Winter's back with a vengeance at the farmette. Six inches of snow in the last 24 hours, nine altogether on the ground and it continues to come down.
Last night, we had a family birthday celebration at a local restaurant that serves exquisite food! The Flying Chestnut Kitchen is a gem in the tiny village of Eugenia, about a half-hour drive from the farmette. Make that an hour, if the snow's coming in thick and fast and you're lucky enough to tuck in behind a brave snowplow driver on the way home (whew!)
While it was cold and snowing outside, the ambience inside was warm and cheerful. The menu was fantastic - I had a scrumptious pan-fried pickerel filet with wild rice and veggies. Rob had lamb curry - heaps of it. There was also a gigantic beef and mushroom pie. YUM!
My sister's father-in-law Cliff turned 78 on January 31st and Rob turned 70 (!) on February 1st and Rachel, my niece, turns 22 (double !!) tomorrow. We all live (more or less) in the vicinity, so we combined forces.
Here's sister Sandy, Anne (Cliff's partner) and Cliff.
Rob couldn't resist mugging for the camera, and struck his best Monty Python pose. Yours truly looking very satisfied and a bit sleepy on the left and Jennifer, Sandy's sister-in-law, on the right. Note the very cool stained glass window above his head.
Here's Nick - Jennifer's son - Rachel and her boyfriend Jesse yucking it up while chowing down. Everyone got pint jars of water that were regularly filled throughout the meal.
There are funky and unusual bits and pieces all through the restaurant. The lighting was especially interesting, as you can see. In one of the bathrooms, they put up a collection of old car rearview mirrors instead of your run-of-the-mill face reflector.
You can watch the chefs do their magic at the back of the building, and there's a full bar along the side.
It's a small place, and it was packed on a frosty February weekend night. A huge group was coming in behind us at 8:30 p.m., when we left.
All in all, it was a very satisfying evening, catching up with friends and family and enjoying some truly spectacular food. Until next week.