Slip is joining me in the 27 club on Wednesday, and tonight we had an early birthday dinner for him at his parent’s house. His mom, a wonderful Italian cook, prepared the most delicious yet simple dinner for us (my goal in life is to cook that way).

We feasted on a fresh arugula salad with grapes and walnuts, rosemary focaccia bread with an olive oil dip with top shelf olive oil from our trip to DiBruno Bros., crab stuffed ravioli with homemade tomato sauce, and stuffed mushrooms, filled with sausage, pine nuts, and raisins (SO good).

For dessert…

The most beautiful angel food cake. I love angel food cake because it is so light and fluffy. And it was topped with some chocolate glaze (thank you, Duncan Hines) and fresh strawberries. Yum!

What a perfectly delightful dinner, prelude to Slip’s birthday, and start to the week to come.

Happy Birthday to me! Frosting a cake, off to my first day of class, and then… birthday dinner at Modo Mio! I think 27 will be a great year…

Last night we went to T and D’s place for a game night and I brought along a birthday cake for an early celebration for Slip. Fun people, fun games, fun times=funfetti cake.

Last night Slip took me out to Meritage for a lovely birthday dinner. We’ve been to Meritage, at 20th and Lombard, a couple times previously, but their menu changes seasonally and after seeing what’s on the menu currently, I had to go. We vacillated and pondered some other options, but we kept coming back to Meritage and at 7:45pm that’s where we headed to.

We were not disappointed. The only problem of the night was that soooo many things looked soooo delicious that we couldn’t decide what to order! Our server was so lovely and helped us along, and let’s just say if I was a little bit of a bigger person I would have ordered just a few more things (like the foie gras dumplings in browned black truffle butter, omg!!).

The chef offers “snacks”, “small plates” and “large plates”, so there is a lot of opportunity for sharing. Unfortunately the lighting was kind of dim so my pictures didn’t really turn out, but here’s what we had:

• Chicken Liver Pate with mission fig chutney and grilled crostini
• Potato, leek, and black truffle croquettes
• Korean pork belly taco
• Papardelle pasta with braised beef short ribs, mushrooms, and spinach
• Chickpea crepe stuffed with roasted fall vegetables, eggplant, and crispy chickpeas

The pork belly taco was my favorite. With Korean flavors in this typical mexican dish, the textures combined beautifully, and the sesame flavor embedded in the dish made it perfect. Definitely would order this again.

For dessert:

The most buttery crusted apple turnovers with salted caramel sauce, vanilla bean icecream over crisp apples matchsticks, and a large shot of warm apple cider. And let me just say, that was absolutely the most amazing best little bit of apple cider I have ever had. Creamy, full bodied and amazing layers of flavor. The server told us the trick is extra sugar, star anise, cinnamon sticks, and some whipped heavy cream on the top.

If you’re looking for a place in Center City with a warm, inviting atmosphere and a large menu with delicious choices, Meritage is the place for you!

How awesome are my friends? This is how awesome— I got home from class last night and found a bag with all of the above hanging from my front door. This included chocolate layer cake and a fruit tart from Fitzwater Cafe, as well as some banana pudding from Percy Street BBQ and a lovely birthday card. The banana pudding was especially amazing, with the tiniest bit of a smokey tinge to it, probably from being around all that amazing bbq meat. 

I called Carys to thank her for the birthday treats and she replied with an apology because the card looked kind of weathered. Wanna know why? The wind blew it out of her hands and she chased it 3 blocks— 3 blocks!! It got run over by a bus, but it still made it to me. Birthdays and amazing friends are the best.