A memory that deserves its own post… Today is Charles’s 36th birthday and we’ve got a hotel booked for a mini-staycation while my Ma watches Beau. But this day last year, we were newly initiated parents, barely functioning beyond caring for baby and reheating frozen meals. So today’s post is dedicated to our group of dear friends who came together to surprise Charles with this special, unexpected fine dining at home experience and gift. A gift that I was grateful to be able to partake in as well.
How does one appropriately celebrate their significant other’s birthday when you have a two month old baby and no time or functional capacity to do anything besides be a parent?
Answer = You bring the restaurant experience home… At least that was the answer in our case to celebrate Charles’s 35th birthday.
^^ Enter Greg Jewette = Sibling of a close friend, line brother of another close friend (basically vetted to fullest within our friend circle) and culinary artist/ entrepreneur/owner of A Piece of Mine, LLC.
With a mission to provide personalized private dining experiences, Greg touched base with me a couple weeks before Charles’s birthday to curate the perfect birthday menu *and* playlist based on feedbackI shared about Charles’s foodie preferences and 100% delivered on taste and ambiance. The only thing I had to do day of Charles’s bday was make sure our kitchen and dining area was clean. An hour and half before dinnertime, Greg showed up to our place with everything (and I mean everything, food, dishes, candles, etc.) in two big crates and took over the kitchen to prep our 3-course menu.
In that downtime, I fed and got Beau ready for his nap while Charles chatted with Greg in the kitchen. The timing of everything worked out perfectly because the minute I put Beau down in his bassinet, Greg was ready with our fresh baked buns and appetizers.
For appetizer, we started off with a Harvest Salad that had mixed greens and kale, house-made apple cider vinaigrette, apple, feta cheese, shallots, and pomegranate seeds.
As well as a Roasted Butternut Squash Soup with pumpkin seeds.
I had shared with Greg, that when eating out, Charles and I tended to strategically order our meals so they were opposite in flavor but complimentary so we could share them while dining and he really took that comment into consideration when planning out the flavors of all the dishes. Ah! The palate of all the dishes were so flavorful independently and when shared all together.
While we ate, Greg was back prepping our main courses and it wasn’t long before he served up a Shrimp Linguini with a lemon butter wine sauce, mushrooms, asparagus and cherry tomatoes as well as…
A Maple Dijon Roasted Chicken dish with a sweet potato puree and broccolini & brussels medley.
Goodness. Citrus and savory, light and heavy. The combination of flavors between these two dishes was *chef’s kiss*. (my mouth is watering right now as I type, reminiscing how the food tasted in my mouth last year – bring it back! lol)
^^ As you can tell by the full cheeks, Charles was a happy eater.
By them time we finished both plates, our stomachs were definitely feeling tight (luckily Charles and I both had stretchy pajamas on for this event; a side-benefit to eating at home) but we were determined to make it through dessert.
To close out our fine dining experience, Greg brought out a Vanilla Bourbon Bread Pudding with pecans. Gah, absolute decadence – was really grateful that we only had one serving to share because it hit our sweet spot without taking our tummies overboard.
Bellies full and super satisfied with the dining experience had, we put to quickly put our ‘parent hats’ back on to care for Beau, who started crying the minute we finished eating. Perfect timing as always my Beau.
If you live in the DMV (DC, Maryland, Virginia) area and are looking to host a personalized dining experience, I highly recommend and encourage reaching out to Greg via A Piece of Mine, LLC. *He does also travel so don’t let the DMV designation stop you from reaching out.
Greg is able to provide both intimate dining (2-4 people) and social dining (8+ people) experiences and was/is really great to collaborate with. He’s a great listener which was something I appreciated and think played a major role in making our dining experience at home feel so natural, relaxed and authentic.
Lastly, I so so so soooooo appreciated letting someone else take over in the kitchen for me… An absolute joy.
Until next post.
xo, Setarra
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