A QUIET DINNER

This one is a mishmash of stolen flickr photos and camera phone shots, so I just want to apologize up front. But last night was such a wonderful night of eating that I just had to show everyone all the delicious stuff we had the pleasure of consuming!

James and Diana had us out to Williamsburg for a wonderful trip to the BYOB gem, Silenth. It's a cute little Vietnamese joint with a wonderful little back porch and a penchant for liberal use of pork belly. FANtastic.

We followed James and D's lead and split the green papaya salad:
- green papaya, greens, sautéed pork belly and sliced shrimp

All three of them had a wonderful Vietnamese take on classic steak frittes:
- shaken beef with frittes tossed in a chili basil oil (with grilled pineapple, herbs and chili ketchup)

And I went out on my own with a crepe:
- crepe stuffed with shrimp, ground pork and pork belly (with greens, mung bean, bean sprouts and sweet chili-coconut glaze)

We rolled out after that delicious meal and made our way back to James and D's to see a) all their beautiful new apartment gear and b) D's amazing raspberry dessert.

Well, the apartment looked amazing. All the new furniture made the place look completely different and we were completely impressed. They managed to keep the place entirely cozy. That's not always easy to do with new furniture.

The dessert was incredible, too. I'll have D send me an ingredient list if she's willing to share ... but rest assured, this was far better than anything I've had at a restaurant in a long time.