Down, But Not Out

I began this post about eleven days ago, though I didn't want to believe I'd have to post it.
My progress on the olympic knitting seemed to go very slowly; I was only halfway up the back and I wasn't sure I'd be anywhere near done.
More importantly, I got some shocking personal news and have been in a fog ever since.
Dealing with that has been a big fat emotional drain, to say the least.
(Sorry to be mysterious, but the issue is not settled, so I'd rather keep a lid on it until it is. It's already caused a enough of a kerfluffle that I am going to keep it under wraps until everything is 100% settled. I will share with you all when I can.)

Add a complicated professional life (trade shows & the like), and you've got a recipe for a stressed-out control freak with very little emotional fortitude.
I recognized that finishing was unlikely, to say the least, I didn't want to give up.
Today, however, I'm content. I won't finish in time, but I love this project and am so excited about how pretty it is so far.

Some of that contentment is due to the fantabulous (yes, I know it isn't a real word) birthday dinner which my husband treated me to last night! We had dinner at Vincent-A Restaurant and OH. MY. WORD.
It was exquisite.

We both had a beautiful salad of Belgian endive, frisee & shaved apple with a hazelnut vinagrette (featuring my second favorite cheese* in all the world - Humboldt Fog. Oh!).
For the main course, the Boy-O had the wild boar with garlicky brussel sprouts & an amazing butternut squash, while I had a gorgeous cassoulet of tarbais beans (a french white bean), duck confit, toulouse sausage, etc., etc.
If you could ever marry a dish, that would be the one.** Hearty & filling, yet delicately flavored. And a perfect bread crumb crust on the top. It was just beautful.

Dessert was equally delightful - Boy-O loved the three creams: creme caramel, pot de creme & creme brulee, while I had a beautful citrus tart featuring blood oranges and pink grapefruit accompanied by White Peach Sorbet. (Yes, it was capital letters good.)
And to top it all off, they wrote Happy Birthday on the rim of my plate in chocolate!
How cute is that?

But the best part? We got all dressed up in our grown-up clothes and my sweetie wore a tie.
(Sigh. He's so cute.)

*My first favorite cheese is Rogue River Blue. Always & forever. If you haven't had it, rush out & get some. It's splendid.

** Because I'd rather stay with my husband, I shall have to learn how to make cassoulet immediately. With my five million recipe books, I'm sure I've got it around here somewhere.