always remain awesome: an ode to my mom / Quince for her birthday

do you know who the MVP in my world is? you'd be right if you're thinking that i'm going to say "my mom." if you've ever been in the presence of her you'd instantly see why. she's perky (but not in an irritating way) and gets along with pretty much every type of person. even my friends think she's funny, so there's that. she's easy to talk to and super down to earth. i attribute a lot of who i am today because of her. she's instilled that logical mindset in me and has always taught me that i am no better than others, just different. growing up, she was always quick to humble my brother and i. want an example? when i first got my driving permit she picked me up from school and let me drive home. i backed out of the spot in the school parking lot sort of recklessly and she immediately said "what was that? i've never seen you back out of a spot like that. are you trying to be cool because you can drive now and you're trying to show off? you know that doesn't actually make you cool, right?" "oh damn, she's right," is what i thought and quickly changed my driving manner. as kids, instead of just yelling at us and telling us what we did wrong, she would always tell us why what we did was wrong. this was in the form of hour long lectures which ultimately made me view things in a logical way so that i wouldn't repeat the wrong. and if i don't repeat the wrong, then i would never have to hear that same lecture over again. see! logic! anyhow, she's more than just someone who raised her children right. she's a pretty amazing person overall.

so now that i've rambled on, let's get to what this post was intended to be about. it was my mom's birthday earlier in the month and i wanted to treat her to a nice dinner. i brought her to Quince and it was awesome! they've got a 4 course/$95 per person or an 8 course tasting menu at $140 per person. we opted for the four course but got different dishes so that we could try eight varying dishes all together for less than the cost of two same tasting menus. that's called street smart, guys. anyhow, i am very happy to wine and dine my own mom. there's nothing i could do to ever pay her back for guiding me into becoming the person that i am.

1st amuse bouche: squid ink crisp and truffle somethingorother.

2nd amuse bouche: green apple foam with beets and sunflower seeds

1st bread course: the most buttery brioche

3rd amuse bouche: i pretty much completely forgot what this was. some sort of cream with a sorel granita

2nd bread course: grain bread and a rosemary buttermilk bread

both very good!

1st course: Maine lobster with apple and celery

cooked perfectly. lightly sweet and oh so very balanced

1st course: sea scallop with romanesco broccoli, kaffir lime and prosecco

the most perfect scallop. i'm not sure i've ever had a better scallop dish.

2nd course: cappelletti with squash, chestnut and sage

light and sweet with a browned butter sauce. mMmmm

2nd course: triangoli with burrata and burgundy truffle

very delicate, creamy and savory

3rd course: black sea bass with parsnip, porcini and red wine sauce

a decent dish but nothing great. but i'm not huge on fish soooo....

3rd course: suckling pig with quince and broccoli di ciccio

tender and very nice. the small square bite of roast pork was absolutely better than any roast pork i've had Chinese style. there was a perfect fat to meat ratio as well as the delicately crisp skin.

we added the cheese course because i thought my mom should have a legit cheese course some time in her life.

who knows what kinds these were. i completely forget, but they were all very good. accompanying the cheese were two types of bread, almonds, raisins, an apricot(?) mustard seed compote and rooftop honey.