Best birthday dinner ever!

For my 36th birthday, my fiance took me to the Meritage in St. Paul for an incredible 7 course tasting menu complete with a wine pairing for each course! The meal was inspiring and delicious from the very start.

Course 1: Appetizer

This was a trio of fun! On the left was a tuna tartare in a crispy taro chip. The middle was a delicious soup made of cream, seafood stock and saffron. Did I mention there was cream? We both wanted to lick out the little cup. And lastly, was the smoked mushroom french toast with this maple syrup-like sauce drizzled over it.

Course 2: Another appetizer? Salad? Don't care what it was called... Yum!

Himachi tuna... need I say more. The sauce was a blood orange gastric with blood oranges, watercress and olive oil.

Course 3: Seafood heaven on a plate

This was probably the best scallop I've ever had. It was huge!! Seared perfectly on one side with a piece of pork belly propped up next to it. The rest of the plate was finished with lentils, a butternut squash puree and brussel sprout petals.

Course 4: Duck!

I've never been a huge fan of duck. It can be very good or just plain gamy. But not this duck. It was seared wonderfully so the skin was nice and crispy and seasoned with a moroccan spice (cardamom). Next to it was phyllo stuffed with a confit of the duck leg, apples, swiss chard and walnuts.

Course 5: Venison

Yep... I ate venison. And loved every last bite. This was the one thing on the menu I told the server that I really had no desire to eat. She came back from the kitchen and told me that Chef said being that I was a culinary student, I needed to try their venison. So I was proven wrong. Venison is good. This was a roasted venison loin au poivre (green peppercorn crusted, ect.) with a chestnut puree, cranberries, braised endive and grilled gingerbread. As you can see, I dug right in before I had a chance to take the picture.

Course 6: The "I don't think I can eat anymore" cheese plate

All I have to say is the hippy lady cheese on the left was hands down the best of the three. It was a sheep's milk cheese and made such an impression I don't really remember the rest of the cheeses.

Course 7: Dessert

This was, again, a trio of fun. On the right was an orange chocolate cake. Middle, a creme brulee with a wedge of grapefruit and lime. And last but not least, the pineapple upside down cake with a raspberry coulis. Yum... yum... and YUM!

But wait! There's more...

After we got our way through the dessert plate they sent out yet another round. It was a cute little chocolate mousse creme puff. I ate the mousse. I couldn't finish the rest.

Culinary III is DONE!!

It's been a few weeks now and I keep forgetting to post the last few whirlwind weeks worth of dishes that I made in class. This first one is osso bucco. I had always heard that this dish is delicious but had never tried it. Well... they were right. It could have been braised a little longer, but the flavor was incredible. I hope to make this again.... SOON!

Veal Blanquette was next in line. This really wasn't as good I had hoped. It was a little bland. Maybe I didn't season it enough... or maybe the flavor was supposed to be more subtle. At any rate, it was good but... I don't know.

Yeah... lamb... not my favorite. I like lamb. Well, some lamb dishes. Maybe I just haven't had enough really good lamb to make a well informed decision. This dish was a braised lamb shank. I like it... but I wouldn't go out of my way to fix it again.

And for the finale.... More lamb! This was a braised lamb as well. This time a stew with all kinds of vegetables to "garnish" it. To me the "garnish" was like a whole other meal in itself. Technically all the vegetables on top of this stew are the "garnish." I had to make this for my practical final. All the vegetables had to be cooked properly, cut correctly, seasoned well and be hot and done at the same time the stew was ready. Loads of work! But Chef referred to this as a "pretty straight forward dish." God help us if he were to give us a complicated one!