Pleasure dome

Just got back from dinner with friends. That may well have been the most decadent home-cooked meal I've ever eaten (in the top five without question): cheese fondue and fresh bread for an appetizer, a main course of artichokes, rib roast, and Dungeness crab (surf and turf!), and chocolate fondue with fruit and poundcake for dessert. A glass of Riesling as an apertif, and we opened the bottle of sherry that I bought in Carmel Valley last fall after dinner. Almost all of the meal was homemade; it was prepared and eaten over the course of six hours filled with conversation about classic television, photography, world events, and food. One of my favorite ways to spend an evening, and totally worth a trip to the grocery store at noon on a Saturday.

Foodwise, this is one of the best times of the year: artichoke and crab season. Nothing quite like a meal that you steam, then dismantle before dipping in melted butter with lemon. So very tasty.

T took lots of photos. I hope to get a selection posted tomorrow. But for now, it's time to succumb to that food coma.