Snow? What snow?

The temperature has risen at least ten degrees since yesterday and there isn't a snowflake in sight. The front of our house sure did look pretty last night, and it was weird to see all of the houses and lawns covered with snow. Tomorrow, it will be ten degrees warmer, and by Saturday we will be up near 80 degrees again. (Just in time for our party-- perfect.)

Luckily, our plants and flowers didn't freeze underneath the snow, which accumulated to about an inch (so hard to believe). I think the warmth from the Christmas lights helped protect the plants, and the rain had quit before it started snowing, so everything didn't turn to ice. The azaleas and impatiens look just as fine now as they did before the snow, but the climbing roses are still drooping, and there's a puddle of red petals underneath the bushes.

We drove downtown early this afternoon, to have lunch with K and B-- an early birthday lunch for my husband. They had asked him where he'd like to eat, and he searched the Internet for a German restaurant. He found a European-style restaurant near the Museum District. I forget the name of it (something I can't pronounce, let alone spell) but the selections on their menu were a collection of German, Bavarian, and French recipes. And the bread... tiny slices of homebaked breads with such a dense and rich texture-- outstanding. We all started with their soup specialty-- Pumpkin Lobster Bisque. Unbelievable taste, and very elegantly presented, with a tiny dollop of fresh cream floating on top of the soup. K, B, and I had each originally ordered a cup of the soup, and my husband told the waitress he'd "pass on the soup." K told him that he'd better get his own order, because he wasn't getting a drop of hers. Same here, said B. Me too, said I. He got his own soup, and was glad he did.

My husband and K ordered the Weiner Schnitzel (spelled correctly?)-- it was made with pork, not veal, and delicious. B got a dish of German noodles (thinner than spatzle) with thinly sliced vegetables, and I ordered what I ate all over Germany in May-- salmon. Delicious food, a beautiful restaurant with carpeting on the floor, drapes to keep the sun from blinding you through the floor-to-ceiling windows, and tablecloths and linen napkins. You pay for all those nice extras, but it sure makes for a quiet and cozy restaurant. (Most of the restaurants here have floor-to-ceiling windows, but they're not covered-- if you're sitting by the window when the sun shines through, you're blinded if you don't have sunglasses.)

Because we hadn't been there before, and because it was a birthday celebration, we had an excuse to order dessert. Instead of a printed dessert menu, four of their wait-staff came to the table, each holding two home-made desserts. Gorgeous cakes, tarts, pies... each one prettier than the next. My husband ordered a chocolate, fudge-y torte, I ordered a fig tart. Neither K nor B ordered dessert-- they had been there before, plus they ate all their food and were stuffed. I left all the white potatoes on my plate, knowing I wasn't going to leave that pretty restaurant without something sweet at the end of the meal. They also served jasmine tea, which smelled like a bouquet in a teacup.

Great lunch.... a nice birthday celebration. We'll have to go back there again, to try some different items on the menu. K told us that the chef gets very creative with the soups, and their salads are always intricate and interesting.

After having such a gourmet meal, it's hard for me to put together a dinner in my own kitchen. How do you compete with that kind of a chef? No dinner tonight, though.... the food we had at lunch-time was enough for the rest of the day.