8 Courses, 9 Wines and 3 hours later ...

I woke up Saturday morning and walked into the kitchen to see this:

Shoes on the floor. Louis hanging off the kitchen counter. Martini glasses and sunglasses scattered all over the kitchen.

It was a (milder - no tiger, no teeth or people missing, etc.) scene straight out of "The Hangover." I spent the next couple of hours laying on the couch, trying to trace back the events of Friday night with the help of pictures from my camera phone. I counted 8 courses at the Mabry House. Which meant 8 wine parings. And there was a starter wine. That adds up to 9 glasses of wine, a mixture of reds and whites, to create the perfect storm of a two-day wine concussion.

The realization that, "Yep, I'm definitely 30!" came complementary with the evening.

Despite all that wine and my weekend-long concussion, our dinner was excellent. It was more than just a meal, it was a rare experience that we got to share with some of our closest friends. If I ever end up on death row (fingers crossed that doesn't happen), someone remind me that I want this to be my final dinner. And see if my friends can come this time, too!

Our meal started with rock shrimp, sauteed in butter, garlic and lemon, on a puff pastry. I think we all had trouble deciding what the best course was, but I know this was a strong contender right off the bat.

I apologize that I devoured 3/4s of this dish before remembering that I needed to take a picture. You'll begin to see that as a common thread between these photos. The second  course was a prosciutto-wrapped sea scallop with a pea puree. This pea puree was remarkable considering I don't even like peas.

Next out, (and half eaten ... again) was a breaded, chorizo-stuffed yellow pepper in a homemade salsa with fresh oregano. This was quite possibly my favorite dish of the night. Ashley and I are already scheming how we could make these at home.

Fourth up was this delicious carrot puree soup with crab meat and truffle oil. I think this may have been Ty's favorite of the evening. That's a high compliment coming from someone who doesn't give soup much credit.

** I think this is where we had some sorbet, but I ate it all before I remembered to take a picture. It was that good.

Fifth on the menu, we had buffalo mozzarella, wrapped in a romaine leaf and served on a crispy baguette with a tomato and olive salad on the side. I think this dish rounded out my top three favorites, but consider the components - cheese, olives and bread. It's the holy trinity of my flavor palette. I'm in love with this dish.
 

 
And while nothing came close to tasting bad, the sixth dish was my least favorite. This was some type of white flaky fish (can't remember) served with shrimp and a mango salsa on a bed of black bean puree.
 

 
I nearly ate this lamb clean off the bone, but I'm a lady so I resisted. This was a grilled rack of lamb with roasted fingerling and purple potatoes with julienned zucchini, squash and carrots in a demi glace. It was the best lamb I've ever eaten. It had a thin, crumbly breading that sent me over the moon.
 

Toward the end of the seventh course, I began to feel full. But not stuffed like you would imagine after seven courses. I definitely had room for dessert, which included a mango filled wonton with balsamic vinegar ice cream and custard.

 

 
They even sang happy birthday to me and LJ!
 
It was such a special evening with some of our dearest friends. I loved every bit of the food, and managed to fight my inner urge to lick each plate before bidding it adieu. It was harder than you would think.
 

However, I could not resist the urge to take a spin through the kitchen before we left. I look like I'm concentrating really hard on garnishing something with my tounge sticking out. I must have been lost in a dream of what it would be like for people to respond to me by saying, "yes, chef."

 

I loved sharing this special night with some of my favorite ladies. I love them so much that I was willing to post this less than flattering picture of myself and my gimp arm. To my credit, I couldn't do the skinny arm because my shoes were so tall that I felt my arm would cover Jenny's face. But don't you love those shoes? And Jenny's face? I do! Worth a gimp arm every time!

And don't you know whenever boys dress up, it's going to look something like this?

Fellas, don't you know that variety is the spice of life?

The End.