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Perfect, we had a perfect dinner at Restaurant Alma last night. Cozy, fun, delicious. I love a restaurant that serves high-quality, beautifully-prepared food in appropriate (!) portions, so you walk out feeling fantastic, not stuffed, not ill. I love that about Lucia’s, and now I love it about Alma.

I opened with a small celery root souffle, browned and puffy, with a hint of curry, fantastic. I followed with rigatoni with fennel sausage, chewy and spicy and positively lusty, I damn near licked the bowl clean, ha. I even splurged on dessert, an adorable little cupcake topped with lime curd and a flirty, swirly meringue, alongside a decadent crumble of a buttery coconut (!) cookie studded with whole, toasted, sugar almonds with a dollop of whipped cream. Yeah. The crunchy-meringuey-cakey-buttery-tart-creamy combo was absolutely delightful, it’s not easy to hit all those notes on one plate. But zing ca-ching! It so worked. Could have licked that plate clean too. A lovely meal, no misses for me.

And oh yes, the company! Spot on, as always, when we get together with Ana & Rudy and Debbie & Stu. We sure do have a hell of a good time together! Ana & Rudy just had dinner in Las Vegas with our friends Andrew& Rishia Zimmern. Rudy joked about Andrew stealing the spotlight (people recognizing him from his Bizarre Foods show on the Travel Channel), since it’s usually Rudy people are recognizing (from his Smart Travels show on PBS). (I joked that the only person anyone recognizes from my little ol’ blog is Cooper Cuteness! Totally true!)

And oh yes, the wine! Lovely, as always, when we get together with Ana & Rudy and Debbie & Stu. Burgundies from Rudy’s cellar were the star last night. Incredible. Our friends share amazing wines with us, we are very, very lucky.

So, another blast with Team Napa. Nice (NICE!) way to start the week, I’d say. Left me a little confused about what day it was when I woke up this morning, but I’m not complaining. Let it rain. Let it be Tuesday. Let it be time to fold some laundry and eat boring things like oatmeal. I’m still riding the wave from last night and I’m feeling fiiiine.