Celebration of Hard Effort

Well the procrastination for studying is over now. I passed my exam with an extra nine points to spare. I guess I am just a show off!

With the exam over and done with I knew I had to celebrate, but everyone was at work, watching the playoff game or on vacation for Columbus Day. I thought to myself that if you can study for the exam alone, you absolutely get to celebrate by myself. The question was where to go and the decision was made to go to Tria in a grand total of about five seconds flat.

Tria is about a five minute walk from the testing center and about a five minute walk home. I was in a pretty giddy mood, so I felt that going to a sophisticated bar/restaurant would be decadent. Tria has two different locations. The two neighborhoods are less than ten blocks away, but serve completely different neighborhoods and the personality of each location is amazingly different. For a classy joint I felt completely at ease in tennis shoes and yoga pants, but still had high quality food and wine. Tria focuses on wine, beer and cheese, and does not carry mixed drinks, fried foods, or your average Bud Light. It serves three of my favorite things in the eating world, and does try to include local producers also. I was in the mood for at least two of the three tonight. I had spent a month kind of studying and a holiday weekend absorbed in the material, and I needed to reward myself for all that hard work.

When you are in the mood to congratulate yourself, why not get a glass of sparkling wine. And if that sparkling wine happens to be pink, it just makes the world a happier place. I had the ROSÉ CAVA, FAMÍLIA OLIVEDA from Penedès, Spain , which is a bit dry but I still always enjoy this as a compliment to a rich cheese, because it never compete with some of the gooey rich buttery cheeses I love. I did love the rich flavor and the effervescing feeling in my mouth. With that had an opening dish of Bruschetta that was made with a Pistachio Herbed Ricotta Cheese with Sage Honey served as a Bruschetta. The cheese was so smooth, the honey was rich and the flavors had a gentle awakening in my mouth.

After my first course, I was still feeling decadent and decided that why did I want to go home and eat leftovers (as good as I knew they would be). I ordered the Smoked Chicken Panini, which was complimented by Lancaster Cheddar that was subtle in flavor, sliced green apple and apple mustard. I selected this sandwich because it reminded me of fall and today was only in the 50’s with a slightly crisp breeze. The sandwich tasted like a fall harvest and definitely was the best match to the weather outside. I went with a Rose Pinot Noir, from Adelshem in the Willamette Valley of Oregon. The wine was described as smooth with a finish of strawberries. While I enjoyed the wine, I think I would have saved it for a slightly warmer day and instead had a crisp white wine to match the apples.

As I reached the time to finish my private celebration and coming off my adrenaline high I closed my meal with a rich cheese. I am rarely one for a sweet dessert and would much rather nothing or a nice cheese to savor for the walk home. I hit a home run with a cow’s milk cheese, Preferes des Montagnes from Savoie France. Rarely do I feel a description matches a cheese, but the odd description of “flavors of freshly baked bread and roasted corn” was actually on target. The cheese had a natural sweetness that reminded me of fresh silver queen corn in the summer.

I do love food and love to match the dishes to my mood and find any reason to celebrate. Life is short and living in moderation all the time seems like such a shameful waste of enjoyment. This meal tonight was exactly what I wanted to reward the hard work I had done and the task I completed. Now back to low fat, low calorie and high fiber food until I find a new reason to celebrate.