MIA in June

I know I am being rather slow with posting the events of summer...but nonetheless: June! June was a very exciting month for me. It started off with a trip to DC to visit some of my high school dance friends, and attend an annual work conference. Sadly I have no pictures or tales of delectable food, since I was living out of a hotel and my diet was comprised of whatever the hotel had to offer. In stark contrast, the following weekend Brendan and I went to my co-worker's (Michelle) house for one of the most orgasmic, gastronomic experiences I have ever had. Michelle is an amazingly talented chef and her boyfriend, Steve, is a spirits guru. We ate a six-course meal, complete with drink pairings for each course. The theme: New Orleans in the North End. Enough said. We started the meal with some mint juleps and the evening only went upward from there. 

The menu was as follows: 
1. Salad of greens with homemade pumpkin brittle and blue cheese
2. Casamento's Charbroiled Oysters
3. Oysters Rockefeller 
4. Shrimp Beignets
5. Mr. B's Gumbo Ya-Ya
6. Chocolate Yummy 

Yes, I was obnoxious and took pictures of everything we ate...but wouldn't you, if your meal looked this damn good? Needless to say, our New Orleans night in the North End was one of the highlights of the entire summer. Thanks, Michelle and Steve! 

The end of June was the 3Day Breast Cancer Walk...60 miles in 3 days. It was an exhilarating and draining--emotionally and physically--experience, and I am so happy to have gone through it all with my mom. The food during the walking event was nothing to write home about. We ate a lot of salty snacks (like pretzels), eggs every morning, and some mass-produced food for dinner each night. The third night, however, was our victory dinner. We crossed the finish line in San Francisco during midday, attended the closing ceremonies, took long showers at our hotel, and then booked it over to a delectable sushi dinner. I have never been so happy to eat sushi--seaweed salad, raw salmon, eel roll, and spicy yellowtail roll. Not to mention a new dish: fried baby octopus! It tastes very similar to calamari, but a little bit weirder, since you can see the whole animal as you chomp down. 

Unfortunately I don't have any personal cooking stories from June. I am sure I made something yummy; but between the New Orleans meal and our celebratory sushi dinner, I can't remember anything else I ate. I promise I have recipes in store for my tales of July and August!