimp was plump and fresh.
everything was swimming in a nice,
slightly creamy white wine sauce.
it tasted even better the next day
when the noodles had soaked up all that garlicky goodness.

fun waitress not-so-discreetly asked us to pick a dessert on the house to surprise the bday girl with. we chose the nectarine blueberry crisp nut crumble with vanilla ice cream.

we sang. kind of.

a wish.
darkness.
then we dove in.
the fruit was good.
the crumble part ok.

happy birthday, vasey!
we love you!
(and no, we didn't coordinate the lowish-cut black tops).

like i said, we were stuffed, so no 2nd dessert at milk for us. :(. i must get out there soon.

i wanted to lose the extra 5 lbs. i'm carrying right now before school and bad eating habits start, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen any time soon as i'm apparently going to aspire to be a lady who lunches during my two weeks of sort of time off. yes, before school starts. more on that to come.