Feeling in a Fowl Mood Today

Got up early as I just woke up at 3am and could not sleep, but am now getting a little groggy so may try and get in a bit of a slumber or nap. But after a teeth cleaning this morning (and this is after a hair cut yesterday) I am going to be able to duck out of work a bit early and get home to freshen up and welcome Helene, Jodie and Rob around 4:30 to kick off what should be a magical evening.We are off to the Herbfarm for dinner. Tonight they kick off a brand new menu: Of a Feather. From their website: "In this diverse menu, we create a culinary flight of fowl fancy. From quail to waterfowl, wild and tame, ordinary and unusual, you'll explore a flock of flavors in this new dinner theme offered here for the first time."

So for all you that know me, you can bet there will be a long and detailed posting of the dinner. The four of us are all taking tomorrow, Friday, off so that once we get home in the wee hours of the morning, as the dinner does not end until near midnight, we will not have to contemplate how we will get through the day tomorrow.

But speaking of dinner, last night I enjoyed a lovely dinner al fresco at Markie's place. Arrived just about 5pm and we watch the news while enjoying cocktails. He made fresh rolls and grilled chicken breasts, kind of like a preliminary round of fowl before tonight's fowl. After enjoying news and good food and wine with dinner it was home to watch a special on PBS about breakfast. The station out of Pittsburgh put it together, but what made it fun was that at the end they were in Portland, Oregon and stopped by the Tin Shed which is up on Alberta and that was cool and all, but the surprise was finishing with a place called Helsers. Alex started this place and it is a rockin' breakfast joint. They serve Scottish Eggs, one of the few places I know that do them right. Oh, and the German Pancake, hurt ME! Here is what Alex says on his website about the place:

Helser's opened August 10, 2004 by Alex Helser. We use many family recipes and local ingredients to create our meals, including our buttermilk pancake recipe from Alex's Grandmother. Our approach to food and service comes from our
own desire of how we would like to be treated and how we feel that every dish should be worth each bite. This is what we hope each guest will walk away with.

And what made it more fun was that I did a double take in that just after he opened that place a good friend Lisa, known as the Beer Goddess, helped me host a brewer's dinner at the place. To cap off the night she had snagged some great Belgium beer that came in a huge ass bottle and there was the bottle on his kitchen window where staff pick up food to serve. After all these years. Pretty cool.