Birthday Boy

I love celebrating birthdays, especially mine. Hey, I'm an only child, what can I say? Unfortunately Sean doesn't share my spoiled ways and didn't want any part in a huge birthday celebration this year. This could have also been a result of my failed attempts to get us a reservation at the highly coveted Schwa (yeah attempts, I called literally every other day for a month), but who needs a nine course BYOB meal at an exclusive restaurant that everybody has a hard time getting reservations to.......

Over. Rated. Anyway.

Instead, my darling Sean requested that we hang out at home and cook ourselves an uber delicious steak dinner from Fox & Obel, one of our favorite little local gourmet grocery stores. Fox & Obel is just the most warm, inviting and cozy spot....which sounds weird when describing a grocery store....but I am just in love with this place. Here's what they have to say about themselves:
"Our inspiration is drawn from old-world markets of Paris, Milan or Lisbon to the stores of New York and San Francisco.
We carry the best of everything. Just-caught fish, well-hung meat, mighty coffee, sinful cakes, fine artisan foods of every kind, the freshest of fruit and vegetables.
When you walk into Fox & Obel Market, you step into something special and no matter where in the culinary landscape your interests lie, the ingredients you need are here. If you live for food, your life is not complete until Fox & Obel becomes part of it."
And talk about good timing, Groupon offered a $50 for $100 coupon a few days before the actual day. So I used the extra monies for a half dozen cupcakes from Sprinkles. Back to dinner-we bought the 21 Day Dry Aged Prime Bone-In Rib Eye Steak, totaling $73 (thank you Groupon), and cooked up the recipe from David Chang's Momofuku cookbook. Can I say amaaaaaaaze?! Two cast iron skillets, one stick of butter, a few cloves of garlic, a few springs of thyme and some elbow grease is all you need for a gourmet meal. Who's Schwa?

All I have to say is that if you like to eat, you better like to cook, and if you like to cook, you better buy the best stuff!









Happy Birthday Sean!