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I had one winner and one loser on my hands here. I went after a completely Ivo & Lulu rip-off menu and killed it on the main ... and lost miserably with the starter.

The opening course was a version of Ivo's baked pear. I did everything right with the exception of baking the thing first. I think that's the key that I totally messed up. I just did the whole thing under the broiler and should have only used that for the finish. The result was a hard pear. Delicious flavor, disastrous texture.
- bosc pear
- virginia mountain honey
- maytag bleu cheese
- balsamic vinegar
- olive oil
- salt
- black pepper

The next round was a version of the delicious boar sausage plate I often get from Ivo:
- chicken and garlic sausage with fine herbs
- lamb sausage with mint and garlic
- blueberry sauce (worchestershire, brown sugar, blueberries, balsamic vinegar, salt, black pepper, olive oil)
- couscous (a mushroom variety from a whole foods box)

This one was a wonderful success. Sadly, the only thing I actually made was the blueberry sauce. Whole Foods did the sausage and the couscous (well, Meena prepared the couscous, if you want to split hairs). But it was killer. Simple, rich, decadent ... amazing. The only thing that was a little odd was massive amount of mint that was in the lamb sausage. But honestly, it was good. Really good. And we'll make this again ... probably soon.