Birthdays Away

Wednesday was my 27th birthday, the second birthday in a row that I've spent away from home. This time last year I was having a big party in a rented motel room with music, karaoke and games. This year was a much more sophisticated affair, maybe I'm maturing more than I thought! Although, it's still imperative that I have a piece of cake on my birthday!! Our lovely hosts, Antonioa and Roxy joined in the birthday song and shared some cake.

Then, it was off for a fancy dinner, somewhere Antonio had recommended. The idea behind the restaurant was called molecular dining. Nick's mum and dad had very kindly given us some money as a birthday and Christmas present, so it was nice to spend it on something that felt so special. There were 12 courses, each looked and tasted better than the rest. We had truffle, shrimp rolls served on hot stones, pork served with 5 kinds of apple, trout with lemon bubbles and candy floss for a dessert.

Each course was brought out and the lady would explain the ingredients and the concept behind each dish. I felt like a proper grown up. Although there was a moment where I nearly showed my self up as one course was chicken liver pate balls, served on a bed of pebbles that looked exactly the same. Nick and I had both picked up a pebble and were commenting how heavy the starter was when Nick realised our mistake. He saved us a lot of strange looks and probably a cracked tooth or two!

I've had a great 26th year and very excited about spending the majority of my 27th in South America!

If anyone is reading this in Buenos Aires and would like the name off the restaurant, it's called Aramburu on Salta 1050. Can you guess what the dishes are?!

Here are the said pebbles of chicken liver, prawn crackers, truffles and goat cheese rolls.

This is three kinds of beetrroot with goats cheese ice cream.

Steak tartare with mustard ice cream and bread.

Shrimp roll on a hot plate with shrimp soup.

Calamari and gnocchi with orange sauce and seaweed.

Trout with lemon bubbles and a prawn cracker made of squid's ink.

Pork with 5 kinds of apple.

Steak with mushrooms, potatoes and pork.

A citrus soup with meringue.

Fruit jelly and ice cream.

Coffee and vanilla ice cream with coffee cous cous. Can you see the smoke in the background? They poured liquid onto hot stones to increase the aroma.

Candy floss cake with truffles and marshmallows.